It's that time of year again — homecoming season.

The most anticipated and dreaded season of the year. The stress that comes with the big night can start up months before the night itself. “what will I wear?” “how will I do my makeup?” “what about my hair? Does my hair dresser have time?” and “what about a date?” are all common thoughts that many, including myself, experience in the weeks — and sometimes months — leading up to homecoming.

This experience can be even more magnified when it comes to plus size women trying to find their dream dress.

I started looking at dress styles a while ago, finding the style I wanted and the color etc. I was so excited to begin the hunt for the dress that I would be wearing for my senior homecoming. I knew from years before that trying to find a dress would be difficult because I am quite picky, but especially difficult because I am plus size.

I live in a small town, but I am still lucky enough to have dress stores near me, however few and far between they are. I had gotten lucky in recent years and ended up finding a dress that I liked well enough but from the start, I could tell this year was going to be different.

After the first two dress stores, with only one dress that fit me between the two stores, I got incredibly discouraged. Many of the workers at these dress stores were very unhelpful and did not inspire much confidence in myself or my ability to find my dress.

“This dress runs really small, we don't have a size that will fit you.”

My hope for finding a pretty dress that fit my body and my personality was running very thin.

Although my hopes weren't very high, I was too stubborn to give up finding a dress—even if it did put me through emotional turmoil. I decided to go to a town that was about an hour away from me, still no luck.

I was becoming very concerned that I wasn't going to find “the one." With the pushing of my wonderful mother, we drove another hour to look at more dress stores.

In total, I looked at six dress stores, with a total of maybe 15 dresses that I tried on– if I'm being generous. With most of those dresses that I tried, not one fit.

Luckily, this story has a happy ending. I went to one last dress store, and the workers there treated me like a princess.

I found the dress.

Not every plus size girl will have that luck, though. It is hard to find any clothing that fits properly, let alone a homecoming dress.

Fat shaming is a real thing, and the lack of plus size clothing and formal dresses is just another sign.

We are progressing towards a society that is more accepting of plus size people— but we still have a long way to go.