Prom prettiness

My new yellow dress featured in yesterdays blogpost (dream(bank)notes and petticoats) got me thinking about prom-style dresses. While I would never have considered wearing a high street dress for my actual prom as it's the second most important dress in a girls life and being a princess means getting a dress made specifically for your own measurements, I do still love the prom-style dresses that the high street has to offer and they truly are beautiful dresses for those of us whose proms have been and gone. The nipped in waists and floaty skirts flatter all figures and the chiffon fabrics and lush colours can make every girl feel like a princess, even if it's only until midnight.

1. Applique flower band dress £85 from Topshop

The only downside to the high street dresses is that they're intending for people to buy them for prom and so they put the prices of them high. A relatively good price if you're wearing it to prom; really expensive if you're not. However, I just love the detailing on this dress. The tiny flowers are so gorgeous and the colour is a dream. The perfect dress for a wedding or summer garden party or to just lie in a bed of daisies (which is exactly what this dress makes me think of).

2. Chi Chi lace trim prom dress £54.99 from New look

If you look at this dress from a normal angle it doesn't really look like anything special, but tilt the laptop screen back slightly and you can see all the lace detailing along the neckline and skirt hem. On the other hand, maybe it's just my laptop and all of you can see it perfectly already. I love the peachy, summery colour and I love the mesh panel at the top paired with the sweetheart neckline.

3. Mint green embellished trim peekaboo front prom dress £44.99 from New look

The best part about this dress is that it looks so much more expensive than it actually is. The silver sequin embellishment is really nice and draws attention to your waist, making it look smaller. I love the caged neckline and the V-neck keyhole is a really nice detail. With the extra sparkle, it's good that the skirts not too poufy so you can still get away with wearing it somewhere other than prom.

4. Light pink stripe bandeau prom dress £50 from River island

The crossover detail of the neckline is a really nice touch and I think bandage dress material is always really good quality. The mix of pastel and white is a winner for me (as you know) and the candy-inspired stripes are a perfect way to mix the two colours. They also do the same dress in black and white if you prefer a less-girly, sixties-inspired look.

5. Yellow embellished neck pleated panel prom dress £34.99 form New look

This dress is no more expensive than any normal dress so you've got no reason to say no. I love yellow - it's the perfect SS14 colour and the pastel gems along the neckline finish it off perfectly. I also love the plunging V-neck back but if I had to choose one yellow prom-style dress, I'd have to say I prefer mine (also new look).

6. Chi Chi blue lace contrast prom dress £59.99 from New look

For anyone that wants a none pastel coloured dress (something my brain can't easily fathom but I'm trying really hard), I found this gorgeous rich blue number. Nude and royal blue are an unexpected perfect pairing and eyelash lace is bang on trend. I think the frilled hemline is a really nice touch too, as is the keyhole detailing on the back.

7. Shell pink bandeau star embellished prom dress £22 from New look

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the price of this one! It's down from £44.99 and if there's one thing I can't resist (apart from pastel colours, bralets and online shopping in general) it's a sale item. The beaded stars along the bodice are really cute and I love the pale pink shades for summer, aswell as the bandeau style (I'd say about 80% of people at my actual prom had strapless dresses). You'll have to get it quick though because in my experience, sale items don't stick around for very long.

8. Floral one shoulder prom dress £25 from Topshop

Like music to my ears - another beautiful dress on sale! And for Topshop to bring down the price from £55 to £25 it must be my lucky day. I love the print of this dress (florals for summer, shocking I know) and the dark blue and very pale pink make a great colour scheme. The floaty floral print matches the floaty style and I love the ruffled asymmetric hem. I think the one-shoulder style makes a nice change, and would probably put you with about 3% of girls at my own prom. If you want to be completely unique at your own prom, you could wear an outfit made of cardboard, which one guy at my prom actually did. You literally couldn't make this stuff up.