Prom dresses, good place to look?

[Stowasser]

My daughter wants a full length prom dress and I don't want to break the bank on it, any suggestions? SHe fell in love with this one and it was last years model but I can't find it and if I do, its $400. Yikes. Also anyone have luck with the Chinese shops that seem to be all over the web for dresses?

[savvybuys]

Funny you should ask this question today..As I went shopping with my neice today and she found her prom dress at Davids Bridal on the clearance rack. It was marked down to $68 from $359. She is going to have it dry cleaned as it had some wrinkles but otherwise its a beautiful dress....

[bugsette]

Deb's

[HansieDZ]

I saw on this thread: http://forums.gottadeal.com/showthread.php?250160-Penneys-great-markdowns!

that JCP has prom dresses for $2!

I would try there first.

GL

[jdragr]

I actually own a formal wear shop. You can shop my website elegant touch formals. Also, you do get what you pay for. The chinese knock offs look awful. We have had people come into the shop that order from the knock off places and then come to us to try to fix it. Just about any pageant/prom shop would have a clearance rack. I know I have dresses starting at $75 and regular price dresses starting at $149. Good luck finding her dream dress.

[dealluvr]

http://www1.macys.com/shop/product/xoxo-dress-sleeveless-pleated-rhinestone-sequin-maxi-gown?ID=637476&CategoryID=18109&LinkType=#fn=SPECIAL_OCCASIONS%3DProm%26sp%3D4%26spc%3D147%26ruleId%3D2%26slotId%3D122

[noehlp]

I second JcPenney's (saw clearance ones at $4 but they were short ones, and long ones were around $40 - $80).

I second Deb Shops.

[dealluvr]

http://www.target.com/p/Xhilaration-Juniors-Strapless-Maxi-Dress-Purple-Watercolor/-/A-13924324#?lnk=sc_qi_detailbutton

[tinkrbel]

Maybe worth signing up for Dillard's Ultimate Prom Sweepstakes. I swear the dress I got was on sale from Express but website doesn't seem to have any. I found a few at nordstrom but they're mostly darker with colorful one being more expensive.

Accidentally In Love--colorful

Rosette Trim Strapless

Pleat Bodice Tafetta

 

Dillard's has some very nice short ones if she changes her mind.

 

Couldn't help myself...Macy's has a Pippa inspired gown but it seems to be pretty shapeless..in white or navy. I'd love to try that in store.

[momlori]

I second David's Bridal. My daughter found one of her dresses there. Windsor is also a good place to look but they can be pricey

[ISU ME]

I always got mine off clearance racks at Bergners. Just start checking clearance racks at stores you go to, if she's not super picky you should be able to find something.

[AndreaInNC]

DD20 found her prom dress at a bridal shop as well. It was nice, and cost like $150.00. If she shops at Debs, she will have a good chance that someone else will have the same dress that she does - lol.

[Illinoismom]

Rizzyroo.com

[mom2monkiesx3]

I have been lucky with clearance on Dillards.com..also browse Amazon

[Stowasser]

Update, she found one at a bridal shop for $150, Satin full length, hot pink, it was discounted because it had some stitching coming undone, which wasn't disclosed until we happen upon it. It was one of those feelings like they didn't want to say anything just hoping we didn't find it. Of course, she fell in love with it before I saw it when the girls went out looking on their own. I didn't want to pay that much for a prom dress that is worn for 3 hrs. We bought it knowing that it would need to altered on top so the stitching was a small thing since the seamstress could fix it but it was $30 to alter then right when the prom ended she went back to collect her belongings and someone left a monster energy drink on the floor or it was spilled and she got the back of her dress right into it. So, it will need to be dry cleaned for another $25. But what was the disappointment was when I was cleaning the drink off the back so it wouldn't set, the front of the dress had water marks on it, these were not from my daughter. There was about a dozen or so water rings all over the hem and other areas. I called the shop and they swear it was new and really not much they could do especially since I was having to get it cleaned.....Hmmm, you could of paid for the cleaning or split it. I think the dress hates me, because a dress that I never wanted to spend $150 on, ended up costing $200 LOL

[AndreaInNC]

So we went prom dress shopping on Saturday (me and DD17). Started at Nordstrom's Rack - found a dress and she liked it. It was on sale (yeah) marked down to 82.xx (originally like $250). Since I knew it might not be there when we came back - went ahead and bought it since I knew we could return it.

