A dateless teen who had no date to accompany him to his school prom went alone by wearing a half-suit, half-dress prepared by his mother.
Wyatt Cheatle, 16, went to great lengths to prepare his one-of-a-kind outfit with his mom so as to attend his junior prom held at St. John Fisher College on Saturday.
And the teen, who’s a student at Brighton High School in Rochester, New York, wasn’t shy about it.
Speaking to the Rochester Democratic and Chronicle, Wyatt said: ‘I decided to go myself, ’cause frankly it’s easier than finding out who’s going with who, or who’s not going.
‘So I figured I’d be my own date, since I know myself better than any other person. I figured I’d have a good time.’
It all started when the teen joked with his family that he was thinking of wearing a dress to the event and they replied he wouldn’t ‘look half bad.’
It was when the idea struck his mind.
The boy visited a Goodwill along with his mom, Kelly Cheatle, and picked up a pair of black pants, a purple dress shirt, a fuchsia pussy-bow blouse, and a black and white dress.
Kelly put the outfit together while her son helped in ripping the seams out of the dress. The woman then sewed the outfit by placing the suit and pants on one side and the blouse and skirt on the other.
The youngster even donned a wrist corsage, an earring, and a star-shaped barrette in his hair on the event to get a more feminine look.
He also put on pink lipstick and makeup on one side of his face. For the footwear, the boy wore sneakers in hopes of getting a unisex look.
The mother was so happy that she shared the images of her son wearing the outfit on Reddit.
‘My son’s date for the prom was all right. Literally,’ she wrote while joking about the right side of the outfit.
‘So my son was flying solo to the prom, and decided that he’d be his own date,’ she said.
‘One thing led to another and the week before the big event, he decided rather than going with a boring old suit, we’d split the difference and send him in a half suit/half-dress.
‘After a mad dash to the local thrift store, lots of cutting and rearranging, we were done. Didn’t quite have time to find him shoes to match, but there’s always senior prom hahahaha.’
The internet users liked the idea and praised the boy for his look.
‘That’s awesome and very, very clever,’ one user commented. ‘Obviously a confident, self-assured young person with a great sense of humor. Bravo to both of you!’
Another wrote: ‘That’s a young man with positivity and confidence. What a great idea. Took creativity and talent to put together. Well done.’
Speaking to the Rochester Democratic and Chronicle, Wyatt said he ‘had a good time’ on the prom night.
‘There were a few people who were surprised that I went through with it,’ Wyatt said. ‘But no one was a jerk about it and I got a lot of compliments.’