As promised (ooh, stealth pun!) last week, pictures of what dd wore to the real prom.
Shortly after she attended the winter formal, and all the challenges of finding a dress, we happened on this gown, at Value Village for $40. It fit perfectly! (And is modest.) Even though she had no guarantee of having an invitation to wear it, having it hanging in the closet seemed a frugal move. An investment of sorts.
It may have been a wedding dress in a previous life; it had a train, which she saved the price of alterating by cutting off and hemming herself. The only other expense (besides necessary undergarment) was the dry-cleaning: $30.
Princess dresses like these are priced in the $400 neighborhood these days. ha ha. We don’t live there. Don’t believe me? This one from Nordstrom, the closest I could find to show you, is priced at $388. My frugal daughter spent about 20% of that price. You couldn’t make it yourself for less, could you?
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oooh Rebecca… I’m smitten! What an incredible dress! That is lovely. (It’s also very similar to my wedding dress.)
I love those type of skirts. The bead work is spectacular! drool, drool, drool… I am such a sucker for a great dress!
I’m not sure you could make it for $70. The bead work pieces alone could set up back that much on a new dress. They can run $15-$50 a piece for those sizes.
I made my wedding dress 14 years ago. It was similar in style to that one. We shelled out $200 for fabric, buttons and miles of netting. I would have to find a pattern, look at what’s available for fabric and crunch the numbers to be sure. (But I won’t.) If you found some deals, maybe, but it’s doubtful.
Incredible dress!! Incredible deal!!
Dress (and all the ressst) – Beautious!! And I love the cap sleeve, so much more comfortable for dancing and comforting (for mom) than spaghetti.
Gorgeous dress! And it fits perfectly. Great find… you guys should be proud!
Beautiful!!!
I’ve discovered a GREAT store in the area that sells lovely dresses, ranging from very formal/black-tie to nice to even casual. The dresses are elegant, simple, even classic. Best of all, they’re really, really cheap. You can find really nice dresses for $19. I’m not sure if it’s because the store I went to recently opened, so everything’s on sale, or if it’s alwas like that…
It’s called Gia & Co. I don’t know if there are any near where any of you live, but for me there’s one in Berkeley (where I go to school… it’s literally across the street from my campus!) and there’s one in San Francisco in the Westfield Shopping Centre. So, if there’s anyone from the Bay Area here, be sure to check it out. Way to save money on prom dresses.
(one review I read online said that the dresses are poorly made and are cheap, but, I guess when it comes to an event where you’ll wear the dress and only need it to look great once, that’s not such a bad thing…)
Absolutely gorgeous and so flattering! She looks beautiful!
It sounds like there should be a Gia & Co everywhere! Unfortunately they aren’t here (yet). It is a shame that it’s necessary to spend so much for just one wear. We are planning on keeping this dress around in case it can be loaned out or worn again (it fits my other daughter too).
How classy is that! Ohhhhh, I love it!
Woah…LOVE LOVE LOVE the dress, I see tinge of beads and sequins, no? Glad you got some excellent use from it! Hats off to the savings too, and the custom sewing job!!!
Beautiful dress and it fits perfectly. So attractive! That story reminds me of my niece. She had never been in a beauty pageant before but she decided to go for her college pageant. She bought 2 dresses at a thrift store and they fit her so beautifully! She won her pageant and was Miss Charleston Southern University of 2005. She was in the Miss SC 2006 and she was so beautiful! But the dresses they made her buy for Miss SC were in the thousands of dollars range. She didn’t win but she sure was beautiful and learned a lot of poise from the experience. http://misscsu.tripod.com/id1.html
Sharon, your comment reminds me of my own pageant dress experience. Sadly, mine was not as positive. They brought in a supplier of simple gowns for us to look at, they were very affordable and most of us bought one (mine was a halter style and similar in color to the tiny pink stripe between the sidebars here). Anyway, at the last minute, they (the pageant organizers) had FLOWN IN a dress belonging to a MIss Washington: a gorgeous, beaded, jewel-toned, Cinderella gown (probably like the ones costing thousands of dollars), which perfectly fit and flattered one of the contestants. Granted, she probably would have won anyway, she was lovely and very talented (and one of my very best friends), but how’s a young lady supposed to feel about herself after that, I ask you (rhetorically)?!?
For that, and other reasons, the pageant experience remains to this day one of the darker chapters in my personal history. Such is not the case for most young ladies who participate and I’m very glad your niece had a positive experience. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Great gravy!! That dress is positively STUNNING!!! It fits her perfectly and is just lovely. I can’t think of enough words to describe it! What a great find! I had cap sleeves on my wedding dress, and I still adore them. Soooo elegant. Thanks for sharing!
Rebecca, it is a fabulous dress and she looks so wonderful in it!