How...revealing [Updated]
Would you let your daughter wear this to her prom?
"I was shocked when I first saw it, but now it's one of our top 20 dresses nationwide," says Nick Yeh, the CEO of Xcite, the Stafford, Texas, company that designed the dress..
Most of the girls/adults in the interview seem just as appalled as I am, but the fact that the dress is selling well means somewhere out there is a mother who thinks her daughter looks stunning in this outfit.
Of course, that also means somewhere out there is a daughter whose destiny is pretty much mapped out for her.
Makes me glad, once again, that my own daughter prefers the baggy/oversized look.
Via Kimberly Swygert, equally appalled.
Update: I've received quite a few emails from people saying that the Post purposely had their "model" wear the dress wrong - the straps are actually backwards and the dress is a lot less revealing when worn right. But it's STILL not a dress I would allow my teenage daughter to wear.
Comments
There's some photoshopping going on in that picture...
Posted by: Sekimori | January 24, 2005 09:31 PM
Get thee behind me, Jezebel.
I am stunned. That's on the gory edge of illegal. It's also an open invitation to crass young boys to see if they can "accidentally" set a boob free.
Totally inappropriate. Also totally ugly.
Posted by: Keith | January 24, 2005 09:35 PM
I'd never let my daughter wear something like that...
But I might look into getting one for my wife. :))
Posted by: David | January 24, 2005 09:37 PM
With a lot of two-sided tape and a tight fishnet shirt thingy, it could be a decent item of promwear. Almost.
I bet most of the buyers are sorority girls buying it for their "formal" events. Sure, the occasional idiot highschooler's parents send their precious out to the mall with a credit card and no parental authority, but I doubt many high school girls would dare to wear that among sixteen-year-old boys. Around twenty-year-old men with trust funds, maybe. But not high schoolers.
Posted by: jon | January 24, 2005 09:44 PM
Two words: White. Trash.
Posted by: Andrea Harris | January 24, 2005 09:45 PM
My mom owned a bridal boutique while I was growing up, and I can honestly say that someone would have died if that dress had shown up.
Posted by: Matt | January 24, 2005 09:54 PM
Who wouldda thought that there could be "clothes" that would make paretns thankful for grungy, baggy skater duds?
Posted by: mike | January 24, 2005 09:57 PM
Two other words: Prom Ho
Posted by: Dr_Funk | January 24, 2005 09:58 PM
What, you people think parents are gonna drop 5 grand on new boobs for their daughter and not show em off? Please!
Posted by: skillzy | January 24, 2005 10:06 PM
With the zero-tolerance policies that most schools have today? Ha!
Posted by: Shawn | January 24, 2005 10:17 PM
That is insane!
Only one type of girl would wear a dress like that and she'd be asking for more than a dance!
Posted by: ReaderMom | January 24, 2005 10:24 PM
Awesome.
snicker
Posted by: fat kid | January 24, 2005 10:26 PM
Wow. It's bad enough that the dress is asking for all kinds of trouble. Would I let my daughter wear that? No, and not just because it's inappropriate, but just as much because it's freaking ugly, no matter how nice the wearer's breasts are. Bah. Seeing that dress would catch my eye, sure, but it would also keep me away.
Posted by: Joel Caris | January 24, 2005 10:29 PM
Screw perental authority - what high school allows girls to attend dances with their breasts hanging out?
Posted by: Richard | January 24, 2005 10:38 PM
Are we absolutely sure the poor girl didn't put the thing on backwards?
Posted by: CGHill | January 24, 2005 10:39 PM
LOL! I just love you guys!
I don't have kids so I'm not sure I have a comment....THE HELL I DON'T!!! As a 37 year old man there's no way I would want my nieces wearing something like that!
As a 17 year old boy? heh. heh. heh.
my oh my how 20 years makes a diff eh?
Posted by: Wayne Fielder | January 24, 2005 10:54 PM
I have to say I'm appalled at the baggy/oversized link, too. Pants that use enough fabric to cover a three-ring circus don't belong on teenagers. I could go on, but I'd risk further alienation from my daughter.
Posted by: jon | January 24, 2005 11:00 PM
Maybe the foolishly rich girls are buying them to shock the parents into allowing them the dress they really want?
I'm afraid that if one of my nieces (or one of my nephew's dates) showed up in that I'd start giggling. Perhaps this would be a good thing?
