FRUGAL FORMALS: Local high schools sponsor low-cost boutiques

WASILLA — High school proms are rites of passage for many young people, and two local schools are doing their best to make sure no one has to miss out on the big night.

At Burchell High School, senior Alissa Brotherwood decided to host a dress drive and free mini boutique for students who may otherwise not be able to afford all the necessities of prom.

“I didn’t want anyone to not look and feel amazing on prom night,” said Brotherwood, who coordinated the event as a senior project.

Brotherwood said Burchell had a rental program in the past, but this year she wanted her classmates to be able to keep their donated dresses, suits, shoes or accessories as a memory of their big night.

That was when she found out about Project Prom Alaska, which she and classmate Victoria Rogers attended in Anchorage recently. The organization was founded in 2013 to collect gently used prom dresses, suits, tuxes, shoes and accessories to be distributed free to students in need in Anchorage and the Mat-Su.

After shopping for their own dresses at the Anchorage boutique, Brotherwood and Rodgers wondered if they could host their own event closer to home. Even transportation for Anchorage is too difficult to coordinate for some students, and Burchell in particular has a significant number of students who are homeless or have transportation difficulties.

The girls came away from the event with four garbage bags full of dresses.

Brotherwood said she also went out of her way to pick unique dresses, knowing what it feels like to show up in the same outfit as someone else.

“They were so mad,” she said, of two girls she saw wearing the same dress at a previous prom.

After Project Prom, Brotherwood and some of her classmates went around to local businesses and adults they knew asking for more donations, to make their project a school-wide event. Students in the most need got first crack at everything last Wednesday, getting pulled from class for 5-10 minutes at a time to check out the selection in an upstairs alcove at Burchell.

“I wanted them to have that ‘Oh my God’ moment, and I’ve seen so much of that today,” Brotherwood said later that day.

In the event that the dress a girl liked was not quite to her size, Brotherwood offered to alter it herself, having picked up some sewing skills after learning to quilt as a child.

Her classmate, Shy Lammerman, said having the right dress was important.

“I feel like if you have the right dress you’re gonna have a better time ’cause you’ll be more confident,” she said.

Prop preparation

On Thursday after school, all the collected prom pieces were transported to the library for all the students to browse.

“I feel like Cinderella!” said senior Sherryl Button after trying on a pale blue, sequin-y dress.

The room was transformed into a kind of party, with free food, volunteers to help students choose their outfits, and teacher Sabrina Johns as emcee.

“Ladies, if you see a dress you like and it’s not on somebody or in someone’s hands … it’s free game, it could be yours,” Johns announced into her microphone as she wandered around the clothing racks.

Local representatives of the Young Professionals Network — an organization sponsored by the National Association of Realtors and partnered locally with MY House — also pitched in, offering advice and continuing their mission of developing leaders in the community.

“This was a new way to reach out,” said former YPN chairwoman Devon Thomas of the free boutique.

To add to the free prom fun, Autumn Pease of Glamour of Hope, a new beauty-making effort partnered with Glenda’s Salon and Training Center in Wasilla, took down names at the event for hair and make-up appointments to be done at the school on the day of the prom.

“We wanna do as many things as we can do to help out,” Pease said.

Johns said Burchell students will also have the opportunity to make their own corsages and boutonnieres, compliments of Flowers by Louise, and that the students were getting their ticket fees waived as well, thanks to community donations.

WHS plans boutique

At Wasilla High, art teacher Allison Little and her teen leadership students have decided to host a boutique of their own on Wednesday, March 30, starting with a fashion show.

“By making it a big, fun thing with the fashion show, it removes the stigma from going to a (low-cost) boutique and trying stuff on,” Little said. “It’s not embarrassing.”

Dresses at the Wasilla boutique will be sold for $10 to cover the cost of clothing racks purchased for the event as well as dry cleaning for some of the dresses.

“It’s a very fun thing, so I think we’ll continue doing it,” said Wasilla student Talia Dillard.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story identified Johns by the wrong first name.

Mat-Su Proms

• Colony High: Saturday, April 9 at the Anchorage Museum

• American Charter Academy: Friday, April 15 at Settler’s Bay Lodge

• Mat-Su Central School: April 15 at the Palmer Train Depot

• Burchell High School: Saturday, April 16 at Settler’s Bay Lodge

• Palmer High: April 16 at the MTA Events Center

• Su-Valley Jr/Sr High: Saturday, April 23 at the school

• Wasilla High: April 23 at Raven Hall, Alaska State Fairgrounds

• Houston High: April 23 at the Palmer Train Depot

• Mat-Su Career and Technical High: Saturday, May 7 at the Government Peak Chalet