As the 2026 prom season begins and dresses begin to go on sale, people can’t help but to ask, what’s trending this year? With trending styles changing everyday, it can be hard to walk into a store and have to identify the first step in this lengthy process. The students of Arlington High School along with dress shop workers share their opinions and “forecast” for this year’s upcoming prom.
One of the toughest decisions that needs to be made concerning prom dresses is the style of prom dress. There are a million different styles that people can choose from: glitter, satin, velvet and many more. It can be confusing going into a store and figuring out where to start.
“I’ve been seeing a lot of light blue and pink,” Windsor employee Abigail Calle said. “I feel like every year all the girls go for pink, but as soon as we get more dresses that are lighter, they kind of go for those,” Calle further explained.
Calle also said other employees had seen the same trend within the shop. As the color options are being figured out and sorted, there is one more problem: the style of dress. Every year, everyone wants something new, so what is everyone loving and hating?
“I really like the low back [style of] dresses. I really don’t like poofy dresses that look like Disney princess [dresses],” said Kennedy Baggen (11).
According to Baggen, this is a common theme of this year’s dress style. Out with the poofy, in with the sleek. One final problem someone might run into and most likely a highly debated question, is anyone letting the theme influence their final choice in dress?
“Probably not. It never happens. I think people just pick out a dress that they like and they feel most comfortable in, and then no one really worries about the theme,” said Hannah Schmelzer (12).
This has been a common theme throughout all of the high school dances. Everyone wears what they feel the most comfortable in. So, when you go in to shop this upcoming prom season, don’t worry about the theme, just be yourself and buy what you want.
“I kind of just went with anything I felt comfortable in, but I knew kind of what I wanted. But pretty much anything that I just like felt confident in” Schmelzer said.