West Yorkshire mum launches prom dress shop inspired by daughter’s negative experience

The experience inspired Ms Gadd to launch her prom dress shop, the Prom Den.

She said: “My daughter is a size eight but this woman at another shop touched her stomach and made her feel bad and suggested she buy a floaty dress to cover up her weight.

“She made a perfectly normal child feel fat. We bought a dress for Lia which came in several colours and she was on edge that one of the other girls in her year would come in it because the shop would not keep it exclusive to her.

“Lia texted me on the night saying, ‘All clear on the dress’ and I just felt that all that stress was so unnecessary.

“I thought that I could make girls feel special and offer them a much better experience and that was the lightbulb moment for my business.”

Six years on, the Prom Den is now booming with eight stylists and Ms Gadd individually picking gowns for each customers to wear on prom night.

Most mixed schools across the UK - state and private - hold proms at the end of the school year after GSCEs - a tradition picked up from America where the prom has been part of the high school calendar for decades.

Ms Gadd, who is a former Halifax estate agency manager, also makes sure never to sell the same dress - even in a different colour - to two girls from the same school, so each student has a unique outfit to wear on the night.

The best seller for 2024’s proms is a £700 ball gown which has already been sold to 16 schools in Yorkshire, and the average price of a dress is between £299 and £495.

Ms Gadd noted that she is aware that this a stretch to lots of families and gives away dresses each year to pupils after schools nominate girls who need help.

She is also setting up an outlet selling previous year’s dresses and samples at much cheaper prices to help families who need help to buy dresses through the cost-of-living crisis.

Customers have come from as far as Edinburgh and Newcastle to bag the best dresses after finding the shop on social media. The business has 42,000 followers on TikTok and is popular on Instagram.

Ms Gadd, who lives with her partner and 16-year-old son in Lightcliffe, said: “We have girls coming into the shop as early as September to book their dress for a prom which won’t be happening till the following summer.

“Obviously there is competition for the most popular designs and we do get dress wars where you have girls upset that their favourite dress is taken.”

Ms Gadd noted that “dress wars” can break out break out as girls compete for the most popular designs which can cost as much as £1,000.

She added: “That is why I have individual stylists for each girl so that we can pick another design from the 600 available at the shop and they will look just as good.

“The dresses are a big expense for many but what happens is families rally around and the aunty and the granny all chip in because they are determined to get their girl the dress of their dreams.”