Saturday 24th February saw the Humanities block at Bishop Luffa transformed into a warm, welcoming Prom Dress Boutique for the day, organised by the Bishop Luffa Parent & Friends Association. Friday evening saw classrooms transformed into dress showrooms, changing rooms, featuring new and improved private changing areas and even a coffee lounge for the waiting families, eager to catch a glimpse of their own Year 11 student in a prom gown.
With dresses to be sold dropped off from Friday evening and again on Saturday morning, this years’ PFA created a stock of over 100 dresses in the Luffa dress showroom alone!
St Wilfrid’s Hospice Shop occupied the second dress showroom with around 40 dresses for sale, retailing from £30.00 for a dress, along with bags and shoes selling for bargain prices from £5.00 per item. One lucky customer walked away with beautiful designer heels from DUNE footwear!
It was a joy to welcome so many students through the doors to see the glorious gowns up for grabs. With the usual apprehension on arrival; as in previous years; the team were over-joyed to see glowing faces and smiles, as students found gowns and accessorised them with the goodies offered for sale. There were heeled shoes; flats; trainers; sparkly trainers; rhinestone and pearl head pieces; bolero jackets; pashmina’s and a plethora of evening bags, meaning there were plenty of exciting purchases available for everyone.
For most of the day the Humanities corridor was busting at the seams with eager relatives and friends awaiting the appearance of gowns being tried on. The PFA worked hard to create a special atmosphere for the students and their families, meaning that bypassing the usual boutiques on the high street went un-noticed, with students over the moon with their finds and parents equally pleased at the nominal effect on their wallets!!
As a result of the variety of stock available on the day, many students were able to purchase complete outfits at the sale leaving one less thing to think about as they go into their GCSE exams later this year. The event ended with record sales of 26 dresses finding new homes.
The PFA are hopeful many buyers will consider becoming sellers at the next event on Saturday 19th October 2024.
With a seller’s fee of just 25% of the final selling price, this sale puts gowns in front of a substantial audience and the opportunity to try gowns on, which is an important, if not essential, part of prom dress shopping. Not only do sellers walk away with payment at the end of the event, they are freeing up space in the wardrobe and helping reduce the billions of tonnes of clothing that makes its way to landfill every year, and of course, creating more wonderful dress shopping opportunities for future Year 11’s which is what this event is all about.
A huge thank you goes out to all the PFA volunteers who made this truly wonderful event happen, with a very special mention to Sam Pullen who started this event in 2019 and has created many of the processes and procedures in order for the event to take place and run so smoothly. As the PFA recover from the excitement of last weekend, they are already planning the next event and are confident it will come back even bigger and better year on year. So, keep your eyes peeled, as this is shaping up to be an important date in the Year 11 calendar.
Naomi Godfrey, on behalf of the Bishop Luffa PFA