SAY YES TO THE PROM initiative at BCBGeneration with Monte Durham, Joyce Azia, and Nick Stenson

Photo Courtesy Discovery Communications

May is PROM month - a time where almost every high school girl is searching for the "perfect" outfit and look. The biggest night of the year its where all the details take weeks of planning and thought. Its a girls only big fancy night before she'll have a big fancy special day. She wants to look perfect and most important feel confident. From pictures with dates, to arriving in a stylish car, a special dinner and a ballroom filled with decorations, her only concern should be having the time of her life! 

Unfortunately, not every girl has the budget or the confidence to go through all the fuss for just one night. However, for one group of very special Los Angeles high school student their Prom dreams were fulfilled with an amazing opportunity to select from nearly 300 BCBGeneration dresses specifically provided by Creative Director, Joyce Azria. The event was held at the BCBG Corporate Headquarters in Vernon, Los Angeles, CA.

Student picking out a dress with her mentor.

Joining forces with TLC, part of the Discovery Communications family, together with BCBGeneration, they celebrated the 4th annual SAY YES TO THE PROM initiative. The Los Angeles event marks the final stop on the 2015 SAY YES TO THE PROM tour, which this year has more than doubled the impact of previous years by touching the lives of deserving girls from coast to coast. The tour kicked off in NYC on March 16th and continued with additional events in Denver, Washington, D.C. and Miami before making its way to Los Angeles.

Student on the runway

The program is designed to build courage and self-confidence among young women. A selected group of deserving high school girls from Los Angeles School of Global Studies and Manual Arts Senior High School were chosen by their school to participate in the event. The day included mentoring, prom dress shopping and makeovers. Joyce Azria, Creative Director for BCBGeneration, and Edwina Findley Dickerson, star of OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network’s IF LOVING YOU IS WRONG, also joined as mentors and participated in the fashion show presentation.

Joyce Azia, Student and Monte Durham

Monte Durham, fashion director and star of TLC’s SAY YES TO THE DRESS: ATLANTA, hosted the big show event, while mentoring the girls whom were each paired with a style assistant throughout the day. Actress Lexi Ainsworth came to promote her new movie "A Like Girl Her" that addresses the topic of High School bullying. Lexi was also cover girl for the Stylist Handbook, Volume 4.

Monte Durham with actress Lexi Ainsworth

After selecting their accessories and receiving hair styles and makeovers courtesy of JCPenney salon. Beauty guru Cris Ordaz of Discovery Familia’s GURUS DE BELLEZA, Ruby Makeup Academy and StyleSeat, where also taking part in getting the girls ready to show off their new prom-ready looks during a red carpet runway reveal show.

Nick Stenson, Artistic Director for JCPenney Salon

JCPenney Salon Artistic Director, Nick Stenson, provided styling direction and advice for these deserving students. Nick is a extremely established mentor currently directing, training, and advising over 14,000 JCP stylists and managers at over 900 salons across the country. 

In addition to the day’s style sessions, mentoring events and a red carpet finale, First Lady Michelle Obama addressed the students with a special video message.

SAY YES TO THE PROM sponsors included; DIRECTV, StyleSeat, Ruby Makeup Academy, Terri Bergman Events,Chicka Event Design, GoTo Media, Town and Country Event Rental, City Kitchen Catering and Fine Foods, Vox DJ’s, Vox Productions, Precious and Blooming Floral Design, Karson Butler Events and zTailors among its local partners for the Los Angeles event.

Editor In Chief, Devon Poer with Volume 4 cover girl Lexi Ainsworth made an appearance in support of the event. Baby Dylan Ray also came with!