Schools Crack Down on Risqué Prom Dresses

Ahhh, prom memories: posing for pictures in your front yard, taking a limo to the dance, being asked to hold a ruler up to your leg to ensure your dress is no shorter than three inches above the knee. Yes, high school proms have apparently gotten a bit more risqué in recent years, reports the Wall Street Journal (which has some pretty disturbing pictures up as examples), forcing schools to come up with posters and PowerPoint presentations on "acceptable" versus "unacceptable" attire.

And also, physical tests like the aforementioned ruler one, as well as this not-at-all-awkward-sounding practice: Put your index finger on one side of your collarbone and your thumb on the other. Any skin showing beneath your hand? Then you're exposing too much cleavage. Thanks to newly inventive dresses, schools have to consider not just miniskirts and low-cut necklines, but Angelina-Jolie-like slits and cutouts or backless looks that expose skin. And what happens if students still violate the dress code? Last year at one school, a girl actually had to go home to sew up the slit in her skirt. (More prom stories.)