Promoting One-of-a-Kind Looks, Shops Keep Prom Dress Registries

By Elizabeth Holmes 

Prom is still a few weeks away for Adriana Romano. But the 16-year-old already knows that when she walks into the Sayre Area High School gymnasium in Sayre, Pa., on April 25 that no one else will be wearing her dress, a strapless, bejeweled champagne-colored mermaid gown with a black tulle overlay.

That is because Bonjulies, the formalwear boutique where Adriana and her mom purchased the gown, won't sell the dress to one of Adriana's classmates. The shop keeps a registry of the styles it sells to ensure no two dresses are sold for the same event.

"To have someone wear the same dress, it would be embarrassing for both of you," says Adriana.

Dress registries are the new norm for dance-going teenagers from New York to California. Many formalwear stores offer registries as an extra level of service that they say builds loyalty and helps differentiate them from competitors, including department stores. Some teens start their own registries using Facebook and Instagram.

The need for these registries, both shop owners and teens say, is the result of pressure from social media and the outsize celebrity influence of Hollywood and tabloid magazines. "Nobody wants to go to prom and play 'Who wore it better?' with their friends," says Madison Chalfant, a 17-year-old who lives in Horseheads, N.Y., where Bonjulies is located.

"Teenage girls compare who is the prettiest, who is the thinnest. If every girl has a different dress, everyone can look amazing," says Teri Misener, whose family owns Universe Bridal & Prom, a shop in West Lafayette, Ohio, that stocks 6,000 prom dresses and offers a dress registry.

For parents, the registry is one way to eliminate drama in what has become an expensive night. The average prom-going teen will spend $919 on the dance this year, according to a survey from Visa.

"The moms really appreciate it," says Steven Blechman, owner of Trudys Brides and Special Occasions, in Campbell, Calif., where the average prom dress is between $350 and $450. "Obviously if they are spending $400 on a dress, they really want to feel like the store that is selling it to them isn't all about selling massive amounts of the same dress."

The registry at Trudys has about 600 proms in and around Silicon Valley and the Bay Area this season. The extra work is worth it, says Mr. Blechman, to win a customer for the long-term. "It leads them down the road to come back to us for bridesmaid or bridal gowns," he says.

Meg Collison, a 16-year-old who went shopping at Trudys on a recent Saturday, likes the dress registry. "It makes it more special," she says.

Trudys uses a computerized dress registry, but many boutiques opt for something less high tech. Kristin Jacobs, owner of Z Couture, a formalwear shop in Austin, Texas, has a three-ring binder with a page for each school of the 100 or so schools the store tracks, sorted in alphabetical order.

Stores have different policies on selling the same dress in alternate colors. Some refuse to sell the same style, no matter the color. At Z Couture, Ms. Jacobs will sell up to two different-colored versions of the same dress for the same event. Once a dress has been sold twice, the staff will highlight the style in the registry "so that it jumps out--no way it can be sold in any color," she says.

The moment when a store owner has to tell a girl she can't buy that dress is often emotional. "We'll have girls in tears," says Ms. Jacobs. "There's something about being told you can't have it that makes them want it even more." To avoid conflicts, Z Couture, like many boutiques, doesn't record or release the name of who bought which dress. "Are they friends? Are they enemies? You never know," she says.

When refused a dress, some shoppers will leave, often after threatening to buy the gown somewhere else. "That's your prerogative," Bonnie DiPetta-Blide, co-owner of Bonjulies, tells shoppers. "I'm going to stick to my word."

On a recent Saturday, Lydia Blide, Ms. DiPetta-Blide's daughter, was helping a shopper pick dresses from the 400 or so different styles the store offers. Three of the four dresses the teen selected had already been purchased for her school. "I felt like such a jerk," Ms. Blide says. The girl left, "terribly upset," she added, but later returned and bought a different dress.

The boutique also rents tuxedos, but doesn't keep a registry. "There will be some duplications," says Ms. Blide. She said guys who want something unique will usually buy it, like a patterned tie or a pocket square.

To get first dibs, many girls begin shopping for dresses several months before prom--and long before they have a date. "They want to lock up their dress before everybody else," says Julie Paget, co-owner of All About the Dress, in Armonk, N.Y. Ms. Paget, who opened her boutique late last year, saw her first prom shoppers in January. "The whole thing is done earlier and it's hyped up," she says.

Girls will often start a Facebook group and invite peers to post photos of what they plan to wear.

Jessica Valvano, a 17-year-old who lives in Severna Park, Md., joined her school's dress registry on Facebook, which has more than 235 members. "Here's mine!" she captioned pictures showing the front and back of her strapless, blue dress with a beaded bodice. The post received 50 "likes." "So pretty, Jess!" someone commented.

And yet, social media prom dress registries are the sartorial equivalent of a spoiler alert. "It sort of ruins it, because when you go everybody already knows what your dress is going to look like," says Ariele Lerner, a 17-year-old senior who lives in Chappaqua, N.Y.

The Facebook prom dress registry for her school is a closed group, meaning only those invited can see the pictures. "None of the guys in the grade have seen it," says Ariele. "That helps a little bit."

But even registries aren't foolproof. Keeley Misener, whose mom owns the dress shop in West Lafayette, Ohio, was headed into her homecoming dance last fall when she spotted a student in the parking lot wearing the same dress. "I was crushed," said the 17-year-old, who called her mom and asked her to bring an alternative. She changed into a navy dress with a lace, halter neckline.

"Of all the people, it happened to my kid," says Teri Misener. But the crisis was averted, she says. "The dance went on."

Write to Elizabeth Holmes at [e-mail]

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