<p>Any students who go to princeton now who happen to be lurking:</p>
<p>What's the deal with formals? I hear that guys are advised to buy a tux--should girls go ahead and buy multiple formal dresses when they find them? Are there really that many occasions? someone told me to save my prom dresses, but...</p>
<p>there are freshman and sophomore formals for everyone. Guys don't usually wear tuxes to those, although if you have one it wouldn't be out of place. Girls usually wear shorter dresses than prom dresses, although if your prom dresses aren't too "prom-y" (ie big puffy dresses) then they'll be fine. There are also two formal occasions each year for the eating clubs, to which guys usually wear tuxes, but don't have to, and many many many semiformal occasions at the eating clubs. If you find a dress that you love, then it's worth it to buy one as you will probably wear it, although you may want to wait until you get to princeton to see what other people are wearing (as a freshman, even if you don't get invited to eating club events, you can see people walking around campus those nights). I would bring one formal dress and one semi-formal dress to school though, as you never know if you may need one.</p>
<p>Guys should also bring a suit as well as a pair of khakis and a few button down shirts.</p>
<p>agreed...as a freshman girl this year I brought my 2 prom dresses (both of which were short, black, cocktail dresses, not floor length gowns...) and I wore both of those (1 to casino night (a formal that 3 of the eating clubs throw in the fall) and 1 to winter formals), borrowed a friend's dress for the freshman formal (again, short and black), and then had my mom send me a dress of my sister's for formals night of houseparties and wore the same friend's dress that I'd worn for frosh formal to semi night of houseparties. so, while I did go to eating club events that not all freshmen will go to, I did go through 4 formal/semiformal dresses during the year, and if you decide to join the greek system, they have their own formals and semis unrelated to the eating clubs. so if you find something you love, it probably won't hurt to have it in your closet, but also don't discount friends' closets and you can always have a parent UPS out a prom dress or something. and, in my rambling way, what I'm trying to say is "bring what you've got, buy something if you LOVE it, but don't worry too much, you'll figure it out when you need to". hope that helped!</p>
<p>In my experience (I'm '09), freshman formals were mostly guys in tuxes and girls in long gowns..I wore one of my old prom dresses, down to my knees and strapless. I'd say bring 2 dresses like that and several semi-formal ones, which are incredibly handy for lawnparties and houseparties and other Princeton-specific events.</p>