With the prom season upon us, HILARIE STELFOX takes a look at how this strongly- American tradition has been embraced by celebrity-loving British teenagers – and on the eve of the royal wedding we transform one Huddersfield New College student into a prom princess

IT’S NOT unknown for 16-year-olds to wear £400 gowns at their Year 11 high school prom.

Even those who have not spent a fortune on a dress arrive in limousines with carefully coiffured hair and St Tropez fake tans.

Until a decade ago, most British teenagers were happy to put on their party clothes and attend an end-of-year disco. But then the American-style prom hit these shores and things have never been quite the same since.

The prom has rapidly become a major highlight in the school calendar and, as such, requires serious forward planning. In some cases, no expense is spared.

At Mia Sposa – the bridal and occasion specialist in King Street in Huddersfield town centre – it’s last orders for this year’s prom dresses which take up to eight weeks to make.

Business has, so far, been surprisingly brisk, given that we’re in a recession.

Bridal assistant Karen Henghan said: "We’ve seen it grow gradually year on year. It’s become very competitive. One girl came in and bought a pink bridal gown for £400 to wear at her prom. They all want to be different."

But with the cost of a made-to-measure dress starting at £225 and off-the-peg from £175, it’s easy for girls to rack up a hefty bill.

"You can see the worry on the parent’s faces when the girls start looking," said Karen. "I have noticed it this year. I think the recession is having an effect."

While some families can clearly afford to lash out at prom time – paying for beauty salon treatments, hairdressing and limousines – others have to shop around. Discount retailers have now embraced prom season and discovered that they can sell as many evening dress in the spring as they can at Christmas.

"We’re very busy," said Mandy Parkin- Rhodes, manager at Dress for Less in Lindley, where prom dresses can be picked up for as little as £40.

"When I was at school we used to have a disco or a bit of a dance at the end of school. It was nothing as formal as a prom and we certainly didn’t go to the lengths they go to now.

"They are treating their prom as if it was a mini-wedding. Maybe it’s the celebrity culture we have now – they all want to look really glamorous."

This year short dresses have been in demand. Mandy added: "A couple of years ago everyone was wearing long dresses, but I think they are now looking for dresses that they can wear again. They want to get more use out of them."

Our prom model, 18-year-old Rosie O’Hare from Birkby, agrees that shorter-length dresses are popular because of their versatility.

"You can wear them for the prom or just for a night out,’’ she said. "You don’t want something you can only wear once."

For her Year 11 prom, Rosie wore a dress by Huddersfield designer Kevan Jon – donated to her after she helped to organise a charity fashion show – and says his creations are popular with her age group, as are those of another local designer, Hardy Punglia from Left Bank.

"But there are all sort of places where you can get dresses quite cheaply," she said. "There’s a lot of hype about proms, but you don’t have to spend a fortune.

"Some of my friends got their dresses online and one made her own."

Rosie, who is taking A levels in English language, performance studies and textiles at Huddersfield New College, plans to attend the prom at her former high school in Rastrick.

In the autumn she will be taking up a place at the Arts Education college in London and has ambitions to go into showbusiness.

She will take the lead role in the Heavy Arts Theatre production of High School Musical this July at the Lawrence Batley Theatre.

Before our musical star modelled the prom dresses we selected from Dress for Less, we asked hairstylist Jane Prentice from the Vanilla salon at Aspley to create a contemporary evening hairstyle. Beauty therapist Michaela Cadogan, who has a beauty room at the salon, also stepped in to do make-up, eyelashes and nails.

According to salon partner Jane Prentice, the latest look for hair ‘put-ups’ is classical and combed. "The messy Amy Winehouse look is totally gone," she said. "We’re doing lots of smooth quiffs at the front with ornate curls on the top. The look is very 1950s.

"It’s almost like doing wedding hair."

Rosie had been enjoying the recent sunny weather, so didn’t need a self-tanning treatment, but, says Michaela, fake tans are now almost de rigeur for proms, as are false eyelashes, manicures and pedicures.

She was recently rushed off her feet by girls attending Almondbury High School prom, which is held early in the season.

