David's Bridal

Good Morning DB Readers, Happy Monday Monday! Prom season is right around the corner, and we are so excited for all of the girls who have found their dream dresses for their big night! Even if you’re still looking, David’s Bridal is a great place for inspiration if you’re looking for the perfect dress, or you can find a great dress with us!  This weekend we were featured in a New York Times story about Prom girls looking to celebrities for inspiration on what to wear to their prom! Read the story below, or read it here!

“I’ve got girls whipping out their iPhones,” Stacey Rywelski, the manager of David’s Bridal in Long Island City, said the other day. “They’ll say, ‘What do you guys have that looks like this?’ ”

Ms. Rywelski was describing the annual shopping frenzy that takes place in America shortly before that hallowed high-school ritual, prom, customarily in May or June. And this year, she and others say, the Academy Awards in February, quickly digested by style commentators, have been a particularly fertile source of ideas for young shoppers and the designers who cater to them.

“Every girl is taking red-carpet inspiration,” said Katherine Vargas, 16, a senior at Robert F. Kennedy Community High School in Flushing who watched the Oscars intently, zooming in on Jennifer Lawrence, who won best actress in a Dior couture gown. “I loved her in ‘The Hunger Games’ and on every red carpet, she stuns me. She inspired me to look for a blush dress.”

So Ms. Vargas took to Google, searching for “blush prom dress” and found a strapless fit and flare dress with cut-glass beads from David’s Bridal.

Alexi Buliavac’s choice, which she bought for $378 from Unique Vintage, is a simple Night Moves by Allure blue dress with sparkles on the waistline and a sweetheart neckline. “I got the color from the Oscars,” said Ms. Buliavac, 17, a senior at John Burroughs High School who lives in Burbank, Calif. “I liked the silver and blue dresses like Amy Adams’s dress and Penélope Cruz’s. I wanted that for prom.”

The Oscar ceremony is broadcast when prom issues of teen magazines hit the newsstands, many dresses are already in stores and girls are planning their looks. This year’s crop of red-carpet trends (neutral colors, strapless necklines, beading and sequins) had a sweetness that seemed particularly prom-friendly. “A great return to feminine beauty, with sweetheart necklines and the emphasis on hourglass silhouettes,” said Zoey Washington, the owner of Littlebird, a lifestyle company for teenagers on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

In his column for Slate, the Barneys creative ambassador Simon Doonan was somewhat more acidic. “Is it fashion? No.” he wrote of the styles that prevailed at this year’s Oscars. “Is it a parade of conventional prom dresses? Yes, I am rather afraid it is.”

But as Mr. Doonan said in a recent phone interview, “when a girl goes to the prom, she wants a silver-screen, old-school moment of glamour.”

“It’s not got a lot to do with high fashion,” he noted.

Hollywood has long figured in the dreams (and nightmares) of prom-bound teenage girls: The daisy-adorned dress worn by Elizabeth Taylor in “A Place in the Sun” reverberated through junior departments for years; less so the homemade ones of “Carrie” and “Pretty in Pink.” But only in recent years, with the rise of stylists and endless Internet images, has the focus been on the red carpet, which, like prom, is “a highly crafted theatrical moment that is pure drama,” said Ann Shoket, the editor in chief of Seventeen magazine.

The Oscar ceremony is far from the only event to influence decisions. By February, Carter Rutherfurd, 17, had already bought two possible dresses for her prom at T. C. Roberson High School in Asheville, N.C.: a tangerine Nicole Miller dress and a dark green dress from J. Crew inspired by a Vera Wang gown that Mila Kunis wore to the Golden Globes in 2011.

But then she saw Jessica Chastain’s copper Armani Privé Oscars gown. “It took my breath away,” Ms. Rutherfurd said. “It was simple, classy and so elegant. I love the color, and the sparkle on it made it stand out.” Using Pinterest and Rent the Runway and with a budget of $250, she said, “I am looking for a dress similar to that for my own.”

Some girls are looking at photos of after-parties and even to broadcasters for inspiration. Natalie Steele, 17, loved the black Tony Ward couture dress that Giuliana Rancic wore as a red-carpet correspondent. “It was simple and classy, it’s what I want when I go to prom,” said Ms. Steele, who is a senior at Santa Susana High School and lives in Simi Valley, Calif. With $150 to spend, she found a black strapless dress from David’s Bridal that was form fitting and flared out at the bottom. “The dressing rooms don’t have mirrors,” she said. “I walked out and my mom and I saw it at the same time. I knew this was the one.”