7 Trendy Prom Dresses You’ll Regret Wearing In The Future

Finding a prom dress is hard. It has to fit your body (a feat that is easier said than done), while also fitting in with the ~aesthetic~ of your prom group without being too similar to the dresses in your group. Plus, you have to make sure that, you know, you like it and all that. With all this to worry about, it’s easy to fall into what I like to refer to as the “trend trap.” A trend trap, as you might be able to guess, is much like a thirst trap, but for trendy pieces that you think look cool now but will look back on in a few years with palpable scorn and regret and, unfortunately, prom dresses seem to be the biggest offenders in the trend trap category. (Think of the way your mom cringes when you bring up the shoulder pads she wore at her wedding.)

Obviously, please don’t just take my word for it–if there’s a trend or style you see here that you genuinely like and feel that you simply must have on your body, by all mean, go out there and purchase it. I am just a girl on the Internet! I don’t know your life! But at the same time, there are some prom dress styles that, if not objectively bad, might very well be something that you regret later on. Check them out here:

Crop Tops
Overall, crop tops are great. I am not here to crop top-shame anyone! Rather, my beef with crop tops and prom is purely logistical--crop tops seem to have a mind of their own, a lot of the time, which means that they move around independently and don't really look exactly how you want them to in pictures. Plus, they're going to look SUPER dated in a few years, like having overly-puffy sleeves in the 80s or that Elaine from "Seinfeld" floral pattern from the 90s.

Separates
Perhaps building off of the omnipresence of crop tops, Taylor Swift has tricked us all into thinking that whimsical separates are the perfect thing to wear on all occasions--to class, prom, your wedding, whatever. You can wear separates if you want, obviously--you're just going to have to carry around a sign with Taylor Swift's face on it all night, since, at this point, she's probably copyrighted the look.

Anything That Looks Like It's For The Club
You see a lot of short, shiny dresses when you're shopping around for prom looks. While short and shiny is usually the move, for prom, you might want to go with something more formal--the club aesthetic is all well and good, but you have a LOT of time to strive for this look. Plus, clubbing styles tend to shift more than prom ones, so wearing a club-y dress like this is a good way to ensure that your look will be pretty dated.