enior Sidney Lee found the perfect prom dress. She saw a photograph of a dress that she loved on the Internet and is having a seamstress duplicate it to fit her.
“Customizing a prom dress is a personal choice, and I am customizing my dress because it is a tradition in my family to customize our prom dresses.”
Her mother, Theresa Lee, who graduated from Renaissance High School in 1986, wore a custom-made dress, and her aunt, Patrice Hutson, who is making Sidney’s dress, also customized her own prom dress when she graduated from Cass Technical High School click here 1971.
“I am glad that my auntie is making my dress,” said Lee, “and I am glad that the dress will fit who I am.” She picked a multi-color organza print fabric with shades of orange, purple, royal blue and dark green. The dress itself is floor-length and flowing with a plunging neckline and no sleeves.
Lee is not the only senior who plans to wear a custom-made prom dress; seniors Tracy Washington and Heiress Catchings are also planning to wear dresses specially made for them.
Catchings said, “I want to customize my prom dress in order for it to match my style and personality in a way that when you see my dress, you will definitely know that it represents me.”
Catchings said, “You make the dress, the dress don’t make you.”
To have an ideal customized prom dress, choosing a material and picking a dress style are significant because they bring out the quality of the dress.
On the opposite side, senior Samantha Lipscomb is buying her prom dress because she says customizing takes too long and involves too much thinking of a design. Lipscomb would rather go shopping for her dress. She says enjoys the process of trying on different styles and twirling in front of a three-way mirror. Lipscomb said, “People who customize their prom dresses are bold and creative because not everyone can do that.”
Senior Shara J. Smith, who is also buying her prom dress, says that custom dresses are a good idea because stores don’t always have the ideal dress, but a customer could go to a seamstress and tell them exactly what she wants, and the seamstress could get it done. In Smith’s case, buying a dress was just faster and easier.
Prom dress designer Debi Spears of Debi’s Sewing Room, in Redford, has made many prom dresses over the years. “When I see the vision of the dress, then I will be able to make the dress,” Spears says. She keeps photos of dresses she has made to show her customers.
Another local fashion designer and seamstress, Elizabeth Hayden-Iles, says some dresses are more complex to create than others. “It depends on the dress and what you want on the dress,” such as beads, piping and lacy details. Getting the color you want and the fitting you want are advantages of getting a custom-made prom dress, Hayden-Isles said.
Making a complex dress could take 4-6 weeks, said Hayden-Iles. A simple dress could take 2-4 weeks, she said. “The effort of making a dress does not change, but the price and the fabric change.”
Custom Dress Makers
Considering a custom prom dress? Here are a few local seamstresses who make custom prom dresses:
• Debi Spears
Debi’s Sewing Room
248-242-1966
• Elizabeth Hayden-Iles
E-Creations Sewing Room
248-357-2350
• Amis Dogman
Sophia’s Tailoring
734-422-6080