'Black Lives Matter' prom dress showcasing victims of police brutality goes viral

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KATV) — Prom season is in full swing, which means opportunities for many high school students to take pictures and videos that can last a lifetime. It's a time period Parkview High School senior, Jayla Keith has been waiting for two years.

Keith said for her prom she wanted to honor those who have lost their lives to police brutality, but never imagined the dress would be shared across the country.

According to Keith, from the moment she entered the doors for her prom all eyes shifted to her. She said her 'Black Lives Matter' prom was something that was two years in the making and it went viral.

I was off the wall that whole night, you know just seeing the photo go beyond to many places and many people putting their inputs on it," Keith said. "It just made me feel great."

Keith said watching the George Floyd protests on television in 2020 inspired the idea for the dress. She said pictures with her twin brother surfaced around the country from California, Louisiana, St. Louis, and the family of Breanna Taylor also took notice. Keith made Taylor a centerpiece to her prom dress because of the impact of her death.

"That could've been my mom, that could've been my sister, that could've been my cousin. Just putting her on the dress just uplifted my spirits because you know I'm sorry," Floyd said.

Colby Butler designed Keith's viral dress. He said in the seven years he's been in business, he's designed more than 9,000 dresses. Butler said Keith's prom dress was shared on his Facebook page more than 16,000 times.

I have to turn my phone off now because of the notifications, so I'm really speechless and I'm glad that it happened," Butler said.

Butler said this prom season has been the busiest he's ever experienced. He said this season he's personally designed 34 prom dresses. Butler said he has faced a few challenges with designing Keith's viral dress.

"I didn't want it to look tacky with the pictures on there, so I was trying to make it look elegant as possible," Butler said.

According to Keith, she hopes her prom dress will continue to inspire others just as she was moved by the people on her dress.

Butler said that people have already reached out to possibly replicate the same viral dress.