As the prom date came up on May 4, many seniors had been preparing for this day. Included in the school advertising for the event was a list of senior do’s and don’ts. Of course, the main thing Birmingham made sure to cover was the dress code.

It was pretty interesting to see what the school expected from us seniors this year. The administrators were mainly making sure that the prom stayed formal. The boys were expected to wear formal wear that featured no sagging pants, no jeans, and no sports attire. The girls, on the other hand, were expected to have their dress down to their fingertips, no midriffs, no see-through materials, and no low-back dresses lower than the natural waistline.

It seemed to be that the school implemented formal rules for our class this year–nothing inappropriate, but a lot of students of the 2024 class were bothered by the dress code, especially the girls.

As I interviewed seniors who were about to attend the prom, they mentioned the dress code and how they felt about it. Kayley Soto (12) stated, “Although it is supposed to be a formal event, I do not get the rule of not showing any mid-drift at all. I mean, most dresses I saw were the corset type with a clear mesh but it was not inappropriate at all.”  I can support this claim because I did see a lot of these style dresses and they were not so scandalous–it’s just a style these days.

Another BCCHS student, Roselyn Chamool (12) said, “Most of the dresses in Downtown L.A. were with a see-through mesh, a corset type, but it wasn’t like it was not formal, it was just the style.”  She then added, “I think some of these rules are okay, but also it depends on how much all students are showing including the boys–not just the girls.”

Boys seem to be less concerned about the dress code–at least the few that I interviewed. Luis Caro (12) said, “I found an appropriate tux for this occasion pretty quickly, but I do get the girls, because I helped my cousin look for a dress and most of them were not pretty to her or were just not in the style for us teenagers.” Alex Colio (12) added to that stating, “I found my outfit for $85, unlike the girls paying 100 dollars plus for a dress. I do believe that the dress code was easier for boys than for girls.” Although these boys do show their concerns about the dresses the girls were going to wear, at the same time they felt great that it was a lot easier for them.