Fairy godmothers wanted. Must have formal wear; glass slippers optional.
Prom season has arrived, and with it, hundreds of North Olympic Peninsula teenagers are seeking the perfect gowns and tuxedos for their big night — but some may not have the budget for even the most basic black tie experience.
According to a Visa survey released in March, West Coast families will spend an average of $596 per student on the traditional formal ball.
Costs include students’ attire, jewelry, limousine rental, tickets, hairstyling, flowers, pictures, food, accommodations and an after-party.
While some parents bankroll their teens’ Cinderella night and others work after school and weekends to earn the funds, others are left behind to watch others head for the ball without them.
To give every girl a chance to be the belle of the ball — and to help their young dates become the handsome prince — at one of the final dances of their high school years, dress closets are available to students in districts where dress closets have been established.
However, they need more dresses — and men’s formal wear — to meet the needs of students who would love to attend but cannot afford to spend hundreds of dollars for an evening of glittering glamor.
Working Image, a nonprofit located at Mountain View Commons, 1925 Blaine St. in Port Townsend, that provides career clothing to women who cannot afford them, is in its first year of offering Jefferson County students free formal wear.
Cinderella’s Closet was launched in 2014, as the organization recognized the need for dresses to help students attend their proms and asked for donations of dresses.
The organization now has about 40 dresses available.
Two young women borrowed dresses for the Port Townsend Homecoming Dance in October 2014 — the first two young women outfitted for a formal dance by the project.
“Those of us who dressed them were crying,” said Lisa Hickman, president of Working Image.
However, at least half of the dresses they have received are size 4 through size 8 — not a common size for modern teenage young women — and there is more to dressing for a formal event than a dress, Hickman said.
“It does no good to put a girl in a wonderful dress but she only has tennis shoes. We have a few beaded purses set aside and jewelry. We want to dress them head to toe,” she said.
Hickman said young women who wear unusual sizes, such as one who applied who wears a size 11 shoe, have been a challenge, and the organization has had to turn to their cash donations to purchase the shoes.
At the end of the prom, the girls can either donate the formal wear back to the closet, or keep the dresses and shoes, she said.
Working Image is working on a exchange with dress closets in Clallam and Kitsap counties so that girls need not worry they will appear at a dance wearing a dress worn by another attendee the year before and to make exchanges of sizes to meet the local needs of each.
Hickman said she hopes to be able to branch out to outfit the handsome princes in men’s formal wear in 2016.
To do that, she said, they need male volunteers to help outfit the young men; a location to store the menswear; donations of tuxedos and suits, shoes, ties, vests, cummerbunds and dress shoes; and cash donations to help purchase parts that aren’t donated or for smaller-/larger-than-average sizes.
She said there is also a possibility of working with a formal wear store to pay for a reduced tuxedo rental for young men who cannot be outfitted by the dress closet.
The Forks High School Family, Career and Community Leaders of America — a student club — has established “Wish Upon a Wardrobe,” a formal wear closet for students to use as needed for formal events, said Tiffany Oursland, instructor and adviser for the club.
The dress closet is always looking for a new supply of dresses in all sizes but is also seeking men’s formal wear to help young men make their night special, Oursland said.
“We rent for $15 and use that for dry cleaning,” she said.
The affordable formal wear rentals are advertised on posters around school to make sure all students are aware of it, she said.
Donations of formal wear can be dropped off at the Forks High School front office, 261 Spartan Ave.
Not all students have access to dress closets.
Student advisers at area schools said some young women go online to purchase discount dresses from outlets, find used dresses on eBay or may purchase used dresses at Goodwill stores or other secondhand shops.
“They have been able to get their own dresses,” said Melanie Herndon, staff director of the Clallam Bay High School Associated Student Body organization.
There are also dress closets catering to specific groups or needs.
Port Angeles High School’s Navy Junior Officers Reserve Training Corps’ dress closet helps defray the cost of formal wear for cadets, many of whom have two formal dances to attend each May — the senior ball, which will be held Saturday, and the NJROTC’s own Naval Ball, held in late May.
To help defray the costs of the dual formals, the NJROTC unit maintains the dress closet for the use of cadets in the 115-member unit who choose to select a formal gown, while others may wear their dress Navy uniforms.
Students have not yet opened the dress closet, which is primarily used for the Navy Ball, said retired Navy Capt. Jonathan Picker, senior instructor for the NJROTC unit.
Originally a dress exchange, the program was organized by Brenda Campbell, wife of retired Marine Corps Maj. Leo Campbell, who was senior instructor from 2003-13.
It was initially open to all students at the school, but when the Campbells moved to South Dakota two years ago, the collection was sold to the NJROTC unit. The gowns are now maintained by unit members.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
