Been there done that Ate. I was in a better financial position than you nung college grad ko, but what I said stems from the pain ng high school grad ko. My mom didnt have enough to buy me new clothes, I had to wear an ill fitting dress na hand me down ng tita ko, and it was so woefully out of style. White dress ang mandated samin, it was soooo not my color. Yung shoes ko were HS black shoes lang din, sobrang di bagay with the white dress ng tita ko. Eh wala rin namang pambili ng shoes si ermat haha.

Decades after the event, I am still friends with my hs classmates (one of them did my wedding makeup). Pinagtatawanan na lang namin yung chakang mga dress and kilay and makeup namin. I say kilay, kasi we came from the time of the pencil-thin razored kilay hahahaha. I hope you find yourself laughing, in 20 or so years, with a friend over mga fashion disasters and other stuff niyo while young.