Prom dress advice

[123fushia]

DD -tall, slim, dark blonde and pale. Always in jeans. We did the rounds of the prom dress shops at Easter - she looked lovely in most of them. She decided on a silver grey chiffon dress, thin shoulder straps with a silver beaded belt. Elegant. It was too big so I paid for the dress and alterations. We returned for a fitting last week. Seamstress in the shop had taken in one side, and it still needed taking in and turning up. Made appt for final fitting next week. DD was very quiet and when we left the shop she cried and cried. She is a lovely, sociable girl who rarely cries. Finally got it out of her that she feels awful in it - very washed out and regrets choosing it. Trouble is....I almost agree. Not about the dress, but the colour. She is in the middle of her GCSEs and is coping with the stress of it quite well so far, but is upset and low about having made the choice that she did. It wasn’t cheap - £250. She knows that it is only for one night, and knows that it really shouldn’t matter- but it does. Simple as that. She is such a good girl and has worked hard on revision recently - no nightmares with her (yet!). I could tell her that she could choose another much cheaper one, as long as she works to refund me the £250. (Part of me doesn’t mind doing that if it relieves some of the worry that she has- especially during exam season.) I have booked her in for a gentle spray tan the night before her final fitting, hoping that will make some difference to the way she feels when she puts the dress on again. Advice please! What would you do? I can afford to replace it but am so conscious about teaching her that money doesn’t grow on trees etc. No idea what to say to the lovely seamstress in her lovely local shop. X

Bless her, would the dress be worth anything to sell? Could you maybe sell it on and she works to pay the difference

You both sound very lovely and obviously have a wonderful relationship.

If you can afford it, I would replace it. If she was spoilt or entitled then she would have asked you to replace it rather than get upset. You may be able to sell the original and recover a small amount of money.

My DD has gone for a grey dress and is tall/slim/light brown hair/pale.
I think her main factor in choosing it was her friends are going for scarlet, royal blue, pink so she wanted something different.

She's gone for pewter shoes and bag and I reckon she'll do fake tan .

But if she's not happy with the colour she won't be happy on the night. Can you look on Pinterest to see how grey dresses are accessorised , get ideas?

Honestly it sounds as if your DD would look good in a paper bag, even if it's not the perfect colour for her. Am at £250 for a prom dress and I really would not pay for another. I think you could offer her the choice of getting a cheap one and paying you back, but otherwise I think you'd be better to help her choose accessories in a deeper colour (storm grey, blue, teal or cobalt all possibilities with silver grey?), getting her hair and makeup done, and in calming her down and reassuring her that she looks good. She's probably feeling the strain of the GSCEs at the moment and needs some reassurance.