A 17-year-old transformed a thrifted wedding dress into a princess prom look — and millions of TikTok likes

• Megan Johnson went viral for dyeing a thrifted wedding dress for prom.
• Johnson shared the process of dyeing the dress into a soft pink color.

Megan Johnson, a 17-year-old TikToker, went viral for dyeing a beaded strapless wedding gown she thrifted into a pink prom dress.

Johnson's March 12 TikTok is a DIY montage that cuts the labor-intensive process down to a satisfying 30 seconds. The video has been viewed 8.4 million times.

Johnson showed viewers the "before" of a white dress with a dramatic skirt and a beaded and corsetted strapless top that Johnson explained she'd already tailored.

To prep, Johnson bought the dye, poured many pots of boiling water into a large plastic tub — showing steam rising off the water in her garage — and showed viewers "taking one last look" before she "sealed her fate." Johnson stirred the water with a mop for 30 minutes, explaining in the voiceover she didn't want the pink to look "too dark," before cutting to the final shot of the dress laid out to dry — looking miraculously uniform in color.

"I think it turned out pretty cute," she said. Commenters, who called the idea "genius" and the dress "dreamy," agreed.

In the comments, Johnson said she was worried about how the pearl beading and lace, in particular, would react to the dye, but the lace simply turned a darker pink and the pearls took on a pink sheen as well.

But viewers had to wait until March 13 to see the final product. Johnson posted a dress reveal on Monday in which she ran through a field in the perfectly-fit gown to the Lizzy McAlpine song, "Ceilings," as her mom filmed.

The scene, which looks like a romance heroine as she expresses her internal turmoil via dance, is part of a lighthearted and exceedingly popular TikTok trend. Users typically wear a (preferably flowy) dress, intermittently sing to the camera and run away from it, and mouth along to a sped-up version of the track. Johnson's is one of thousands of iterations; some have participated in their actual wedding dresses.

"You're literally a Disney princess," one viewer commented.

Viewers also added suggestions for future projects for Johnson.

"Okay imagine if you cut like two to three inches and put petticoats or a hoop skirt to get a dreamy Dior silhouette," one commenter suggested.

"I'll do that after prom," Johnson promised.