Prom Dress Decisions: Should You DIY Or Just Buy It Online?

Prom represents a unique moment in the life of every young person and deserves to be celebrated properly. This means that apart from setting up a beautiful venue where you get to party with your friends and celebrate the end of your high school years in style, you also need to choose a stunning outfit that reflects the importance of the occasion and makes you look and feel amazing on this special night. 

Therefore, cutting corners is out of the question. On the contrary, you’ll want to go all out and pick a prom gown that has the wow factor and makes heads turn. The more lavish and glamorous, the better. 

Of course, when it comes to finding the ideal prom dress, the possibilities are endless. You can literally get lost in the multitude of outfit styles, cuts, and colors lined up in online and physical stores. The virtual space, in particular, brings an overwhelming number of choices at your fingertips, which is why the majority of girls prefer to shop online for their dresses. Unfortunately, this often turns the whole dress hunt into mission impossible as it can be extremely challenging to pick a piece from such a wide range of designs. 

If you want to skip the search process and all the stress it implies, you can always get crafty and make your dream dress yourself. Admittedly, designing a prom dress from scratch is not exactly a popular approach, as most teens prefer to buy ready-made gowns. Nevertheless, taking the DIY route does come with certain perks that may sway you in this direction. 

So, what’s it going to be: a DIY or an off-the-rack prom dress purchased conveniently from an online store? A quick look at the pros and cons for each of these options might help you make up your mind. 

The case for DIY prom dresses

Although DIY prom dresses are not necessarily a common choice, there are several reasons why this might be a good idea after all. First of all, let’s talk about the financial aspect. Sewing your own dress generally costs less than buying a gown from an online retailer, so if you’re on a tight budget, you might want to give this a thought. 

Although high-quality materials don’t come cheap, and the more luxurious the fabric is, the higher the price, you can still save a lot of money if you have the skills and the will to craft your own dress. The savings can be even bigger if we compare DIY attires to designer gowns, which tend to be extremely expensive and go well above your budget. 

You also get to create a completely unique outfit and avoid the risk of showing up to the prom in a similar or the same dress as someone else. Sporting your own design ensures a one-of-a-kind look that no one else has. 

In addition, DIY gives you full creative control, allowing you to play with different design elements and come up with a custom attire, just the way you imagined it. You can make all sorts of combinations, no matter how daring or unusual, and manufacture a dress that matches your style and reflects your personality perfectly, right down to the seams, without any compromises.  

Let’s not forget that there’s also a sense of pride that comes with wearing an outfit that you’ve created with your own hands. This is an opportunity to showcase your creativity and demonstrate out-of-the-box thinking. 

However, you should also be aware of the potential drawbacks before taking this path. DIY-ing your prom dress is only a viable option if you know your way around a sewing machine and have more than decent tailoring skills; otherwise, the whole attempt will undoubtedly turn into a disaster and you’ll end up a lot more stressed than you’d be if you had chosen to buy your gown online.   

You also need to invest quite a lot of time and if you choose expensive materials and accessories, or purchase certain tools, the total costs may sometimes exceed the price of a ready-made piece, in which case DIY might not be worth the effort. 

The case for purchasing your prom dresses online 

Convenience is certainly the main selling point for searching for your prom gown dress online. You don’t have to spend your time designing, measuring, cutting, and sewing your dress. All you have to do is browse through your options, pick the gowns that you like, and wait for them to arrive at your doorstep. This can be a lifesaver if you're busy with school or life in general. It’s also the best thing you can do if you simply don’t have the patience or the skills required for dressmaking.  

With online shopping, you don’t have to limit yourself to the collections you find in your local stores, as you have access to a large variety of prom dresses in terms of brands, style, and prices. You can order a dress that’s produced halfway across the world and have it delivered to you just in time for prom, and you can find beautiful gowns at every price point, from budget-friendly finds to designer-level creations.

Now, for the downsides, you need to keep in mind that the fit can be pretty tricky. There’s no guarantee that the dresses you purchase online will fit you properly or that the quality is what you expected since it can be difficult to judge from pictures. There’s always a risk that the pieces might be ill-fitting or of poor quality. 

Surely, you can return the pieces you’re not happy with and have the money refunded, but certain online shops have very strict or cumbersome return policies that make it hard to send back the items you don’t want. That’s why it's recommended to shop only from reputable retailers, so you can avoid unpleasant surprises. 

In the end, both DIY and online purchases can be great ways to get your hands on the perfect prom dress, so it’s up to you to decide which option works best for you.