To say the price of prom dresses is absolutely ridiculous?!!

[BLUEcups]

So DD is in year 11 and the school prom is coming up and so the pressure is on to buy a dress….. so I start having a look on line and the price of them is astronomical! WTF!

I see all over SM photos posted by bridal shops saying “She said yes to the dress” and giving you options to book your time slot to find it 😳

Then there is the links to hairdressers, make up artists and limousines! 😭 I mean it’s clearly a money making scheme but Jesus wept, in the current climate, it must be so difficult for some parents to be able to afford it.

The dress’s I seen either didn’t have prices on and the ones that did, were between £220-£500 and I was gobsmacked.

What a joke, especially considering the dress is unlikely to ever be worn again.

So my question is, what are your tips for finding a cheaper one? I can’t afford £250 plus the rest and I can’t be the only one.

JJ’s House is your friend. We got our daughters dress from there for about £100 and I was really pleased with the service and quality. They do a free made to measure on some styles, free fabric samples, and a try at home service (about £15 I think) where they’ll send you some dresses to check sizing and style. All round excellent!

Who goes to a bridal shop for a prom dress? You're just asking to be ripped off.

Proms are ridiculous full stop!

Try JJs House online. Based in China but a legit company, we've had two formal dresses and a beautiful outfit from them, wedding dress quality at a fraction of the price, they also do custom fitting for a tiny charge with your specific measurements. Takes about 4 weeks for delivery.

My daughters prom dress was utterly spectacular, absolutely perfect, beautifully sewn. They have matching accessories too,

Cost about £120 for everything custom fitted.

Cross posted with you.
Absolutely agree. JJs House is amazing!

How about looking on the Next.co.uk website? Some of the Kids in my daughters prom had their dresses from there. And also you can pay in instalments for it then?

Proms & all the shenanigans that go on with them….just more Americanization of the UK…what the fuck is going on?

Research designer labels and preferred styles, then search Vinted.

Much better to buy a once worn quality dress than a cheap Chinese copy, the fabric and quality of the sewing are dreadful and show in the poor fit.

Give a size, style, designers on here! -( in Style and Beauty) we love a challenge in finding clothing.

Another vote for JJs - we've had 2 from there. Beautiful dresses and well made.

and my daughter has had good use out of them - uni balls are a thing!

Vinted and the sooner the better!

They aren't dressing up for the boys.

If you live near London, it’s worth a trip to Font Hill. Fabulous dresses, lots of colours and they’ll alter it for you too.

Re. Chinese dresses being cheap and nasty - I honestly thought we would received some horror in the post that was nothing like the pictures and made from cheap thin fabric etc.

I couldn't have been more amazed with JJs House, the dress was literally as good as my wedding dress I paid an embarrassing amount of money on, heavyweight satin, sewn perfectly. I would expect to pay well into 4 figures in the UK for what arrived.

I can vouch for that particular company but not any other ones!

It’s nice to dress up and have a party at special moments in life. What is life if you don’t live it?

This is what used to be called the school ball. Even in the 2000s at university it was still called a ball e.g. freshers ball or graduation ball. By all means dress up smartly for both sexes and book a hair appointment. £500 dress and limo though is a bit OTT.

"Prom" seems to be a recent vocabulary change.

Meshki also do lovely dresses for less - this was my daughter's (now on sale): meshki.co.uk/products/nadia-maxi-satin-dress-with-back-cowl-lemon?variant=43499160371442&currency=GBP&tw_source=google&tw_adid=&tw_campaign=19693152691&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2KeBuPu9iwMVvaRQBh3jFToyEAQYCCABEgK2H_D_BwE

You raised a daughter that's frugal. Some daughters will absolutely kick up a storm if their dress is costing £20.

Don’t use anything advertised as for prom. Stuffy and overpriced.

It really helped DD and myself to look at local prom pictures from the past few years. You’ll see that they don’t have to look like A-list celebrities, just girls in fairly nice dresses going to a hired hall for 3 hours.

I don’t say that to poo on it. The lead up - shopping and hair / makeup practice- was a lot of fun for us 😄

DD and her friends shopped around - lots of dresses from Vinted, charity shops, etc. Hers came from Apricot because she didn't want anything fitted. They did their own hair and makeup and looked lovely. One parent did rent a limo for them all though, which was fun but they found a bit embarrassing!

I paid £550 for my DD's prom dress from Red Carpet Ready and in all honesty the experience wasn't this great day out they advertise! It's more like warehouses where you get to pick about 5 dresses to try on and they'll be probably half a dozen other girls next to you doing the same.

Since then she's had some absolutely beautiful dresses from Shein for young farmer balls for about £30. I know some people won't buy from their so it may not be an option for you but if it is I'd seriously consider it. The dresses are stunning and I've offered them to our local secondary schools for proms after she's worn them.

Her prom cost me about £1000 all in which looking back is absolute madness. I can't say I regret it as in Year 11 her dad had a heart attack, her nan died during her GCSE's and she had a serious accident meaning she was in hospital for part of her GCSE's. Prom was a celebration of thank god we made it as much as anything else for us!

What about hiring a dress? That's what I did for my prom...although it was about 20 years ago! You are able to wear a lovely dress for a fraction of the price.

There are two secondary schools in our town-and the charity shops always have loads of prom dresses. Dd bought a glorious Frank Usher dress-then sold it for more than she I paid for it. Certainly worth a look.

Another vote for having a look in Fonthill Road at Finsbury Park if you are anywhere near London. Also, this JJ's House sounds good - I am off to have a look at that.

It was a few years ago but I got one for Dd from Ebay. It was £15 and it was beautiful. She did her own hair and makeup. It really isn't necessary to spend a fortune.

I’m giving mine a £500 budget but that has to include hair, make up, nails, shoes too.