Prom Frock Rant

[katexxxxxx]

Prom frocks!  I thought we'd never have to suffer this horrible American school habit, but we seem to have been infected with the School Prom Virus over the last few years.  And, this being Merry England, kids are trying to do it on the cheap.  So they look on the interwebs and find these cheap as chips jobs on supposedly American sites, and buy

Comments

[meguey]

Getting together with the Rent-a-frock lady seems really smart. I hope she goes for it!

[katexxxxxx]

Me too! A dozen or so £200 frocks would be a fine thing to do, especially if we could just do them to standard sizes...

[christylee]

Back when I was in school 15 years ago there was a lady with a shop in town that rented her dresses.

[katexxxxxx]

It's such a sensible idea for this age group...

[sartorresartus]

Soounds very much to me like a cm/inch mistake. Oh dear!

I wish they would go for the, "This is a classic investment cocktail dress" dress-code for these proms. A dress that would go to posh dos for the University/College years. Knee length and modest. Boss's dinner and Christmas Office Party frockage.

Much better all round. But then...

[katexxxxxx]

I had the classic frock... A poppy red velvet one I made at my grandmother's house over the summer between sixth form and uni. It would have been my signature gown and worn to everything if I hadn't had the suitcase stolen. It got one uni airing: the Christmas formal dinner and disco. I did get to wear it to the Officer's Mess New Year thing that year, where it proved very attractive ;)

I had lovely silver sandals to go with it, too, and a little silver bag. The whole lot went!

[sartorresartus]

Me too. I had the yellow dress (gaffaw!) and, as you remember the fashion was for long during the day too, a grey/heather tweed jacket and long skirt. I even think it had trousers to match. I wore that to death, starting with my Prize-Giving do at school and continuing till it practically fell apart.

The yellow dress was stolen, but that is a whole other story! :)

[katexxxxxx]

I remember the famous yellow dress! It was very pretty.

We still have that photo of you in it...

[theladyrebecca]

I assume from your post that proms are a relatively new thing in the UK, but just to warn you, they are huge in the US. I'm from CA, where they are less of a deal than from the south, but people still tend to spend between $100-$1000 on a prom dress (probably an average of around $250-$400). Plus the limo, the corsages, dinner, etc. I think people tend to think of it as a right of passage sort of thing.

I love the idea of renting out dresses for prom, but I have a feeling if prom becomes as big of a deal in the UK as it does in the US, it may not work.

That said, after the prom dress I had ordered through a quincenera shop came in totally wrong, I quickly took the dress I had made for Winter Ball that year, and spent an afternoon hand-sewing on several layers of sparkly tulle to the waist. I think I must have liked it at the time, but old pictures and my current opinion both say it looked terrible. After salvaging all the tulle, I just wound up donating it a couple months ago.

Good luck, though!

[ravenrigan]

Hey, if they spend £2-500 and spend it with us, I'm not complaining. It's the "Make me something decent for the price it can be made of cheap poly in a sweatshop in China" I have a beef with.

[theladyrebecca]

I know what you mean.

[katexxxxxx]

Me too. I quoted £200 plus fabrics and bling for a version of this: http://www.simplicity.com/p-5002-misses-special-occasion-dresses.aspx

[corsetrasewing]

I am sorry to hear the Prom has invaded. I never went!