100 Years of Prom Dresses | Glamour

Take a look back with us at the last century of prom dresses, from the drop-waist velvet dresses of the 1930s to the ultra-poofy dresses with over-the-top bows and ruffles from the '80s, inspired by teen movies like 'Sixteen Candles' and 'Pretty in Pink.' We also take a look at the minimalistic pieces from the '90s inspired by the iconic slip dress look by Calvin Klein that were modeled by stars like Julia Stiles and and Rachel Leigh Cook in '10 Things I Hate About You' and 'She's All That.'

[irenevalbuena]

So like, what happened to all the undergarments that make these dresses actually look nice and have the actual silhouette of the era???

[dl]

The 50’s definitely should have had a few petticoats to fill the skirt. Looks totally different without

[jenniferfreese]

love how most of the "reference photos" for the later decades are either celebrities/red carpet events or movies, because that screams "typical teen" so well lmao

[musicisinspration]

The pictures of the dresses were much nicer than anything the models actually put on

[VanniSharma]

Who else is just waiting for the fashion history girlies to ROAST this?

[brandyloutherback]

A for Effort? All the undergarments were super modern! In the 30s Bras were indended to lift and support together with tap pants and girdles. In the 40s Cone bras emerged, as well as all in one corsets, important for the hour glass figure of the time. The 1950s was a continuation of the 40s with more exaggerated Bullet bras. In the 1960s: Less exaggerated cone bras and hip hugger panties with slips! Rigid foundation garments ended in the 70s. In the late 70s and 80s, Corsets were worn as outer garments! Appropriate Undergarments are needed to achieve the silhouette of a particular decade or Era!

[Msdizzylizzie]

I graduated in '03 and at my prom we practically all had ball gowns. Big, puffy, sparkly, ball gowns 🤣

[crazydglady]

In the 2010’s another really popular type of prom dress was the high low skirt. Those where the two you’d see the most at my prom the overly embellished cut out dresses and high lows with big skirts.

[sunshinek]

1998-2001 had the Cinderella style dresses, also sometimes called ballroom dresses. I can literally pull out a yearbook with that in it. What was big at the beginning of the 90s was so much different than the end. They left out the late 70s early 80s too. 🤨

[SarahB]

The early 1970s might have had the "Carrie" style prom dress, but in the late 1970s everything was Southern belle style, very big skirts and lots of ruffles.

[mollyschmidt]

If you are doing 100 years of prom dresses you should have started in the 1920’s Glamour. The 30’s dress is clearly an 80’s prom dress. The 40’s dress looked 30’s. Sloppy research and production

[darkheartchick]

The 2010 dress was gorgeous but no school would ever allow it

[blugreen]

This should have included period shapewear as well.

[JettyTex]

How is this so bad the first few dresses look nothing like the reference photos and the dress the model wore while the talked about the style in Carrier was literally the opposite fit of what they were saying

[rcaraway]

How could they have so many dresses and so few that actually fit?

[sandiyoung]

I attended proms in 1983 and 1984. Hoop skirts were very much in fashion. Not the huge ones like during the Civil War, but enough to hold out big full skirts.

[toykeyper]

The 1980s dresses shown were like an understated version of the real prom dresses worn in the 80s, close but not enough. Needed more and bigger ruffles, more sparkles, shine and puffiness. Maybe some sewn on roses. Super gaudy (yet iconic). And my prom was in 1997 and most of the girls in my school were wearing dresses that looked more like the 2000s.

[trinaq]

While I love "Pretty in Pink", I could never get over Andie ruining two perfectly good prom dresses, to make something that resembled a pink potato sack! 👗

[kellyhopson]

As someone who went to prom in 2000s, it was being "risque" and "edgy" to wear a two piece "prom dress". My cousin did it, and they bought threw her out of prom and told her she couldn't walk the promenade... So of course the following year, I had to follow suit.

[asianoy]

I LOVE THESE 100 YEAR SERIES SO VERY MUCH 😍