Claire had the best time at her junior prom last Saturday night! She went with a great group of friends......they ate beforehand at La Scala, and then danced the night away! There's nothing like seeing all your friends gussied up! Comparing dresses, shoes and accessories is a blast!
It was fun for me too, to get together with the kids and their folks and other assorted relatives, to photograph them in their finest, on the beautiful grounds of Ohio Wesleyan. Nice to have that kind of beauty not 5 minutes away from our house!
You see all kinds of prom gowns. Long, short, hi-lo........poufy, sparkly, sleek. Everyone's personality really comes out when they shop for a formal event. Claire and I love to see what everyone's wearing. Facebook photos after the event are always fun to peruse, too.
I'm dedicating each day this week to spotlighting one part of Claire's prom ensemble on my blog. Today, it's that dress :)
A black satin confection by Jessica McClintock for Gunne Sax, it was a rich blend of sleek and taffeta sass. From the unique black onyx medallion at the throat, to the surprising lattice-laced back, to the formfitting hip to the mermaid hem and flowing train.....do I have to say this was Claire's most favorite formal ever?
The kicker? It was $10 from Goodwill. I'm not kidding.
After buying the gown, I came home to look up similar gowns online, to get an idea of it's original price. My research indicates that our gown cost $200-300 brand new. Yep, our jaws dropped.
Our usual next step, after buying a resale gown, is to take it to our girl Lucinda, here in Delaware, for alterations. However, this gown fit Claire like a glove, so that was money saved.....probably about $50.
Minarchek's cleaners charged $14 to make the gown runway ready.
Lucinda recommended we apply rubbing alcohol on a q-tip to make the onyx stones in the medallion shine. We were careful to avoid the edges of the stones, as the alcohol could remove any adhesive.
That's it for the dress.
Now, I realize there are those of you reading this, thinking, 'Erin and Claire are so lucky. They always find the good stuff at thrift stores. I'm not that lucky.'
We don't have any special 'thrift store karma.' We DO know how to find the gold, however. When shopping for a formal, we go a lot. Once a week. We may find nothing for a while, or maybe one gown that, eh, it'll do if we find nothing else. Every now and then, we find a whole rackful of possibilities, and we load up every single one in a cart (even the ones Claire doesn't think are all that great....those have turned out to be the winners that look totally different once she gets them on!). If you find something that's perfect but too big? Get it anyway and get it altered! We've done that several times! When you spend as little as $10 on a formal, you can afford to get it nipped and tucked! Then you can also get it cleaned and pressed to perfection. Again, you can afford it when you buy a dress for pennies.
You also have to start looking EARLY. None of this looking a week before the prom! Claire and I actually look at gowns all year round, every time we go to Goodwill. The mauve stunner she wore as a freshman and this year's number both came from the Goodwill in town. We didn't go out of our way at all. No mind numbing, checkbook blowing trips to various malls around Central Ohio. I put a reminder in my day planner and phone the minute we know when the prom is, and then plan accordingly.
The end result? Do you think Claire rocks the look? We sure do! I'd put her dress up against any of the other girls' and there would be NO WAY you could tell it's second hand. It also fit her perfectly, which is another trick for making sure your gown looks expensive. Sadly, there were several examples I saw on Facebook of gowns I know went for $$$ and were ill fitting. That had to be disappointing.
I don't EVER want my kid to think she can't attend an event because we are on a budget and can't afford an expensive gown. That's why we plan ahead and shop through the year to make sure we're prepared for the big night. That's also the reason why I began this blog. You can look fabulous and not spend a fortune.
My baby girl is living proof <3
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