Betsey Johnson and Macy’s Are on a Mission to Make Prom Affordable for Low-Income Teens

On what would have been an unremarkable Tuesday in March, a floor of the Grand Hyatt New York was transformed — not into the usual business conference with booths and brochures, but into a prom dress and tuxedo emporium. The goal? To outfit low-income high schoolers from nearby communities who might otherwise not be able to afford prom in their best prom looks.

TLC and Macy’s hosted the event, Say Yes to the Prom, which is modeled after the network’s hit series, Say Yes to the Dress. The event is part of a tour across five U.S. cities, now in its sixth year, to donate prom outfits to “underserved and academically high-achieving high school students” from the New York area. Students spent the day shopping for prom outfits, having their hair and makeup done, and then walking in a runway show.

So the hotel’s lobby was part TV show set and part department store, with cameras following the young students as they sifted through dresses, shoes, and accessories. The prom dresses ranged from size 0 to size 30, and shoes from Badgley Mischka and other designers were ready to be scooped up by students.

Each student had a “consultant” to help them put their looks together. Once they’d figured out what they wanted to wear, they made their way over to a 10-foot-tall gold gilded mirror, where TLC host Monte Durham stood waiting to help them envision themselves in the ensembles on prom night — just like in the TLC show.

Not far off was designer Betsey Johnson, for whom prom night is personal. In the 1980s, her namesake business (now a series of licensing agreements owned by the Steve Madden company) was well known for its prom dresses — and, before that, Johnson was queen of her own high school prom.

“Prom should be your Beyoncé night; it should be your make-believe dress-up fantasy, everything kind of night,” Johnson said. “I love the whole ritual of prom.”

To be sure, that “Beyoncé night,” as Johnson calls it, isn’t possible for many students. Students and their families spend an average of more than $900 for prom, according to an annual nationwide survey by Visa. For 18-year-old Shivel Nancoo, spending even a fraction of that wasn’t possible.

“I think prom is a step forward, that one break before we go away to college,” she said. “We’re all saying goodbyes and stuff like that. I’m beyond excited, and grateful and thankful that I was chosen to be a part of this.”

But Nancoo wasn’t simply “chosen;” she’s more than qualified to participate. The young Queens resident, now a student at Pathways College Preparatory School, received acceptance letters from more than a dozen colleges and is awaiting interviews at Harvard and Yale, two of the schools on her list of colleges where she hopes to pursue her dream of becoming a biomedical engineer.

While making prom night special was the event’s main focus, it also served a larger purpose. In addition to providing prom outfits for the 100 students participating in the TLC and Macy’s event, the program partnered with several groups — including New York City’s Center for Youth Employment and Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation’s Career in Entertainment initiative — to offer students post-college and career mentorship.

That means students who have dreams as big as Nancoo’s might have a better shot of making it, despite coming families that may not have the means to help them to do so. New York City’s Queens borough has median household incomes ranging from less than $35,000 a year to roughly $70,000, as is the case in the St. Albans neighborhood where Nancoo’s school is.

The TLC show will air on April 1, but for students like Nancoo, the real fun will come a few weeks later — at prom.

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Alexandra Mondalek is a writer for Yahoo Style & Beauty. Follow her on Twitter @amondalek.