 

Next stop was David's Bridal. Found a dress she liked even better there. I had never shopped there before and I was in for a rude awakening! First you have to "check in" and be assigned a consultant - even for prom dresses. Wish I had been told that when we got there as we had to wait about 15 minutes for someone to open up. We pulled a few dresses off the rack - and she tried them on. I noticed while we were waiting they have a no return/no exchanges policy - for ANYTHING. So I didn't really want to buy a dress off the rack since it looked worn - asked if I could buy it online and was told that particular dress was in stores only. So I said it looks dirty and was told they could steam and press it for us. Asked if they would order us one and was told no - all their dresses are sold off the rack unless they don't have the size we need. And even if they ordered the dress they couldn't guarantee that it wasn't previously used as a "try on" dress. So I go to pay and we are asked if we had been given a scratch off coupon. No, but that saved me $20. Apparently our sales person is the one responsible for the steaming of the dress. This was 4/14 - the sales person looks at her calendar and tells us that we can pick up the dress on 4/25. It also needs to have the hook and eye sewed back on because it was coming off. Wow .. while they had some reasonably priced dresses (hers was $159 before the coupon) I was put off at the way they operate. Her prom is on 5/5, the dress needs to be hemmed (they wanted $30 to hem it), so I have to get it to a seemstress friend and hope she can fit that into her schedule.

 

ugh .. I wish she would have just kept the one we got from Nordstroms .. oh well. So Jill - I'm right there with you in the hatred of this dress!!

 

And this is before her friend calls her last night to tell her that she owes $90 for the limo .. WTH?

[Stowasser]

So we went prom dress shopping on Saturday (me and DD17). Started at Nordstrom's Rack - found a dress and she liked it. It was on sale (yeah) marked down to 82.xx (originally like $250). Since I knew it might not be there when we came back - went ahead and bought it since I knew we could return it.

 

Next stop was David's Bridal. Found a dress she liked even better there. I had never shopped there before and I was in for a rude awakening! First you have to "check in" and be assigned a consultant - even for prom dresses. Wish I had been told that when we got there as we had to wait about 15 minutes for someone to open up. We pulled a few dresses off the rack - and she tried them on. I noticed while we were waiting they have a no return/no exchanges policy - for ANYTHING. So I didn't really want to buy a dress off the rack since it looked worn - asked if I could buy it online and was told that particular dress was in stores only. So I said it looks dirty and was told they could steam and press it for us. Asked if they would order us one and was told no - all their dresses are sold off the rack unless they don't have the size we need. And even if they ordered the dress they couldn't guarantee that it wasn't previously used as a "try on" dress. So I go to pay and we are asked if we had been given a scratch off coupon. No, but that saved me $20. Apparently our sales person is the one responsible for the steaming of the dress. This was 4/14 - the sales person looks at her calendar and tells us that we can pick up the dress on 4/25. It also needs to have the hook and eye sewed back on because it was coming off. Wow .. while they had some reasonably priced dresses (hers was $159 before the coupon) I was put off at the way they operate. Her prom is on 5/5, the dress needs to be hemmed (they wanted $30 to hem it), so I have to get it to a seemstress friend and hope she can fit that into her schedule.

 

ugh .. I wish she would have just kept the one we got from Nordstroms .. oh well. So Jill - I'm right there with you in the hatred of this dress!!

 

And this is before her friend calls her last night to tell her that she owes $90 for the limo .. WTH?

I am there with you, this was suppose to be a simple prom (and the decorations were that LOL) but how did it end up costing $250 or so after it was all done (dress, alteration of dress, cleaning of dress, corsage/bouts that I made, bra (strapless of course).....)

[tjredsox4]

My niece found two long prom dresses at Savers for under $40 each and one of them still had original price tag from David's Bridal. Second hand shops sometimes have brand new or almost new dresses for cheap and this is a good way to go.

[AndreaInNC]

We tried resale shops, but our had nothing. Nice thing about resale is that you know no one else will be wearing your same dress!

[JayR]

We've had good luck at David's Bridal. The junior year, dd had er heart set on a bronze dress. Low and behold, they had one on their clearance rack on the first stop of the first outing. That day was a surprise clearance sale (in February) and all clearance dresses were $19.99.

 

Senior year, she saw the dress she wanted in a magazine and nothing else would do. Off to David's Bridal we went. They have the dress in chocolate brown in her size and yellow in the next size smaller. They couldn't order it because it would take 4 months () to get it in and prom was 3 1/2 months away. I was told all stores got the brown, however the light colors were randomly. They looked and told me which stores got the pool color (pastel aqua) that she wanted. I called them both. One never got pool, however at the other store, the manager really went the extra mile to get her the dress quickly. The one thing I liked about David's was that they note every dress sold. They make sure that if you buy a dress there, no one else from that school can buy the same dress.

 

As far as expenses, when I saw that she wanted $300 shoes, I said I'd by the dress and the garter, however any other expenses were hers. Now that she is graduating college, she wants to sell the dresses.