Prom canceled by COVID-19 didn’t stop Maryland teen from dazzling in viral photo shoot
COVID-19 has put a damper on prom plans and other special occasions for students across the U.S., but Maryland teen Jasmine Dauphine refused to let the pandemic rain on her parade.
Dauphine, 18, donned a bright orange dress and golden crown as she posed for her very own photo shoot in the heart of Washington, D.C. — several months after the virus canceled the end-of-year dance.
“Since no one ever got to see my prom dress [because] of Covid here y’all go,” she wrote on Twitter last week.
The Lincoln Memorial and other historic D.C. monuments served as the backdrop for several photos snapped by Dauphine’s sister and a photographer named Isabella Ortiz, WRC-TV reported. The images, showing the teen posed majestically on the memorial’s steps, were a huge hit and have garnered over half a million likes and 76,000 re-tweets since they were posted over Thanksgiving.
“I am very much in shock,” she said, according to the news station. “I can’t believe this is happening right now.”
Dauphine, a then-senior at James Hubert Blake High School in Sliver Spring, said she had been planning for prom since her junior year and had found the perfect dress while perusing the Pinterest app. She also credits two celebrities with inspiring her now-viral look.
“I fell in love with the dress as soon as I saw it, and I knew it was perfect for the idea I had,” she told McClatchy News. My look “was based off (singer) SZA’s 2018 Met Gala look and Zendaya’s 2017 Met Gala look. That’s why I made a head piece for my dress.”
The teen said she chose the District’s iconic monument for scenery because she knew her orange dress would pop against the historic backdrop, and “I just wanted a nice, classy look.” Her dazzling ensemble has since inspired a number of art pieces and paintings, which Dauphine has re-shared.
Dauphine has offered a few words of advice for fellow teens who may be bummed about missing prom and other notable events this year.
“While it’s upsetting that [prom] was canceled, we can still find some joy out of it and find some fun ways to create use of the dresses or suits bought for prom,” she told McClatchy News.
Dauphine said she was glad she was able to share her prom dress with the world and looks forward to bringing more of her creative ideas to life when she takes up studying video animation in college next year, WRC-TV reported.
This story was originally published November 30, 2020 at 12:20 PM.