The first student interviewed, a white student named Harley Boone, is quick to point out that the segregated prom isn't racist, in her opinion, it's just "what we know and what our parents have done for so many years." Harley insists that she eats with black students in the cafeteria and that she attends classes with black students, and that the prom is just not a big deal, comparatively. Her mother, Anita Williamson says "this community and this school system is fine the way it is..why change something that has worked, it's not broken?" Kera Nobles, a black student, disagrees, calling the segregation "hurtful," and noting that "I sit beside you at graduation but I can't go to prom with you for one night?"

The prom itself isn't a school sponsored function; the proms are private functions that are thrown by the students. The idea of "it's just the way it's always been" seems to be an overriding theme in why such a backwards tradition is allowed to continue; Terra Fountain, an 18-year-old white student, blames the parents for the continual separation: "Most of the students do want to have a prom together," she says, "But it's the white parents who say no. … They're like, if you're going with the black people, I'm not going to pay for it."

The segregated proms have also forced friends to take a second look at their relationships; many black students feel betrayed by their white friends who have neglected to stand up for them and insist upon an integrated prom. "My best friend is white," one girl tells the New York Times, "She's in there. She's real cool, but I don't understand. If they can be in there, why can't everybody else?" Says another: "You're 18 years old! You're old enough to smoke, drive, do whatever else you want to. Why aren't you able to step up and say, ‘I want to have my senior prom with the people I'm graduating with?'"

"The prom is the least of our problems," says Angel Howard, a black student, "We can't fix the prom until we fix the school. And then when the school comes together and no longer sees color, then the prom can come together and no longer see color."

Voices From A Divided Prom [NYTimes]
In Georgia, Segregation Endures On Prom Night [NYTimes]

• A new study has linked the height of mothers to the risk of death among young children in India. Researchers report that children born to short women were 70 percent more likely to die before the age of 5. • According to the Journal of Consumer Research people are more likely to chose high fat options from a menu that also contains diet foods than one that is strictly high-calorie treats. • Researchers have found that walnuts may be the best thing to eat if you want to reduce your chances of getting breast cancer. • Numbers of wild grazing animals in Kenya's Maasai Mara National Reserve have fallen substantially in the past 15 years, according to a new report. Researchers cite competition with human settlements as the reason for this sad news. • Casey Anthony's parents told the Early Show this morning that they believe their daughter is innocent, and they don't think Casey should accept a plea deal. •  Police say that a mother from White Plains, NY, stopped her car in the business district, and ordered her two daughters, ages 10 and 12, to get out, and drove away. • After requesting suggestions from the public, the Columbus Ohio Zoo has received 9,000 name submissions for their new baby elephant. Popular choices include Barack, Obama, Dumbo, Peanut, and Jack. • From the New York Times comes this new bit of celebrity vocab: The Brando Problem: "the case of a major public figure who dies and leaves behind a potent if contradictory image and no clear commercial legacy." • St. David's, a prestigious 300-year-old girls school in Britain, has announced that its closing, due to the faltering economy. • Two mothers/gang members from Southern California have been placed under arrest for attempting to induce labor in order to have their children born on April 20th, Hitler's birthday. • A new study has found that sexual harassment from males can prevent female bonding - at least among fish. • Saved by the bra: a 57-year-old woman escaped serious injury when a bullet fired at her from next door hit the underwire in her bra. • Baghdad is experiencing a bit of a wedding boom, as couples who had previously put their lives on hold try to make up for lost time. •  A non-profit organization called "Buzzfree Prom" has pulled one of its ads after receiving complaints over its homophobic content. • A new study suggests that divorce is not entirely acceptable in American culture - it may be tolerated, but many still feel that divorce is somehow morally ambiguous. •  There's been another Craigslist-related attack, this time in Tacoma, WA. A mother and her son were attacked by a hammer-wielding man, who lured them to his apartment by posting a listing for a used car. •  Karen Burns, author of a book of advice for the "working girl," suggests that the reason women are paid less then men is because we are not focused enough. She advises women to "juggle less, focus more." • KMSP Fox 9 in the Twin Cities has canceled its plans for a segment on child abduction, which would have featured a reporter driving around in a van and asking children for directions. • Nadja Benaissa, the German pop star accused of recklessly spreading HIV, has been released from police custody. • 

The dress, which is billed as "The Column Sweetheart Asymmetrical Satin Prom Evening Dress" was originally featured using the picture above. The internet quickly picked up on the unfortunate looking gown and billed it as the "vagina prom dress" or the "labia dress" and commenters on various sites were wondering how such a monstrosity ever got made. And now, the picture of the dress has been replaced by this:

which is itself causing an unnecessary controversy. "Where did the vagina go?" "What happened to the labia dress?" "What are they trying to hide?!"

The fact is, this appears to be a poorly executed attempt to create a dress with a heart pattern on the front that appears when the wearer folds back two pieces of fabric. Sadly, the "heart" looks more like a giant prom dress vagina. The replacement picture looks as if the dress has just been folded back, with the surprise "heart" being re-hidden under black satin. I doubt the dressmakers intentionally designed a giant labia prom dress—though I don't doubt that there will be a few hilarious girls wearing this to the ball this spring. Whether you think you're wearing your heart or your vagina on your dress, ladies, wear it proudly.

