Funny, I have brought up three teenage girls and have never been able to convince them to buy a dress for a special event in the same town in which we live. The appeal of the dress always seems in direct proportion to the distance of the mall. The perfect prom dress, like the perfect pair of jeans, is something that exists only in the fantasy world of soft-drink ads and magazine fashion spreads. In real life, prom dresses are always too fluffy or too slinky or too something ridiculous. To my mind, prom dresses make young girls look like either ice-cream parfaits or teen hookers.
Prom dresses are also too much money.
The wastrel in me who gave up caring about the cost as long as the jeans fit does not come forth in the formal-wear section. You wear jeans. Then you wear them again and again. But prom dresses will clog the back of the closet for years to come. I'm a good sport.