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Boutiques help keep you unique
It's your worst fear: Another girl at your prom wearing the same gown. Some shops keep a list to avoid such embarrassing moments.
By SHARON GINN
Published April 12, 2004
[Times photo: Lara Cerri]
Touch Ups ribbon shoes by Benjamin Walk Corp., CC’s Boutique, $40.
Gaither High seniors Jillian Henderson and Jenna Langford went to such great lengths to find their prom dresses this year, the last thing they wanted was for someone else at their school to find them, too.
So Henderson and Langford spent probably eight hours - not counting drive time from Tampa to Clearwater to St. Petersburg - flipping through racks and trying on gowns. They focused mostly on smaller boutiques that offer unique selections and keep records of which dresses they sell and to whom. They weren't just looking for the perfect gown. They were trying to avoid a prom nightmare: walking in and seeing someone else in the same dress.
"I definitely do not want that to happen," said Henderson, 18. "That's my fear."
Henderson ended up special-ordering an asymmetrical lavender number from Cathy's Boutique in Clearwater, while Langford chose a purplish-blue, beaded mermaid-style gown from the same shop.
Cathy's, like other bridal and special occasion stores, keeps a list of which dresses are going to which proms. This is the first year the store has focused heavily on prom dresses, after it was able to pick up a line of more than 100 styles that would not be available anywhere else in the Tampa Bay area, said owner Cathy Harkins.
Most other smaller stores take a similar approach.
"We really try to carry things that are not available in the mall stores," said Gail Malecot, owner of CC's Boutique in St. Petersburg, a longtime destination for promgoers. "The likelihood of (clients) seeing themselves in the same dress is pretty remote."
Of course shopping at a boutique often means special ordering a dress, and usually paying more than for something off the rack. But you don't necessarily have to shop at one to get something unique: Some other stores keep a running list of what dresses are going to what schools. Just make sure you ask before you buy.
"We can't stop someone from buying the same dress," said Joan Skiffington, store manager at Jessica McClintock in International Plaza. But the store does keep a detailed record that can provide fair warning.
Larger department stores, especially those that have several local stores, can't always do this. One exception is Dillard's at Westfield Shoppingtown Citrus Park in Tampa, where saleswoman Jeannie Mazurek got her managers to agree to a dress registry. Mazurek said at last count her department was tracking more than 60 area schools.
