Can you tell me about how prom dress shopping was for you ?

[PromQueenDiamond]

how did you get on ?

Ha, this brings back traumatic memories of prom dress shopping in Edinburgh for DD, many years ago.
The first shop we tried had a doorbell. On ringing it, the door was opened by an exceedingly snooty woman who looked us up and down and said we couldn’t come in without an appointment!
The next shop we actually made it inside, and discovered the cheapest dress (15 years ago) was £400. When I mentioned to the (also v snooty) saleswoman that this was over my budget, she rolled her eyes and sneered “Well, I suppose you could try Harvey Nicholls…”
DD and I were in hysterics at the thought of HN being dismissed as a cheapo dress shop, and hightailed it home to Perth where she got a beautiful gown for a fraction of the Edinburgh prices!

I enjoyed prom shopping. Dd1 knew the kind of thing she wanted & we got a lovely grey & silver dress from Monsoon. A friend took it up as dd is petite so it was far too long! Shoes from New Look, did make up at home, fairly cheap hairdresser appointment. She looked amazing.

Dd2 knew what she wanted too & got a gorgeous fitted dress from Quiz. Sadly she never wore it as it was 2020, I'll never forget her face when she realised there'd be no school, exams or prom, she was so looking forward to it. (Obviously of course I know it was a very small deal in the grand scheme of things.)
She got a 6th Form prom last year though & wore a black slinky dress we got online, the Quiz dress is still in my wardrobe as it wasn't suitable. I'm still glad we at least got the lovely shopping for it even if it wasn't worn.

DD is very alternative and androgynous so wore trousers. She looked great, but it was not quite the usual preparation for prom my friends' dds had.

My DD bought two dresses online from Chi Chi London and returned the one she didn’t want. Her dress cost £65 and washed so well, that she wore it to her brother’s wedding later in the year. It’s been worn again since at another “do”.

Pretty straightforward. Went into town, tried dresses on. Both times got dresses from House of Fraser. Has to get them both taken up as dresses were too long.
Managed to avoid the appointment only type £££ boutique.
In Dd2s case we left it till last minute as this was in 2021 and it was very touch and go as to whether it would go ahead, in fact the attendees had to test covid negative at school earlier in the day in order to be allowed in.

As pp have said there were some girls who wore suits and some in goth gear.

Dd decided she wanted a dress from jj’s house online as a few friends had brought from there.
as she’s petite but with big boobs I paid for the special measurements and it was supposed to be made to measure. It arrived. Dd tried it on and said it was good. Wouldn’t let me see. Day of prom she put it on and it was too big. Far too big. The bony place it fitted correctly was the bust. It was too big around the underbust and waist.
she brought glittery heels from new look and did her own hair and make up. She looked lovely but I wish she had said it was too big so we could have taken it to be adjusted.

We looked at JJs House online and bought a couple to choose from. The selection is vast. We had to have her final choice hemmed, but that's to be expected - it otherwise fit perfectly.

Stupid expensive pointless stressful experience.
I heard about a local shop that did mint-condition 2nd hand prom style dresses, heaps of them, many styles, bargain prices: DD refused to consider looking at them.
She got obsessed with a dress from China on eBay.
I could not talk her out of it.
Garish red lacey too long thing.
We ordered it.
When it came she didn't like the fit & paid a lot to have it altered.
On prom night she wore something completely different. Beige plain short. Something she pulled out of her cupboard, no idea where that dress came from.

I told her that Prom was 1 & only night in her life I'd buy her a posh dress for a prom/ball, and she didn't even wear it.
Or even the shoes we bought to go with it.
I gave the China ebay dress (& shoes) to charity shop after that.
DD has never even asked what happened to them.

Oh, and DD fell out with her bestie about 2 weeks before (they were sharing transport with other mutual friends) so they spent the Prom evening snubbing each other.
Can't make some shit up.

Younger DSs had no interest in attending Prom. Phew !!

Ds got a suit for his prom. Went to good old Burtons and got suit, shirt and tie and shoes. Easy shop.

Dds prom was in 2021 which still had a lot of covid restrictions so instead of a huge fancy prom at a hotel they had an afternoon prom in the school. Wasn't the lavish affair that they wanted but they still had some sort of celebration.

Dd didn't want to go dress shopping and didn't want to spend a lot of money on a dress so she ordered a dress from Coast which was perfect. She did her own hair and makeup and got shoes and a bag from a high street store.

DD's was meant to be in June 2020.

She went online in January, think it was JJ's House, found a dress she liked and it was reduced from £200 to £80.

Bought that dress.

Wore it for a twirl in the garden on what would have been prom day... it's been hanging up in the wardrobe ever since.

For her Yr 13 prom she wore a dress I had bought in TopShop in 1997, and she looked absolutely stunning in it.

What a shame for all the ones that didn’t they to go to prom because of lockdowns