The prom is a significant component of American high school culture. It gets teenagers ready for adolescence and celebrates their coming of age. Teenagers are excited about many aspects of prom, but selecting the ideal dress is at the top of the list.
Mikayla Lewis was searching for the perfect prom dress when Courtney, her younger sister, offered to sew it for her. In Washington, D.C., Courtney, 14, attends Duke Ellington School of the Arts to study technical production and design.
Despite having the skills, she has never actually created a full-length outfit from scratch.
The mother of the children, Crystal, is friends with a family member who runs a clothing shop. She agreed to help Courtney, and they got to work on the project. The sequin dress took Mikayla five months and countless hours to design, stitch, and assemble. She assisted in selecting the fabric.
Fortunately for Mikayla, she was able to avoid using plan B.
“When I first saw her wearing the dress, I genuinely believed I was going to start crying a little. Because I was like, ‘This is what I made,’” a distraught Courtney explained.