The dresses.  Rented tuxes.  Corsages.  Themes.  To match or not to match?  Is my mom chaperoning?  These are the things worried over every May to June across the country... that spring-has-sprung annual tradition: the Prom.  Add to that list limos, location, dates and a fancy dinner, and kids have a lot on their minds each time Prom comes around.  Of course, there were always a handful of students who were staunchly anti-Prom... but for those who chose to attend, it could be a really big deal.

This rite of passage wasn’t always so complex.  The now-iconic ritual started when students would come to "Promenade," as it was originally known, dressed simply in their Sunday best-- clothes they already had.  There would be socializing and dancing, maybe a bit of tea.  With the freedom that the automobile gave to teens, the Prom expanded into a banquet where seniors show up in party clothes ready to cut a rug.  As the American post-World War II economy boomed, Proms began to grow into the monstrous formal tradition that they are today.  Soon, it was important to go with the best-looking date.  The bid to get on the Prom Court… well, that made the elections for Student Council President paled in comparison.  Becoming a part of the prom court guaranteed elite social status in school.  Don’t just take our word for it:  look at the many movies glorifying, traumatizing and demonizing the quest for the crown, everything from the very scary Carrie to Valley Girl… or how about Prom Night, and Prom Night II?  Don’t mess with the Prom Queen.

What’s any good Prom discussion without mentioning fashion?  Would you wear a long gown or a short dress?  Pretty in pink, or glamorous in deep blue?  Hair up, or down?  Matching cummerbunds?  Of course, if your dress was looking hideous you could take a cue from Andie Walsh and make your own.  And then there was the infamous pinning of the corsage-- was there ever a more heart-stopping moment?

In the end, it rarely mattered what you wore, or who you went with, or who wore the crown at the end of the night.  The memories taken away from the experience had more to do with feeling like a grown-up, in grown-up dress-up clothes, for the first time.  Being the belle of the ball, even if it was just in your friends' eyes.  Spending a night with a class that, soon enough, would never be together again.  Prom is more than a ritual of ridiculous ballgowns... it's a rite of passage and a kiss goodbye to the simpler days of our youth.