A mum has sparked a debate after shaming her daughter for buying an 'embarrassing' prom dress so she stands out from the crowd. She explained how her 17-year-old daughter earns her own money and decided to treat herself to a Victorian-style dress for prom - but the concerned parent hopes she'll have a change of heart about the gown.

On Reddit, she said: "My daughter is very unique with her clothing style. She is never one to dress the 'norm'. In October, she bought her own prom dress extremely early. She did not tell me about the dress before buying it, she only showed me the dress after she paid for it. My daughter does have a job, this didn’t come out of my wallet, but the dress she picked just isn’t a prom dress to me!

She says the pink Victorian-style dress is embellished with flowers that "just don't look good in any way".

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She added: "I told her, and keep telling her, that the dress she bought looks cheap and I would like to buy her a new one!

"She doesn’t understand why it doesn’t look good, and told me that it was her prom and that she doesn’t want a new dress. I told her that I just don’t want her to regret this dress."

But suddenly, her daughter has told her she no longer wants to go to prom at all because she's 'put a bad taste in her mouth'.

Devastated, the mum has taken to social media to ask users how she can convinced her daughter to attend prom while encouraging her to buy a new dress.

Commenting on her post, one user said: "You don't want her to not regret this dress, you just don't want her to go to prom in a dress you find ugly.

"She likes the dress and will feel good wearing it to prom. Why try to force her to wear something that isn't her?"

Another user added: "Leave her alone and stop pressuring her. It’s prom. She can dress how she wants."

A third user said: "There isn't a prom dress, yearbook photo, first boyfriend, a girl doesn't regret later in life. Let her have fun, no matter whether you think she will regret it 10 years from now."

One more user added: "You don't want to miss the opportunity to show everyone else what a good mother you are by forcing your daughter into a dress she doesn't like. In other words, you've made it all about you and not about your daughter.

"Let this be clear: it's her prom, not yours, and she can pick whatever she wants to wear. You are just afraid that you will get some backlash when it comes to her dress.

"Guess what? So what? What if people don't like her dress? So what if you don't like her dress? Does your daughter like everything you wear?

"She's nearly an adult, so start treating her like it. You've managed to poison what she looked forward to: are you proud of yourself? Not everything that goes on in your head should come out through your mouth, you know."