Lisa Pickin arrived in style at her 2008 high-school prom in this middle-class town an hour east of London. The stretch Jeep limo, lilac ball gown and accessories cost her parents about GBP 550, or $1,080. Her upswept blond curls took her aunt two hours to fashion.
Britain, the land of school uniforms, rigorous exams and ivy-covered school halls, is embracing an American invasion: the high-school prom.
British teenagers say they've seen the events in movies like 'American Pie' and television shows such as 'The O.C.,' and they want the chance to dress up and rent limousines themselves. That means a new reason for Britons to worry about the dilution of their culture, a new burden on parents' pocketbooks, and new businesses selling prom essentials such as tuxedos and corsages.
'It's getting more and more elaborate,' says Keith Rider, who manages a banquet hall here that many schools hire for the big dance. 'I'm 40 and we never had anything like this when we left school.'
Many American adults cringe when they remember the unfortunate dresses and awkward dates from their own proms. Britons, meanwhile, are adopting the prom at its most traditional, with prom queens and kings and professional photographers favoring pastel backdrops. In some schools, proms are replacing more modest British traditions like the 'leavers disco,' where kids turn up at the school gym in jeans.
Recently, when partying students vandalized cars after their prom in a town in Wales, residents complained, says Martyn Peters, an official of Neath Port Talbot county. Mr. Peters passed on the complaints to the head of the Dwr-y-Felin Comprehensive School.
'It's a new thing that's come over from America, and a lot of the community don't buy into it at all,' Mr. Peters says. School officials didn't respond to requests for comment.
Sue Clarke and her husband at first balked when their 16-year-old son, Michael, begged them to rent him a bright yellow Lamborghini plus driver for prom night. But they gave in after their son promised to study harder in return.
'We didn't have proms or things like that when we were younger,' says the 39-year-old Ms. Clarke, who, all told, spent $1,180 on Michael's prom. She says it was worth every bit of it to see her son so happy.
Old-line department-store chain John Lewis added a line of prom dresses this year, and tuxedo-rental stores report a jump in business from kids this time of year. Ruth Eckhardt, owner of Ruth, a dress shop in London, imports prom dresses from the U.S. because she can't find British makers. After customs duties, the dresses are marked up to about $275, from about $100 in the U.S. Ms. Eckhardt says she travels to U.S. trade shows four times a year to pick out the frocks.
Britain's vibrant celebrity culture helps amp up the teens' prom styles. Weekly magazines feature photos of American celebrities and 'wags,' the British shorthand for 'wives and girlfriends' of local soccer stars, who make headlines for their outrageous clothing and shopping sprees.
At the Furtherwick Park School prom a few weeks ago, one group of girls rented an old firetruck with an off-duty fireman at the wheel, rolling up as 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun' blared from the radio.
Abbey Bentham picked out her hot-pink sequined dress several months in advance. Her sister curled her hair and put in blond extensions and a sparkly tiara. Her 'best boy mate' asked her to be his date, she said.
The girls and their classmates were celebrating the end of the 11th grade, called Year 11 in Britain. A committee of about 10 students helped plan the dance, making gold paper place cards and choosing white and gold balloons for the tables. Prom tickets were about $50.
'Our teenagers decided they want to do what the Americans do. They saw it in the films and got caught up in it,' says Kate Sawyer, a Furtherwick Park teacher who helped organize and chaperone the prom.
But with teens spending so much on the evening, Gerald Haigh, a retired headmaster in central England, says he's 'always bothered about the ones who are excluded by cost.'
Mr. Haigh wrote an article criticizing prom excess for an education Web site, where other teachers also posted complaints. 'Ghastly import. Conspicuous consumption and pointless excess,' read one posting.
Some schools, typically the historic private ones, called public schools in Britain, aren't going for proms. Instead, at Harrow School, founded in 1572, graduating boys have a black-tie 'Leavers Feast' with their parents in the school dining hall. The evening ends with a sing-along of school songs like 'Ducker' and 'Forty Years On' in the boys' boarding houses. Around the beginning of June at Eton College, boys gather on the banks of the Thames to watch classmates wearing flower-festooned straw hats row past.
