TEEN'S DREAM $10,000 PROM ($2400 dress, $550 shoes, but no date)

NY POST ^ | 3/26/06 | LINDSAY POWERS

[Liz]

GLAM GAL: "You only do prom once, and I've been planning this for over a year," says Brooklyn 17-year-old Jenna Cossuto. Photo: Graham Morrison

Jenna Cossuto spent $2,400 on her custom-made dress. She'll rent a 22-seat stretch Hummer to transport her closest friends to privately booked Gotham Hall. And then it's off to the swanky South Street Seaport at Bridgewater and afterward, a party in Crobar's VIP section before a long weekend in a Hamptons beach house.

But this once-in-a-lifetime weekend isn't for Cossuto's wedding. It's for this 17-year-old's senior prom.

She's part of a growing generation of teens who think of prom as the end all, be all of their young lives. "Teens think of prom as their Oscar night. They want to look and feel like celebrities," says Gina Kelly, fashion director at Seventeen magazine.

According to a Seventeen prom survey, girls spend an average of $833 for dress, shoes and accessories......(and) shell out $135 on beauty products, $105 at the salon and $206 for tickets and limos.

"I'm not sure exactly how much I'll spend, but probably thousands and thousands," said Cossuto. If she gets all she wants, the total will exceed $10,000. "My parents are just happy that I saved up myself for the dress, and they'll obviously help me pay for everything else I need."

Beyond the designer Jovani dress, which includes multi-carat Chopard diamonds, Cossuto got $550 Gucci shoes, a matching handbag, tanning sessions, eyebrow shaping and professional hair and makeup for the big day, June 7.

The only thing she hasn't nailed down? A date. "I don't care about that as much," said the teen, who will go to college at Florida International University in Miami. "I'll have one, but I don't want to make the wrong decision."

[Looking4Truth]

The girl in this article is probably going to have a dissappointing time, since she seems to have built it up so much in her head.

Good call on that one. I know that everytime I used to plan and scheme in anticipation of an evening, event, road trip or whatever things never seemed to go as well as I'd hoped.

My own damn fault, I know.

For the last 15 years or so, I've just been a spur of the moment type of guy and because of that I've never been disappointed and usually had a better time than I anticipated as a result. Much happier these days.

[linda_22003]

My wedding dress was $200 - the cost of tailoring my mother's. It worked just fine; 20 years later I'm still married. :)

[linda_22003]

Probably not. Guenevere married Arthur; she had the hot affair with Launcelot on the side.

[Looking4Truth]

JEALOUS MUCH???

LoveDoc

Ps Newsflash: This is how 80% of the girls are these days. In church/out of church. It almost doesn't matter. In fact, you could do a lot worse. She's a cute girl that's not a druggie. A very cute girl (at least in that megawatt prom dress.)

I thought about that one as well. You'd think that jealousy was the motivation for a lot of these posts, but I'm not seeing it that way. My take on what I've seen on this thread is that the girl is just putting too much emphasis on the wrong things.

She is a little cutie, I might add.

[LoveDoc]

Looking4Truth: "My take on what I've seen on this thread is that the girl is just putting too much emphasis on the wrong things."

That sum's it up nicely.

IOW, 'nuff said.

But to go on and on and on...to the point of quoting (or at least sort of quoting) the Bible to diss this chick?

Please.

I think most discerning people understand what's going on in this thread.

LoveDoc

Ps I wish who ever thinks conservatives are a bunch of shallow fat cats would read freerepublic sometime. This thread in particular. Once again, more liberal mythology.

[American Soldier]

Observing the severely critical on-line mob that seems to be gathering, I feel quasi-paternal duty to offer a few words of understanding for the young woman featured in this article. Spending thousands of dollars on a teenager's prom (when you are not the teenager in question) may seem like a ridiculous act, but I think more people than will readily admit it have tastes just as fabulous and extreme as the child who is now being so brutally assailed.

I am 26 years old and have damn sure spent more than $10,000 dollars on booze in my lifetime so far. And I missed prom! If you're honest, some of you will admit that you have spent several times that yourself. Was your spending really a more worldly endeavor than the doubtlessly amusing time had by this girl?

If you take into account compound interest of only 8% (I believe they told me this was the time value of money in grad school) in 70 years, that would have become $2.1M dollars. But in 70 years, I will likely have become an angel or fertilizer, and either way will have no use of the money.

I cannot say for sure whether there will be any good bars in Heaven. I doubt it, because I've never found well-attended bars near well-attended churches. So, once I arrive in that great dry county in the sky, I will be relishing the memories of every fabulous drunk I ever pitched in the far flung capitols of Earth, no matter what I paid for them -- because they were a hell of a lot of fun, and I certainly don't foresee any more of them occurring where I plan to go!

So I'm not going to begrudge this young lady her own ridiculously excessive entertainment. Good on her parents for making enough money to buy such nice things for her. I'm sure they worked their asses off for their money so that they could spoil their kids.

Whatever I don't drink away, which I genuinely hope and intend will still be a considerable sum after my deductions, well... I hope the kids take it and have one hell of a prom. If there's any left after that, I recommend acquiring real estate or low risk mutual funds.

[LoveDoc]

To: American Soldier

From: Love Doc

Well put, my man...

[noexcuses]

Cossuto got $550 Gucci shoes, a matching handbag, tanning sessions, eyebrow shaping and professional hair and makeup for the big day, June 7.

She GOT the tanning, brows, hair and makeup already? By my calendar it's still only March.

[zeaal]

She paid $2,400 for THAT dress in THAT color?

[Looking4Truth]

But to go on and on and on...to the point of quoting (or at least sort of quoting) the Bible to diss this chick?

Whoa now! I wasn't trying to 'diss' anyone and I didn't actually quote the Bible. I suppose that I was influenced by some of the more vapid posts but I don't really want to deny someone like this girl a good time.

Being older with that perfect 20/20 hindsight vision sometimes makes one spout off a little I guess.

Besides that, my 'Low Coffee Indicator' light was(is) still on. OK?

[LoveDoc]

"She paid $2,400 for THAT dress in THAT color?"

Man, I'm sure glad conservative women aren't catty like those liberal wenches...

[ReagansShinyHair]

jealous much?

Yes, we're all juzz jeliss. (If you didn't watch Joe Millionaire...I can't really explain the joke.)

[Politicalmom]

I paid less than $150 for my wedding dress. These people are crazy.

[Future Snake Eater]

I didn't even go to the prom. I never felt like I missed out on anything. I guess that's a difference between the chicks and the dudes.

[Wolfie]

Is the prom the most overhyped, overblown, overrated thing on earth?

No. That position is held by the wedding.

[Tijeras_Slim]

damn sure spent more than $10,000 dollars on booze in my lifetime so far

Lightweight... that's only 5 small shots of Dalmore 62 year old scotch.

[ReagansShinyHair]

I didn't even go to the prom. I never felt like I missed out on anything. I guess that's a difference between the chicks and the dudes.

No, the difference is that dudes are allowed to admit that they don't want to go, while chicks MUST want to go or they are "just jealous."

[LoveDoc]

"Lightweight... that's only 5 small shots of Dalmore 62 year old scotch"

LOL!!!

This thread is finally starting to seem reasonable..

[ReagansShinyHair]

She paid $2,400 for THAT dress in THAT color?

A lot of the cost of the dress was probably for dip-dyeing it that color. It's a time consuming and difficult process.

[napscoordinator]

And they said us Gen Xer's were spoiled...