Project Prom: You pick Steffany's gown

When Steffany Martinez came to Long Island from El Salvador two years ago, she didn't speak a word of English.

Now, Newsday's 2011 Project Prom girl is 19 and graduating from Baldwin High School as a member of the National Honor Society and with plans to attend Nassau Community College in the fall to study the travel industry.

While she says learning English was "a challenge," she appears to have mastered the language completely. "I wanted to prove to myself and the people around me that nothing is impossible if you have the will to do it," she says.

"I've never met a student as hardworking and driven as Steffany is," says Adeline Scibelli, Steffany's English teacher. "She's involved in her church, she tutors elementary students, helps her peers with their English, and the American kids with their Spanish. People know her because she's such a good kid. "

Though loads of young women wanted Newsday to buy their prom dress, Steffany's evident determination and notion that "the United States is a country full of opportunities for all people, especially teenagers," sold us.

And since Steffany has entered a new world of sorts, we decided to shop for her dress in a new way. Instead of hitting the malls, we shopped Promgirl.com, the e-tailer that stocks a staggering number of party dresses -- some 4,000 styles from more than 50 vendors.

A regular customer at the site might order one dress, but being the Project Prom girl comes with privileges. So we assigned Steffany some rather serious homework: Pick 20 dresses that you love from the site. A few weeks ago, we met at the New York City headquarters of Promgirl where Melanie Seddon, the company's merchandising manager, said Steffany's choices hit the fashion mark. "Girls are going for fun and flirty, more classic, and the trend is toward less revealing dresses that are still feminine."

Before the try-ons, Steffany, who is a whisper over 5 feet tall, thought only short dresses would suit her because of her height. But much to her surprise, she fell hard for four distinctly different styles and lengths, exclaiming as we went along, "I look like a candy all wrapped up!" Or, "This one's like Tinker Bell!"

One week later, it was time for the glam squad to get Steffany prom-ready for her photo shoot at our studio in Melville, and a talented trio -- Adriana and John Vater and Nicole Ferrante -- from Spa Adriana in Huntington worked their magic, turning her into a red carpet starlet, the look she aspired to.

Steffany took the whole experience to heart. "I can't find the words to say how lucky I am," she said, crying -- tears of joy -- a Project Prom girl first. Scibelli, who came along on both shoots, squelched the tears, joking, "I've never seen Steffany at a loss for words!"

And now, readers, it's your turn to make your voices heard. Vote for the dress Steffany should wear to her prom on June 23 at Russo's on the Bay in Howard Beach. Go to newsday.com/vote. She says she'd be thrilled to wear any one of them.

Tips for online prom shopping

One thing we learned from shopping with Project Prom girl Steffany Martinez is that something you love online doesn't always work. While sites like Promgirl.com allow returns -- for site credit -- it's best to make an effort to get it right the first time, especially when you're dealing with something as important as a prom. We asked Promgirl.com senior vice president Kimberly Collins for some guidelines:

-- Go by the size chart. Collins urges customers to follow the size chart of each brand. "You could be a size 2 in one and a size 8 in another," she says.

-- "Keep in mind most people are not the perfect size 4, 6 or 8 . . . so you may need to tailor your dress to fit your curves," Collins says.

-- For hemming purposes, don't buy anything with too heavy a detail on the bottom.

-- Shop for colors that you wear. So if you never wear yellow, don't buy it now. Collins says, "If you know that blue makes your eyes pop, than maybe that's the color you go for."

-- "We cater to body types," Collins says. Know yours and check out what dresses look good on your frame. The categories on this site include apple, busty, hourglass, pear shape, petite, plus and slender.

-- Take advantage of features such as a customer service rep to answer questions, and dress-finder search engines -- on Promgirl.com it's the just launched "Ultimate Dress Finder," which, says Collins, "pares down the field."