Prom King Isn't Letting the Haters Steal His Shine

From Cosmopolitan

The school year is finally coming to an end and that means it's prom season, woo season! Last weekend, 18-year-old South Carolina student Adam Bell went to his high school prom in a white corset crop top from Victoria's Secret and a green velvet skirt with a thigh high slit from House of CB - Beyoncé's fave. Like Queen Bey, Bell looked flawless. And as if that wasn't already a winning look, the graduating senior was named Prom King, and got to wear a gorgeous crown the rest of the night.

The school later shared a photo of Bell on their Facebook page, but unfortunately, not everyone was excited. People - including parents of the school's students - took to the post and left hateful comments about Bell and his family; a school administrator later told local news channel WJBF6 that the post was later "down due to specific negative comments directed toward an individual." While many others left messages of support for Bell, per The Charlotte Observer, the hateful comments included:

But Bell isn’t letting the chatter ruin his moment one bit - and FYI, he'll be wearing another flawless gown to graduation. In an interview with Cosmopolitan.com, he talked about putting together his look, why he didn't see his crowning coming, and what he'd like to tell the haters.

What was the inspiration behind your outfit?

It was actually a very last minute outfit. The dress that I had picked out originally, a week before prom I got an email from the place that I'd ordered it from and they said they didn't have anymore in the warehouse. I texted my friends like, "Oh my god I’m freaking out. What am I going to do?"

And so I ordered my skirt from House of CB, which Khloé Kardashian, Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner... they all wear the label. I was like, I know this is going to be a trustworthy company. And they have next day shipping! Bless them for that. My top was a bustier from Victoria's Secret - I didn’t even it until two days before prom.

You're amazing at makeup. Did you do your own for prom?

Yes, thank you! And a couple other people's too. I was doing makeup from 9 a.m. the morning [of prom] until 4 p.m. when I started getting myself ready. It took me about an hour and 45 minutes.

I actually took my pictures the day before prom. That sounds so weird, but we always do that just so we can take them in the best lighting and at the best time instead of stressing out the day of.

Is wearing makeup generally accepted at your school?

I wear a full face of makeup every single day to school. I don't think there's any day where I haven't worn a full face of makeup to school, and I always dress up.

My school is very diverse and well rounded and everyone genuinely gets along with everyone, which is strange for high school. But everyone is super supportive.

Did you know that you were going to be nominated for Prom King? Did you have a campaign?

I didn't know! In our school you don't run for Prom King. It's just pretty much every guy and every girl is open to it and they send out a form and you type in the name of who you want to win.

I have late arrival since I'm in honors programs all throughout school. I'm only at the school for an hour and a half every other day so I had no idea that we were even voting. I didn't even hear about the votes. I didn't hear about anything. I didn't even vote because I didn't know what was going on. So when I won I was in complete shock.

Why do you think so many people voted for you?

I think so many people voted for me because I think they’re just proud of me as well. They're proud of the person I've become, especially this year, my senior year. They can see how genuinely happy I am, and they just want success out of me.

After you were crowned, your school posted it on Facebook, but the the post has been deleted because of the negative comments. Did you read the comments?

Yeah. I haven't actually read a lot of them. I've just pretty much ignored them. I've heard a lot of them were rude - [there was] a lot of name calling, and a bunch of other things. - and some people would send me them, but I just choose not to read them.

[Some of the comments were from] students' parents, which is strange because their kids are the ones who voted for me. But it's really cool to see the younger generation be so supportive and so open to everything. Even if they don't necessarily agree with it, they're not going to bash me. It kind of hurts to see the older generation doing that, because you would think they'd be so much wiser and so much more accepting.

Something that I just want everyone to take away from this is you can be you as long as you're not hurting anyone else and as long as you're not breaking any rules. You can pretty much do whatever you want.

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