Posted by: htom | January 24, 2005 11:07 PM
What a rip. Where was all this shit when I was in High School?
Posted by: Neo | January 24, 2005 11:11 PM
Oh, and I would never allow either of my two daughters to ever wear anything remotely similar to that. Ever.
I don't want to be a grandparent at 40.
Posted by: Neo | January 24, 2005 11:14 PM
Despite the unusual front cross style, there may be an untapped market.
Yes, it burns.
Posted by: Midgard | January 24, 2005 11:26 PM
Nice:-)
Posted by: mr lawson | January 24, 2005 11:33 PM
and BTW....
I'd hit it!
/first class, please
Posted by: mr lawson | January 24, 2005 11:36 PM
Does the $495 include the implants?
Posted by: Jim Treacher | January 24, 2005 11:49 PM
I think we may be seeing a trend, I'd suggest that in a dress like this, it is not only possible for those things to flop out, it might actually be expected and desired by the wearer.
Have you seen the video of Tara Reid with her frankenboobie hanging out? She stood there with photographers snapping away for something like 30 seconds. Granted, she might have been high as Mt. Shasta, but it sure seemed when some woman came and pulled up her strap for her, she wasn't even remotely embarrassed. Her response was to turn toward another group of photographers and pose for them.
Posted by: Matt30 | January 25, 2005 12:39 AM
Sorry Andrea, but you're waaaay off base with the "White Trash" comment. First of all, the damn thing costs $495 for cryin out loud, that's like a whole brand new chevette with a complete set of retreads and an 8-track player, or brand new skirting on the double-wide and a new stock tank/swimming pool for the kids (since the transmission from the chevette is in the old one), so no way would respectable white trash let their daughters buy that. Hell, what's wrong with the traditional White Trash prom dress; denim miniskirt, lace up boots, and a sequined toob top?
Anyhoo, this thing is ugly as sin and there's no way I'd let a kid of mine go out in it. Hell, it's not even the p0rno styling that makes it so ugly, look at the damn thing - it's something a talentless hack would design. Of course if I was 17 and my date wanted to wear one to the prom I'd probably say, "Hell Yeah" then give her my coat to wear all night. I wouldn't mind seeing her in it but I'm not sure I'd be crazy about sharing the view with everyone else.
Posted by: Robert Modean | January 25, 2005 12:51 AM
I just wanted to thank you for having the courtesy to link to a larger image.
Posted by: Al | January 25, 2005 12:56 AM
According to the designer when he was on Fox News today, the model wore the dress incorrectly. There were pictures of other models wearing the dress "correctly", which is with the straps crossed over the opposite shoulder. Worn that way, it is much less revealing...
Posted by: monkeyson | January 25, 2005 01:35 AM
That dress would not (or is not) allowed at the high school I went to. LOL
Posted by: boz | January 25, 2005 01:55 AM
Commercial girls would see this as 'truth in advertising'. Any fallout would not be a problem.
Posted by: rb | January 25, 2005 04:06 AM
From seeing the larger pic, I have to say either she's got an oddly placed left nipple, or there's some airbrushing going on. Now to cure the drooling going on, apperently the designer makes them up to size 30. Just about right for those nights when Michael Moore wants to dress up & feel "Pretty, oh so pretty..."
Posted by: Cybrludite | January 25, 2005 05:30 AM
And yes, being a male pig (redundancy alert) I wouldn't be upset at meeting the model in that dress, provided she's above the local age of consent and has consumed at least one roofie. But that pretty much goes without saying...
Posted by: Cybrludite | January 25, 2005 05:36 AM
You know what scares me?
Yeah, I can picture this being worn. And despite the male chauvanistic pigness that encompasses me, it frightens me.
Posted by: Charlie on the Pennsylvania Turnpike | January 25, 2005 07:24 AM
Robert Modean, I can't believe you actually sat down and reasoned out a long rebuttal to "white trash." That being said, who ever said you had to be poor to be trashy? Anna Nicole Smith, anyone? Some of the trashiest white people in the world are as rich as Bill Gates. You can't buy good taste or morals.
Posted by: Andrea Harris | January 25, 2005 07:33 AM
Then again you seem to know way too much about what white trash like.
Posted by: Andrea Harris | January 25, 2005 07:34 AM
Certainly not a dress for a girl with a full bosom. I am guessing tape is being used if that dress is real.
