Most prom dresses are bought months before the dance. A January purchase for a May prom means the dress spends four months in your house, survives a trip or two to the tailor, rides in a car and gets steamed at least once. Every one of those steps is a chance to crease, snag or stain it.
None of this is hard. It just helps to know what each fabric can take. This page covers care from the day you bring the dress home to the end of prom night. For cleaning afterward, see our guide to cleaning your prom dress.
The day you bring it home
Take the dress out of any box or shipping bag right away. A dress that arrives folded will crease more the longer it stays that way. Hang it at full length.
How you hang it matters. Jovani, the prom designer, says to use the internal loops sewn inside the shoulders rather than the straps, since the loops are there to carry the weight and hanging by the straps can stretch the shoulders for good. It also says to make sure the hem clears the floor, because a skirt resting on the ground can ripple along the bottom edge. A tall closet door or a high hook usually works for a long gown.
Then leave it alone. Jovani notes that most creases drop out on their own within a day if the dress hangs with space around it, and that steaming is only for what remains.
Storing it until prom
The months between buying and prom are where quiet damage happens. A few rules cover almost all of it.
- Breathable bag, not plastic. Jovani recommends a breathable cotton garment bag, since plastic traps moisture and can cause yellowing over time. The thin plastic sleeve from a shop or cleaner is for carrying the dress, not for keeping it in.
- Never a vacuum bag. Jovani warns that compression can crush structure, set creases and crack or loosen beading.
- Cool, dark and dry. Jovani says to avoid attics, basements and sunny wardrobes. Light fades color, and damp invites mildew.
- Give it room. A dress squashed between winter coats will crease and snag. Hang it at the end of the rod.
- Keep it away from pets, makeup and anything that drips.
Heavy beaded gowns are the exception to hanging. Jovani says a heavily beaded dress can stretch at the shoulders over months of hanging, and suggests storing it flat in a box with acid-free tissue between the folds. If your dress is heavy enough to feel it on the hanger, ask the shop how it recommends keeping it until prom.
Steaming by fabric
A handheld steamer is the safest way to remove wrinkles from a formal gown. An iron is risky on most prom fabrics, and on some it is a disaster. A few habits apply to every fabric.
- Use distilled water if you can. It keeps mineral spots off fabric and out of the steamer.
- Test first on an inside seam or the hem allowance.
- Keep the steamer moving. Never hold it in one spot.
- Let the dress hang and dry fully before you wear it or bag it.
- Watch for drips. Revelry, a formal dress brand, suggests slipping a sock or a piece of pantyhose over the steamer head to catch water droplets.
Each fabric then needs its own approach. The advice below comes from Revelry's care guide, which covers the fabrics most prom dresses are made from.
| Fabric | How to steam it | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Chiffon | Steam directly over the outer fabric. If droplets appear, let them dry. | Holding the steamer close for long |
| Tulle | Steam the lining layers underneath, where most wrinkles hide. The tulle itself rarely needs it. If it does, graze it lightly. | Pressing or touching the tulle with the steamer head |
| Satin | Steam from the inside first. For stubborn wrinkles, lightly graze the outside. | Ironing, which Revelry says can burn satin, and wrinkle-release sprays |
| Sequins | Often needs nothing. For light wrinkles, steam from the inside. | Heat held on the sequins, which can warp or dull them |
| Velvet | Steam from the inside lining. Use distilled water. | Pressing the pile flat |
Lace, crepe and jersey are not covered in that guide, so steam them from the inside, at a distance, and test first. Jersey often needs only a night of hanging. For more on how each material behaves, see our guide to prom dress fabrics.
Let the shop do it
If the dress is heavily beaded, very full or simply makes you nervous, ask the shop where you bought it. Some prom shops steam dresses for a small fee. Formals on First in Pulaski, Tennessee, lists steaming at $10 for a long dress and $5 for a short one. GG Formals in Dublin, Georgia, lists steaming and cleaning among its services. Your tailor may also press the dress after the final fitting. Ask when you pick it up, and plan the trip home so it stays pressed.
Getting it to prom
The trip from your house to prom is short, but it can undo a careful steam. Jovani lists a gown left folded on a car seat overnight as a common way dresses get damaged.
- If you are getting ready somewhere else, carry the dress on its hanger in a garment bag and lay it flat across the back seat, or hang it from a hook if the car has one.
- Do not fold it into a bag or put anything on top of it.
- Keep it out of the trunk on a hot day.
- Steam the dress the day before, not an hour before, so it has time to dry fully.
Our prom day timeline helps you fit steaming, hair and makeup into the right order.
Getting dressed without damage
The riskiest moment for a light-colored dress is often getting into it. Self-tanner, foundation, deodorant and hairspray all transfer to fabric.
- Let spray tan or self-tanner dry fully before the dress goes on. Our page on prom spray tans covers the timing.
- Step into the dress if the design allows. If it must go over your head, cover your face with a thin scarf or a clean pillowcase.
- Put on deodorant early and let it dry.
- Spray perfume and hairspray before the dress goes on, not onto the fabric.
- Have someone help with the zipper so nobody yanks it.
Day-of stain triage
Something will probably land on the dress. A drop of sauce, a smear of lipstick, a splash of soda. What you do in the first minute decides whether it comes out later.
- Blot, do not rub. Jovani says to blot marks with a dry cloth right away. Rubbing pushes a stain deeper and can damage satin.
- Go easy on water. Jovani advises against adding water or trying home remedies on formal fabric. The Drycleaning and Laundry Institute allows a cloth barely dampened with water for makeup marks, as our prom emergency kit page explains. When in doubt, use less.
- Skip the stain pen on satin and chiffon unless you have tested it inside a seam. Some leave a ring that is worse than the stain.
- Remember where it was. Tell the cleaner exactly what spilled and where. Older stains are harder to remove, so do not let the dress sit for weeks.
Bigger problems, like a broken zipper or a snapped strap, have their own page on prom wardrobe malfunctions.
At the end of the night
You will be tired. Take the dress off carefully anyway. Jovani says to take it off rather than stepping out of it, which can tear the hem. Hang it by the inner loops, check for stains while you still remember them, and leave the cleaning decision for the next day. Our what to do with your prom dress page covers keeping, selling and donating it.
If you are still choosing a dress, fabric choice affects all of this. Ask a stylist which gowns crease least. You can browse prom shops by state once shops open for prom season in early January.