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American Morning
Belly Button-Baring Dresses All the Rage This Prom Season
Aired April 25, 2002 - 09:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: For those of you who have teenaged kids, you already know prom season is here, and a very exciting time for teens, but when you look at some of what kids are going to be wearing, it's a pretty high anxiety time for their parents.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want too much skin showing, especially on the tummy.
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ZAHN: Well, guess what, mom? That's about all you're going to see this year. The experts say belly button-baring dresses all the rage this year, as you might imagine. The revealing styles are not as popular with parents or principals.
Joining us now with more on new crop prom fashions, Brandon Holly, editor in chief of "Elle Girl" magazine, and from Montreal this morning, Steve Silverstein, president of bestpromdresses.com.
Happy prom season to both of you. Welcome.
BRANDON HOLLY, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, "ELLE GIRL" MAGAZINE: Good morning.
STEVE SILVERSTEIN, PRESIDENT, BESTPROMDRESSES.COM: Thank you.
ZAHN: It should come as no surprise that kids are influenced by the stuff they see actors and singers wear. Is that the influence this year?
HOLLY: Britney, Christina, Shakira. Yes, all they see basically when they turn on MTV is a lot of skin. So I think that they want to turn that into a prom look, and so those two-piece prom dresses are serving the market.
ZAHN: But there are a lot of rules at these schools around the country, like the one-inch rule. What is that one all about.
HOLLY: A lot of schools impose a one-inch rule. You can show one inch of tummy. Some schools, you can't show any tummy.
ZAHN: So the tummy patrol will be out there. Oh, my goodness, she's up to inch and a half now -- go home.
What is amazing is the amount of money that is made this time of year, and, Steve, I guess you can address this sort of thing. It is a $2.7 billion industry, and on average, these teenagers spend, what, about $203 on a dress.
SILVERSTEIN: I think it's closer to $500 from what I've read.
ZAHN: Wow.
And what I also understand, you on occasion will get kids returning some of what they bought, because it didn't quite cut the school rules. I'm going to put up on the screen right now one of those return e-mails, which reads, "Our principal put a rule down that we were not able to wear anything that shows too much stomach or too much back, and the dress I chose did both. How common are these kinds of returns?
SILVERSTEIN: Well, they're not too common. We've sold thousands of dresses, and we've only had maybe a dozen or two that have had to come back because of the rule. I think people accept the prom dresses the way they look. They're dressing like that on the street. So it's not that provocative. My kids wear them out every day. They're wearing the low-rise jeans, the crop tops, so they're wearing them to prom as well. It's not that provocative, as far I'm concerned.
ZAHN: And tell us a little bit out whether you have seen any changes this year post-September 11th that the kind of spending that teens and their parents are willing to make this time of the year on the prom?
SILVERSTEIN: Well, I think that there's be a little bit of comeback to the more conservative dress. We do sell about 20 percent are the belly midriff baring dresses, but the rest are a little more conservative. They're full skirts. They're straight skirts. They're stretch fabrics. A little bit of everything goes.
ZAHN: And, Holly, I can imagine that based on the mail you get, you probably would just love to be in the dressing room in these wars between mother and daughters.
HOLLY: I've seen it firsthand.
ZAHN: What kind of advice do you give to both parties here?
HOLLY: Well, I think this is a big night for a girl, and she wants to stand out from the crowd, and "Elle Girl," my magazine, is all about that. It's dare to be different. And we want to show girls that there's a way to stand out from the crowd without showing it all. And so maybe mothers and daughters could rent some old classic movies "Breakfast at Tiffany's," and you know, there is a way that you can look elegant, and beautiful and sexy without showing it all.
ZAHN: And he was saying some average kids spend $500. And other statistics show $200, but you eve believe that you could spend less than that. HOLLY: Yes, in the magazine, we have three dresses that are under $50 that are gorgeous. You can also spend $200, but if a girl wants to spend more than that, we suggest that maybe she ante up a little bit of the money herself so the parent's not footing the bill.
ZAHN: As a matter of fact, I'm told that you liked one of the dresses so much, you're buying it yourself.
HOLLY: I will be wearing it in the summer.
ZAHN: Steve, any final words of advice for parents this year?
SILVERSTEIN: I have three daughters. I think my daughters can make their decisions on their own. We like to influence them a little bit. But I think they're pretty well -- can do it by themselves. I think we can express our influence on more serious things than just wearing a prom dress.
ZAHN: What about that, Holly?
HOLLY: Well, I think that's true. I think that parents can provide positive influences because they see a lot of very sexy outfits on TV, and there is a place for that. But prom is the night you want to look back on and remember with, with good memories, and maybe you want to be a little more sophisticated in what you wear and have fun.
ZAHN: Do you remember what you wore to your senior prom?
HOLLY: I was an explosion of tool (ph).
ZAHN: Nice. I was an explosion of lavender, with a boteneer (ph) that clashed, I might add.
Steve, good luck to you during this very busy season for you.
SILVERSTEIN: Thank you.
ZAHN: Good luck with your magazine.
HOLLY: Thank you.
ZAHN: Holly and Steve, thanks for your time this morning. Good luck to parents out there.
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