Posted by: Andrew Ian Dodge | January 25, 2005 07:39 AM
Where's the shirt??
Posted by: Fausta | January 25, 2005 08:20 AM
My ex's prom dress showed a fair bit of cleavage (the bustier was VERY tight), but from the waist down there were about six layers of skirt. Sort of the best of both worlds.
Does the model in this article look a little like Keri Lynn Pratt (Missy on Jack and Bobby) to anyone else?
Posted by: Josh Cohen | January 25, 2005 09:06 AM
Indecency aside, it's just a fugly dress.
And I'm trying to envision the "straps crossed the other way" to make it less revealing...the only way I can see it as less revealing is if she has it on backwards, and the back is actually more covered than the front.
And although I despise the "she was dressed that way and she had it comin' to her" defense of rape, I really think any woman with an iota of common sense wouldn't wear this thing out of the bedroom. At least not without a couple of huge eunuch bodyguards on hand.
Posted by: ricki | January 25, 2005 10:42 AM
Backwards or not, that dress is out of bounds. I have some time before my 2 year old has her frst prom thank God. And no, I don't want her wearing that baggy crap either. That God for Catholic school uniforms.
Was in St. Louis this fall and witnessed a huge (about 25 couples) pre-prom dinner event while out to dinner. These were very well off suburban kids, and wow, they had some dresses on them. Some thoughts: The girls were rather pretty, the dresses were almost all fairly sexy, and these girls almost all had great boobs. I don't know if it's the Lindsey Lohan thing or what, but they were either born to have great boobs or somebody purchased them, but they all had 'em.
I don't know that there's much difference between the mall and most strip joints now. Is female modesty completely obsolete?
Posted by: SteveL | January 25, 2005 11:30 AM
Come on, Michele, don't you want to be a grandma soon? Wouldn't that just be the COOLEST?!?
Posted by: Carin | January 25, 2005 11:38 AM
I'd hit it.
Posted by: shank | January 25, 2005 11:57 AM
It's not so bad when worn properly, IMO. The way the model in the picture above is wearing it is, well.. scandalous. Yow.
=darwin
Posted by: Darwin | January 25, 2005 01:18 PM
Now you've done it, Michele. My friends' daughter saw your post and is now saving her after-school job money to get that dress.
She intends to make a big splash at the John C. Holmes Union High School Class of '05 Senior prom.
Posted by: Neuroto | January 25, 2005 07:06 PM
I don't know fashion. My prom date insisted on prior approval of my attire in 1989. That said, here's what I think of when somebody says "prom dress".
http://www.ktbh.org/GraceKelly.jpg
Posted by: chris | January 25, 2005 08:44 PM
great dress ... IF you're going for the look of Slut Du Jour.
Posted by: Reasonable | January 25, 2005 11:26 PM
I saw the designer on the Today Show this morning. He said the model put it on wrong, but the buyers liked it that way, so he left it that way. That being said, if my daughter had wanted to wear something like that to her prom, she'd still be locked in her room, and she's 27 now.
Posted by: Denise | January 26, 2005 04:01 AM
You know, I am probably going to get flammed and all, but what is it that causes the young female to go so ga-ga over a prom?
Posted by: Charlie on the Pennsylvania Turnpike | January 26, 2005 07:07 AM
What's the big deal?! This dress is no worse than the swimsuits I see girls of all ages wear in the summer! I consider myself to be a serious Christian and if I had a daughter who wanted to wear this dress to her prom, I do not see why not!
Posted by: Jason | January 26, 2005 08:31 AM
I was very conservative with my clothing in high school so were all my friends. When I wore strapless dresses to a school dance I didn't know about glue and constantly conscious.
I am glad my teenage daughter prefers baggy clothing. My 15 year old has womanly curves and is a size D in her bra size, and till growing.
There is no way in hell I would allow my teenage daughters wear any clothing that looks like they are about to go to a porn star event.
Posted by: shelli | January 26, 2005 10:41 AM
theres no way that I would even think about letting my neice wear anything that shows that much. The most I would let her show is her shoulders. I think the dress is trashy, it has no class and should also have something done to it simpley to make it look better. If this is what the styles are coming to then were in serious need of help, whats next criss crosses on the crotch?? who knows!!
Posted by: Lorreigh21 | January 26, 2005 12:40 PM