Your first prom is a much anticipated event and hence you have to make it very memorable and exciting. As you are novice in the game, you need sound advice to make this once in a lifetime event special and beautiful.

Here are the basic rules to follow while you choose your first prom dress.

Colour

While choosing your prom dress, the first thing you have to keep in mind is your skin colour. Choosing dresses that suit your skin colour is of utmost importance in order to brighten up your features and bring out the best in you. The dress that you wear must be in a colour that can compliment your skin tone.

There is no point in choosing a colour that is fashionable even if it doesn’t suit you. It will spoil your entire day and will remain as a mistake that you can never change! For women who are fair, darker shades like black, deep purples and burgundies are good options than lighter and pastel shades

Medium skin colour does not take colours like caramel, brown and shades of orange well. Similarly dark skinned women must stick to lighter shades to bring out their beauty. It’s better to ask advice from close friends and relatives while choosing the colour. If you go by year 2011’s trends, go for big floral prints, colour blocking, geometric prints and colours like pinks, lilacs, oranges and yellows.

Fit

Before you buy a prom dress, it is important to identify the dress. For that you may have to visit many shops and use the trial room frequently to get the fit right. If you are in the tall and slim category, you need not worry much as any style will stick to you as it has been created just for you! But plus sizes and thinner women need to exercise more care here.

Thinner women can go for flared gowns with some corset style top portion that can enhance your cleavage. Off shoulders and corset dresses are a good option as they give a great fit. Depending on your body type, you can choose the styles that suit you best. Plus size women can choose deep necklines and gowns or dresses that can camouflage their weighty areas. If you are big breasted, you can go for skirts or dresses that have embellishments and designs at the hem so that the attention is shifted there and vice versa.

Highlight

When it comes to special occasions, it is important to look your best. For this you must know your weak as well the strong points of your body. Highlighting the strong points and playing down on the weak points will ensure that you look stunning all throughout the event. So if you have well toned arms and shoulders, make sure you go for an off shoulder dress or a one shoulder dress that can work to your advantage.

Similarly, women with heavy waist and hip area can go for styles that tuck in their waist like corsets or dresses that flare from the waist to keep the flab in check. But always remember to add good heels if you are adding flares to your body. This will balance the width to your height. There is also scope for experimenting with prints and plains. Hour glass figures can try mermaid skirts and fitted gowns that can bring out the beauty of their beautiful figures.

Comfort

Whatever you choose for the occasions, it has to be supremely comfortable to be able to feel good and confident. There is no point in looking elegant and suffering all throughout because the underwire was pricking the skin or your waist or bust line was too tight around you.

Remember that the key to enjoyment is to feel comfortable, beautiful and elegant.  To ensure that you get comfortable fitting clothes, you have to wear them and feel their presence around your skin to make sure that they are perfectly comfortable and allow you to dance your glorious night unrestrictedly.

Style

Coming to the style of dress to be chosen, there are many benchmarks that you can follow, depending on your body shape and height. If you are planning a dress that matches the trends of 2011 and yet would want to keep them simple, why not follow the minimalistic trend with whites, nudes and beiges as the running shades?

Lace materials, macramé, crocheted materials, tulle and tissue for a ballet dancer effect, there are a variety of styles in the minimalistic category. But if you want colour all around to stick to the sunny colours of summer, there are bright oranges and yellows, pale pinks and lilacs, medium magentas and greens to try colour blocked styles of gowns. You can also stick to the 70s style with frills and flares as the main theme.

Whatever you choose, make sure that you choose them to suit your overall body image. For instance, shorter women can enhance their height by going for beep V necks and U necks, princess cuts etc. Tall women can try empire lines, drape styles and flares.

Plus sizes can stick to fitted styles when they are confident and allow flares when they want to hide. The bottom line is to go for a dress that flatters your figure abundantly even if it is not in fashion. People will remember you for the fit and the overall impact than for the fashion faux pas that you committed, unless of course if you are a celebrity!

Affordable

Finally, affordability is what makes the entire outfit worthwhile. This is not a difficult thing to achieve considering the amount of shops that are available for selection and the number of sales going on in a year. Identify the sales months and scout around the town for your prom dress. We are sure that you will find the right dress that offers oodles of charm, right fit, excellent comfort, brilliant colour and very affordable. All these put together will create elegance and exuding charm that will last a lifetime of memories.