"Some of the mums came and had false eyelashes done as well," she said. "The girls came for spray tans, mini manicures and pedicures as well as make-up. Some of them were spending hundreds of pounds on a dress."

Boots No7 make-up artist Raj Kaur, who works in the Huddersfield town centre store, says teenage girls want "really heavy make-up" for their proms. She’s part of a team of beauty consultants who teach make-up techniques to girls from King James High School and Almondbury High School.

"The schools wanted us to show the girls how to wear ‘natural’ make-up for school so that they weren’t turning up with orange faces and thick black eyeliner," said Raj. "But for the prom they really want to be as glamorous as possible, with smokey eyes, false eyelashes and lots of make-up."

Our make-over complete, Rosie said she really did feel like a princess. And which dress will she be wearing for her next prom?

"The pink one," she said. "It’s really different, really Strictly Come Dancing. I love it."

We are giving readers the chance to feature their proms in the Examiner. Send us your best pictures from this year’s proms. Don’t forget to caption each photograph and include a contact telephone number. Email them to editorial@examiner.co.uk

THE American high school prom grew out of the formal balls held in the country’s elite schools as far back as the 1900s.

These heavily-chaperoned affairs generally took the form of a tea dance and were attended by the senior classes at high schools.

They were named proms after the ‘promenade’ or march by guests into the ballroom at the start of the event.

Today the prom is considered by many to be short for ‘promoted’ and signals the movement from one year group into the next.

By the 1920s and 30s, when America’s youth began to enjoy more freedom, the prom was established as an annual event at most junior and senior high schools – that’s years 11, 12 and 13 here.

In the 1950s, the post-war economic boom secured the status of the prom and with it the titles of prom king and prom queen and the desire to have the best dress.

This competitive side to the prom reached a peak in the late 1980s and today’s proms, on both sides of the Atlantic, have become associated with lavish dressing and, in some cases, lavish spending.

American-born Susan Fischler, who was raised in northern California but now teaches at St Andrew’s C of E Junior School in Brighouse, recalls her prom days in the 1970s:

“We didn’t spend outrageous amounts like they do now,” she explained.

“The boys had to buy a corsage for their date and the girls had to buy the boys a buttonhole flower and we’d buy a new dress.

“But it was still a ridiculous celebration of superficiality where the beautiful girls got crowned prom princesses.

“If you were of reasonable social standing and reasonably good looking then you hoped that an older boy would invite you to go to one of the older proms. It was what you aimed for. One year I considered it a real success because I went to all three,” she said.

Proms have been popular in the UK for the last 10 years or so and usually incorporate a meal in a hotel, with dancing and a live band.

Susan says high school proms were generally held in the school gym and were chaperoned. It was traditional to be taken out for a meal beforehand.

“But the senior balls are held in hotels, are unchaperoned and can be quite wild affairs,’’ she said. “Mine went on until 6am the following morning.”

HERE are a few tips on how to enjoy a cut-price prom:

Trawl the High Street for sales bargains and discounted clothing. Also, check out eBay and charity shops for barely-worn dresses. Try customising dresses with beads and trims from a haberdasher. A budget of £70 will give you plenty of choice.

Stick-on nails, available for just a few pounds a set, will give an instant manicure. Also available now for toenails. £10.

False eyelashes can also be picked up for less than a fiver and add a touch of glamour.

Fake tans are best applied by a professional for an overall streak-free effect, but Johnson’s Holiday Skin gives a subtle glow that is forgiving of mistakes. £7.

Unless you have a friend who is a hairdresser or your mother is a dab hand with hair grips and spray then opt for a natural, soft curl look and do it yourself using tongs. Lashings of Elnett hairspray, the model’s best-kept secret, will hold things in place. £6.

Total: £98.

FOR those with a premium prom budget.

Tailor-made dress. From £225.

Mini-manicure and mini-pedicure, £30.

Individual eyelash extensions from £12 upwards, depending on how many are needed. This treatment lasts for days.

Spray tan. Around £15 or £20.

Hair ‘put-up’. £40.

Professional make-up £20.

Total £347.