As third quarter is drawing to a close, the senior class is looking ahead to their upcoming final months at New Trier, culminating in the graduation ceremony.

But among the girls, preparations have already begun. New Trier’s unique tradition of wearing white dresses and tuxedos puts particular burden on the female population, and this burden is not one that can be left until the last minute.

There are approximately 500 females in the Class of 2016, which means that 500 girls will need floor length white dresses come mid May.

But unlike the boys, renting these dresses is not easily done. This New Trier quirk pits tradition against sensibility, with many pitfalls, especially for the female population.

Firstly, white dresses are expensive. As these floor or tea length gowns are a niche product, the average brands don’t sell them, so many girls must resort to more expensive brands such as BCBG or Guess in order to find their dress.

With these brands, white full length dresses usually start around the $200 price mark, and easily go into the $400 and up range. As a result, a graduation dress ends up being an expensive investment, and one that they will not have an opportunity to wear often.

The White Dress Project resells donated white graduation dresses at New Trier for $75, but often only has about 40 new dresses donated each year. In 2015, there were 38 dresses given, along with a leftover 21 dresses from the year before, which were sold for $50. These 59 dresses were available at reasonable prices, but the event isn’t particularly well-known or well-advertised. Even if every available dress was bought by current seniors, there would still be another 440 girls forced to pay for dresses at exorbitant prices.

While the boys are able to rent their white tuxedos, very few sites accommodate renting white dresses. On Rent the Runway, which carries over 50,000 dresses according to their website, there is only one dress that fits the criteria “white” and “tea or floor length.” Other websites are no better, with most dresses having embellishments which render them ineligible to be worn at New Trier graduation.

Once a family has shelled out a large chunk of money to buy their daughter a white dress, she will most likely not have another opportunity to wear it. There are very few events that require a wedding-dress-like white gown, so odds are, it will sit in the back of her closet at home while she is at college, gathering dust. A one-time use seems like a lot to ask for an expensive dress.

In addition, there is only a select number of these white dresses available in stores around the area. This creates an almost competitive environment to get to the good dresses first.
Luckily, with 500 girls, if multiple girls end up with the same dress, it doesn’t stand out too much. If girls leave shopping until the last month or two, they may find that their choices are very limited or non-existent, and then end up paying a lot of money for a dress they don’t even like.

If the guidelines weren’t strict enough already, there is the additional ruling on white shoes. Few people already own white heels or flats, though it is very likely that there are nude heels in most girls’ closets. While it is reasonable to request that no one wears outlandish wedges or turquoise pumps, it would not be harmful to broaden the ruling on shoes to include nude colors. Considering the dresses are floor length, most shoes won’t even be showing, and nude would still preserve the classy feel of all white. By requiring white shoes, New Trier further adds to the list of expenses that female students must endure to be adequately prepared for graduation.

There is no easy fix for this conundrum, at least regarding the dresses. Considering how rooted in tradition New Trier graduation is, it seems very unlikely that our school will suddenly switch from dresses and tuxedos to caps and gowns.

However, if the administration were to become less strict regarding the guidelines, like embellishments, length, and shade of white, it would make buying a dress easier and less expensive.

While all-white-everything is a tradition, and is therefore a valuable part of the New Trier community and experience, its strict guidelines and expensive tastes are not suitable for the female population. In order to be more appealing to all students, New Trier needs to be more accommodating and tweak their guidelines to take the pressure off the female population.