Proms in the U.S. began in the 1930s, the invention of teachers trying to help young people make the transition to adulthood, says Amy Best, a sociologist and expert on youth culture at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. The dances largely fell out of fashion in the 1960s but came back in the 1980s and remain popular, she says.
Proms began crossing over to the United Kingdom several years ago and keep growing in popularity. Ricky Turrell, a photographer in southeast England, has 54 proms booked this year. Proms are practically a daily occurrence somewhere or other in England from May 1 till well into July.
Tom Kendall, 16, says American TV shows such as 'The O.C.' and MTV's 'My Super Sweet 16' provide a 'fairy tale' view of dances and parties that British teens like. 'The O.C.,' a Fox show now in reruns on Britain's E4 channel, chronicles the life of affluent teens in Orange County, Calif. 'My Super Sweet 16' airs nearly every day in Britain, showing teens preparing for lavish birthday parties.
Mr. Kendall and 15 friends arrived at their prom in a hotel in Surrey in a stretch Hummer, rented for about $1,470. Also pulling up: a vintage Rolls-Royce, five other stretch Hummers, six stretch limos, a firetruck emitting soap bubbles and fake smoke, and a vintage Triumph with a gloved chauffeur in a military uniform.
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在伦敦以东一小时车程的一个中产阶级城镇，丽莎&#149;皮金(Lisa Pickin)一身光鲜地现身2008年高中毕业舞会。加长豪华吉普(Jeep)&#12289;淡紫色舞会礼服&#12289;各种饰物，这些花了她父母大约550英镑，相当于1，080美元。而朝上翘的金色卷发则是她姑姑两个小时的工作成果。
清一色的校服&#12289;严格的考试&#12289;爬满常春藤的教学楼──这是英国学校向来给人的印象。而如今，英国正在迎接一股美国潮流的入侵：高中毕业舞会。
英国青少年称，在《美国派》(American Pie)和《橘郡男孩》(The O.C.)等影视剧中看到高中毕业舞会的场景，他们也渴望有机会装扮一新，租一辆豪华名车去参加舞会。这意味着英国人又增加了一条担心本土文化被冲淡的理由，而家长们的钱包又多了一层负担，售卖男士晚礼服&#12289;女士花束等舞会必备品的新商店也纷纷冒出来了。
“毕业舞会越来越精细讲究了，”管理着一家宴会厅的基斯&#149;赖德(Keith Rider)说。很多学校租用他的宴会厅举办毕业舞会。“我今年40岁了，我们当年毕业时可从来没有这个。”
很多美国的成年人想起当年自己参加毕业舞会时那些不合适宜的服装以及跟异性尴尬的约会时，他们往往有些后怕。而英国人正在以最传统的方式引入这种舞会，舞会上会有舞王和舞后，专业摄影师布置出色调柔和的背景。在一些学校，毕业舞会正在取代相对 实的传统毕业庆典，比如离校生迪斯科舞会(leavers disco)，这种舞会通常在学校体育馆里举行，孩子们穿着牛仔裤来参加。
