What is the Origin of the Prom?
Prom is a significant event in many teenage American lives and has been since the mid 1800s. The prom of today is not the same as the one of a hundred years ago. Throughout the decades, the prom evolved from a debutante ball held by the wealthy and elite to something that teenagers of all social statuses look forward to and dream about.
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Beginnings
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Historians believe that promenades (later shortened to simply prom) date back to the early 1800s in the United Kingdom. This was the debut of the aristocratic youths to their elite social responsibilities in the community.
In the early days of the promenades, the guests of honor were actually young adults and not teenagers. Typically, the promenade goers were attending university. Unlike the proms of today, the promenades in the 1800s were balls. Dancing was a fun part of the evening. However, the whole point of the promenade was to socialize with peers and meet suitors that parents deemed appropriate.
The American Proms
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In the late1800s, promenades made their way into American history. The elite colleges of the Northeastern region of the United States were the educational homes of debutantes and wealthy Americans. Grand balls--where women dressed in formal evening gowns and men adorned tuxedos--were customary for the upper class of American society. It was only fitting that their children followed suit; in their last year of college life prior to entering the adult world, young adults experienced a grand ball in their honor.
The trend caught on, and senior proms soon spread to colleges throughout the United States. All classes of soon-to-be graduating college seniors dawned their finest clothes for a night of dancing and socializing with peers.
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Moving from Colleges to High Schools
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While the promenades were started in colleges, it's the high school prom that has become the timeless event for the youth of America. In the early 1900s, high schools began holding their version of the once lavish promenade.
The first high school proms on record were nothing like their earlier versions. The occasion was not as fancy, and the ball became a tea time where teenagers could dance and socialize. The first high school proms were also for the senior class.
In the 1920s and 1930s, the prom moved from being a tea time to a "yearly banquet" where seniors began to focus more about dancing than finding suitors and socializing.
Dress Protocol
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The young adults who attended the promenades in the United Kingdom wore elegant attire much like that of their wealthy parents and relatives. The girls adorned stylish, graceful gowns; the boys wore handsome tuxedo-type suits.
For the American high school seniors attending their promenades in the early 1900s, the dress requirement had changed significantly from that of the college version. Clothing went from being elaborate to practical and nothing out of the ordinary. The girls no longer bought new flashy gowns; they simply picked out a nice dress from their closets. While the event was a popular milestone in the life of a high school teenager, it did not require grandiosity in the wardrobe department.
As the decades moved on, events in American history changed the attitudes and beliefs of many. In the 1920s and 1930s, dancing was a favorite past time of the American teenager; it was a way to cut loose from the serious drone of day-to-day life. The attire for proms changed to dance clothes.
Appreciative of the goods at hand after going through hard times, American teens of the 1950s began to change the prom back from a nicely-dressed social event at high school to the original glamorous event that it was in the colleges.
In the late 1970s and 1980s, the prom dress changed once again. In its transition, the prom had come full circle. The attendants are ladies and gentlemen in their finest gowns and suits. Some say that the proms since that time period seem to be a "dress rehearsal" for weddings because the gowns are so elegant.
Prom Royalty
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The Royal Court of Prom was not always a big factor of this social event. Beginning in the 1950s, the prom court became a more popular trend. In Canada and the United States, the prom court is a significant aspect of the social status of the teenage attendants. The court signifies a competition among the teenage peers for popularity, and the positions of the prom queen and king are chosen by peers. More so for the girls, this title carries a lot of weight and significance. It represents style and popularity among peers. Over the years, this became an aspiration for many young women.
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