Girls in pretty pretty dresses

So, another post on YA cover trends. This time, it's the girls in pretty dresses. There seem to be rather a lot of them out there:

I can see why it's a popular design; they're very striking and strongly designed to appeal to teenage girls for the following reasons:

• the use of teenage models
• the luxurious dresses invoking a romantic feel
• the melodramatic atmosphere
• the element of mystery when we have a girl wearing a ball dress in an unlikely location (often in the woods). It makes the viewer want to know why she's wearing that dress and where she's going, which makes it more likely they'll buy the book!

I also found a far more detailed breakdown on YA cover trends than I've done here: http://www.katehart.net/2012/05/uncovering-ya-covers-2011.html