Walking into this year’s Winter Formal, senior Kristine Chow, dressed in a traditional cheongsam, a form-fitting knee-length dress with a mandarin collar and slit skirt, stunned many students and staff. To Chow, her fashion was nothing new — she had done the same during her junior prom and enjoys opposing mainstream fashion for proms and formals.

“To be really honest, for prom, I didn’t really want to buy a new dress, and I wanted to prank people so I decided to wear [a cheongsam],” Chow said.

For junior prom, Chow convinced her friends seniors Shania Jafri and JR Im to accompany her in wearing clothing from their cultures — Pakistani and Korean respectively — as well.

According to Im, wearing their cultural dresses was an extension of a hair project during their junior year. The hair project was the outcome of their curiosity for why people are so disturbed by human hair; however, as they delved deeper into its origins, they learned how the importance of hair affected their culture.

“It was really fun because as a continuation of the hair project we brought a lock of hair with us to prom and took pictures with the hair,” Im said.

While wearing a cheongsam for both prom and winter formal of last year, Chow recalls receiving surprised reactions from students and even being told comments such as, “Wow! You look so Asian!” Though she received a vast amount of compliments from teachers and a handful of peers, she also received some criticism; however, Chow accepted this.

“I just rocked my own thing,” she said. “Of course if they compliment me, I was pleased, but the judgmental reactions I didn't really pay attention to. I liked it myself and I liked wearing my Asian dress.”

Along with formal school dances, Chow also wears a cheongsam on special occasions if she has a presentation at school or a performance.

“[Dressing up this way] is really nice,” said Chow. “I feel like I’m special a lot of the time.”