The Dirtiest Prom Dress You'll Ever See [Best Week Ever]
Jam Out With Your Clam Out [Craftastrophe]
Column Sweetheart Asymmetrical Satin Prom Evening Dress [Light In The Box]

Last year, the Cinderella Project, which works out of a youth center in South Central Los Angeles, outfitted more than 300 young women from the area for proms they may otherwise have been unable to attend for lack of appropriate dress. The youth center, A Place Called Home, has already had to lay off five of its 40 staff members after its annual budget was cut from $3.1 million to $2.3 million; concurrently, the center has seen demand for its services double. Attendance at the Cinderella Project is expected to rise by 20% on last year, but donors have not been entirely forthcoming.

Although you can also donate to the center online, funds for A Place Called Home itself largely come from philanthropic foundations, whose giving is a function of their stock portfolios' performances — which, sadly, means that in leaner times charities can be less able to fund good works in the community than when the economy is faring better. The Cinderella Project, however, largely receives its donations in the form of unsold clothing and footwear from retailers — something there's plenty of right now, in the wake of last fall's disastrous retail season and the continued softening of consumer spending. But many department stores and apparel companies are so short for cash that they would rather sell their extra stock to discounters like Loehmann's and Filene's Basement, and see at least some return, even if it's only pennies on the dollar, than give to the Cinderella Project or any of the dozens of other prom-related charities like it.

Payless has promised 60 pairs of shoes for the Project, and Jimmy Choo has just offered to make an undisclosed donation.

Zappos.com, whose revenue topped $1 billion in 2008, will not be giving to the Cinderella Project. "How should I justify giving you $1,000 and not giving the next $1,000? It's really tough," says Aaron Magness, the company's director of business development. Zappos is still doing other giving — but only to national organizations.

Offering needy young women a new dress and a pair of heels might not seem like the most practical solution to poverty on the block — after all, it's just one night — but nobody should underestimate the importance of the school prom in the eyes of a 16-year-old. Even a Teen Vogue editor gets it: "One night like this can literally change the way a girl sees herself socially," says fashion director Gloria Baume. Like it or not, we live in a society where all manner of social hierarchies and relationships are subtly reinforced through dress — and giving a young woman the means to be seen differently in the eyes of others can, more importantly, transform how she sees herself. But only if there are enough donations.

Cinderella Dream Gets Squeezed [WSJ]
A Place Called Home — Donate [APCH]
List Of Prom Charity Programs By State [Glass Slipper Project]

Photo of last year's Cinderella Project event via Wall Street Journal

The girl, who is not identified due to her age, decided to fight back, suing the school with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, on the grounds that the school's restrictive dress code was a case of gender discrimination and a denial of the girl's right to free speech. At first, the school attempted to placate the girl by discussing pantsuit options, but that was soon dismissed, as school officials reversed their dress code standards just four days after the suit was filed, releasing this statement: "School policy for this year's prom will be that all attendees shall wear appropriate formal attire with no gender-based attire requirements imposed. Female students will be permitted to wear tuxedos if they choose."

Girl Sues After School Says She Can't Wear Tux To Prom [TheIndyChannel]
School: Girl Will Be Able To Wear Tux To Prom [TheIndyChannel]

(Click on any image to begin gallery view)

Ruth Eckhardt, owner of Ruth, a dress shop in London, imports prom dresses from the U.S. because she can't find British makers. After customs duties, the dresses are marked up to about $275, from about $100 in the U.S. Ms. Eckhardt says she travels to U.S. trade shows four times a year to pick out the frocks.

And that's not all! It could even breathe life into the ailing American auto industry!

Mr. Kendall and 15 friends arrived at their prom in a hotel in Surrey in a stretch Hummer, rented for about $1,470. Also pulling up: a vintage Rolls-Royce, five other stretch Hummers, six stretch limos, a firetruck emitting soap bubbles and fake smoke, and a vintage Triumph with a gloved chauffeur in a military uniform.

Um, on second thought, I think they're actually going to beat us at our own game here. Like the Beatles, only if they had started out covering Akon songs.

Alien Invasion: High School Prom Lands In England, Causes A Bother [WSJ]
Hummer Up For Sale [Jalopnik]

CosmoGIRL! Prom:
CosmoGIRL! Prom wants teen girls to know that it's okay if they're not a size 00. At least, that's the message I got from the fact that the best-dresses-for-curvy-girls spread "Calling All Curves" was placed right next to an undergarments package "Undercover Agents."

Take Away: CosmoGIRL! Prom thinks all girls who are more than 80 lbs. are whores with bad taste.

Teen Vogue:
Despite a Cover Lie announcing that prom stories are within, there is (thankfully) very little actual prom content in the pages of Teen Vogue. There is, however, a young Upper East Side high schooler who is having Zac Posen custom-design her prom dress. (For those who can't have a designer make them dress, the magazine also offers helpful hints from another designer on how to make your own. Yeah right.)

Take Away: If you have to ask, you can't afford it... and probably can't figure out how to sew your own.

Teen Prom:
Teen Prom showcases run-of-the-mill "model-type" girls, but not just in any ordinary fashion editorial spread! Oh no, Teen Prom wants teen girls to "funkify" their look, by infusing their prom dresses with a touch of punky personal style:

Take Away: Teen Prom thinks young women have no sense of color or proportion.

Your Prom:
Sure, Your Prom has American Idol winner Jordin Sparks on the cover, but I was hard-pressed to find a single article about her. All we saw were ads, which seem to have been shot in 1982.

Take Away: You know how you heard the 80's are back? They're not.

Earlier: Weetzie Bat: The Book For Girls Who Ended Up Taking A Gay Dude To Prom
Heroes' Hayden Panettiere Is An American Everywoman