Comets trending toward cool colored dresses, gray tuxedoes for prom

By Amie Johansen

amie@charlescitypress.com

Charles City juniors and seniors are getting ready for another magical evening: Prom night. This year garments will fit in on the darker side of the color wheel.

“Burgundy, or wine, and navy are popular colors this year,” Kelsi Patten, owner of Up2Date Fashions in Charles City, said.

According to Patten, two-piece dresses are also very popular this year. Two piece dresses are typically designed like a high waisted skirt with a long torsoed top. This design allows the two pieces to flow like one dress.

The traditional tux is still the most frequently worn men’s attire. However, the standard black tux is fading from popularity.

“Gray is still a really hot thing,” Patten said. “A couple of navy and tan (tuxes), not just a traditional black and white.”

However, whatever color tux the young gent may choose, the vest and tie colors are still chosen to match the dress of their date.

For some picking out the perfect dress has long been checked off of the prom to-do list.

“I got mine in January,” Charles City Senior Sydney Keifer said. “I was just so excited, I couldn’t wait.”

While there may not be a waiting list to get dibs on the dream outfit, making transportation and dinner reservations early was a must.

“We made reservations probably in the beginning of March,” Keifer said. “The bus is the biggest — we got the last bus from Dolly’s party bus. They were all booked, it seems like every prom arond here is scheduled for the same day.”

Some prom goers will attend prom in a sleek limousine, but not even a stretch limo would accommodate Keifer and all of her friends.

“We have about 40 people in our group,” she said. “We’ll be on a big charter bus.”

The bus will take the group from pictures, to dinner to the dance. Although the dance doesn’t officially start until 9 p.m. — grand march line up at 6:30 p.m. — Keifer will have begun prepping for prom 11 hours earlier.

“My hair is at 10 a.m., then that will take about an hour, then I have to do my makeup,” she said. “A bunch of my friend are coming over to my house to get ready, and then we’ll be ready, hopefully, by 1 p.m. for pictures.”

Keifer is a prom veteran, having attended prom all four years. However, this year’s dance will always be special.  

“It’s my last time,” she said. “This year my friends are on the prom court…there’s graduation and everything, but it’s the last big, fun thing you all do as a class.”

Thinking about her last high school  prom is bitter sweet.

“It’ll be really sad because it’ll be the senior’s last dance and we’ll all get in a big circle and dance,” Keifer said. Though sad, she looks forward to sharing this last moment with her classmates.

Grand march line up begins at 6:30 p.m. Saturday night in the Charles City High School gym. The march will begin at 7:30 p.m. The dance will also be held in the gym and will start at 9 p.m. lasting until midnight. As the dance ends, post prom will begin and will go until 3 p.m. Post prom will be held at the Charles City Middle School.