据下塔尔波特港(Neath Port Talbot)郡的官员马丁&#149;彼得斯(Martyn Peters)说，最近在威尔士一个镇上，一群开完晚会的学生损毁汽车，居民颇有怨言。彼得斯把居民的抱怨转达给了Dwr-y-Felin Comprehensive School学校的校长。
“这是从美国过来的新玩意儿，但社区里很多人都不接受，”彼得斯说。学校负责人未对置评要求做出回复。
当休&#149;克拉克(Sue Clarke)16岁的儿子迈克尔(Michael)央求着要租一辆配司机的亮黄色兰博基尼(Lamborghin)车去参加毕业舞会时，她和丈夫刚开始拒绝了，但后来儿子承诺会更努力学习以作为回报，夫妻俩就让步了。
“我们年轻时可没有毕业舞会这样的东西，”39岁的克拉克太太说。她总共为迈克尔的舞会花了1，180美元。她说，看到儿子这么高兴，什么都值了。
老字号连锁百货公司John Lewis今年增加了一系列毕业舞会服装。而男士晚礼服出租店也反映，今年这段时间小孩生意有所增加。伦敦服装店Ruth的店主露丝&#149;埃克哈特(Ruth Eckhardt)从美国进口了一批毕业舞会服装，因为在英国找不到生产厂家。这些衣服加上关税后标价高达275美元左右，而在美国大概只卖100美元。埃克哈特说自己每年去美国四次参加交易展览会，在那里挑选服装。
英国蓬勃的名人文化可以说为这股青少年舞会风潮起到了推波助澜的作用。周刊上刊登美国名人和英国球星的太太和女友的照片，这些人常常因夸张的衣着和疯狂购物而成为媒体头条。
最近Furtherwick Park School学校的毕业舞会上，一群女生租了一辆老救火车，由一名不当班的救火员驾驶，一路呼啸而来，收音机里传出《女孩只想玩乐》(Just Want to Have Fun)的旋律。
阿比&#149;本瑟姆(Abbey Bentham)提前好几个月就选了一件带亮片的亮粉色礼服。姐姐帮她卷发，套上长长的金色假发，然后再戴上一个亮闪闪的头冠。她说，她“最好的男性搭档”邀请她做他的舞伴。
女孩们和她们的同学正在庆祝11年级的结束，在英国称为“第11年”。十来个学生组成委员会，负责舞会的策划，他们用金色的卡片制作桌签，用白色和金色的气球来装点桌面。舞会门票每张大概要50美元。
“我们这些青少年要仿效美国人的做法，他们是在电影里看到的，非常着迷，”帮忙组织监督舞会的Furtherwick Park学校的老师凯特&#149;索耶(Kate Sawyer)说。
英国中部一所学校的退休校长吉罗德&#149;黑格(Gerald Haigh)说，这些十多岁的孩子为一个晚上花费如此高昂，他真&quot;为那些因承担不起费用而被排斥在外的孩子担心”。
黑格为一个教育网站撰写了一篇文章，批评毕业舞会大肆铺张，也有其他老师在这个网站上抱怨这种现象。其中一条帖子这样写道：“令人反感的跟风，大肆炫耀的挥霍，毫无意义的铺张。”
一些学校──特别是历史悠久的私立学校（英国称为“公学”）--并不接受毕业舞会。创建于1572年的哈罗公学(Harrow School) 男生毕业时在学校食堂举行“离校生宴会”，佩戴黑色领带，携父母一同出席。宴会最后，大家在男生宿舍齐唱Ducker&#12289;Forty Years On等校歌。6月初，伊顿公学(Eton College)的男生们聚在泰晤士河边，观看头戴鲜花装点的草帽的同学进行划船比赛。
弗吉尼亚州Fairfax的乔治梅森大学社会学家&#12289;青年文化研究专家埃米&#149;贝斯特(Amy Best)指出，美国的毕业舞会始于上世纪30年代，当时的老师发明这种方式帮助年轻人过渡到成年。舞会在60年代不再流行，但80年代再次兴起，一直保持到今天。
几年前，毕业舞会的时尚飘洋过海来到英国，人气直升。英国东南部的摄影师里基&#149;特里尔(Ricky Turrell)今年已经接到54场毕业舞会的预约。从5月1号到7月，毕业舞会几乎每天都有，不是这里就是那里。
16岁的汤姆&#149;肯德尔(Tom Kendall)称，《橘郡男孩》等美国电视剧和MTV剧《我甜蜜的16岁花季》里的舞会和晚会场景像童话一般，很受英国青少年的喜爱。《橘郡男孩》原来是Fox播放的，现在英国的E4频道播出，讲述加州橘郡(Orange County)富家子弟的生活。《我甜蜜的16岁花季》目前几乎每天都播，里面有年轻人筹备奢侈的生日晚会的情节。
肯德尔和15个朋友花1470美元租来一辆悍马(Hummer)加长车，坐在里面去参加在Surrey一个酒店举行的毕业舞会。停在酒店外的还有一辆劳斯莱斯老爷车&#12289;另外五辆悍马加长车&#12289;六辆加长豪华轿车，一辆不停释放肥皂泡和假烟雾的救火车，还有一辆“凯旋”(Triumph)老爷车，里面的司机着军装&#12289;戴手套。
