Dress Up has been helping the Upper Peninsula dress up in downtown Escanaba since at least 1997, and over that run it has become the place a lot of Delta County families start when the prom date goes on the calendar. The storefront is a classic downtown one. Inside, prom gowns share the floor with party and cocktail dresses, homecoming styles, shoes, jewelry and the small extras that get a look finished before the grand march.
Up here, a prom dress is rarely a quick errand. Larger formal shops are a long highway drive away, and a family from Rapid River or Bark River does not want to make that trip twice. Dress Up solves the problem in two ways.
On the floor
A working prom selection
From the designer catalogs
Thousands of dresses the shop can order
- A girl can order a style the shop does not have hanging in her size
- The quote form asks for the page and style number, color and size
- The staff comes back with details and a price
Ordering that way is a sensible system for the Upper Peninsula, where waiting for a size to turn up on a rack is not a plan.
The promise behind every prom sale
The policy students care about most sits right on the shop's dress page, under the heading "Our Prom Dress Promise."
We guarantee not to sell the same dress in the same color to anyone else attending your prom.
In a region where Escanaba High School, Gladstone High School and Bark River-Harris can each send a big share of their juniors and seniors through the same front door, that guarantee does real work. Two girls from the same school can still love the same gown. They just will not walk into the same gym wearing it in the same color.
Homecoming runs on the same idea in the fall. The shop describes its homecoming stock as one of the largest selections around, with short, flirty styles next to long, elegant ones, so the September dance and the spring prom tend to send the same families back through the door.
Tuxedos, suits and the smaller pieces
Dates are covered too. Dress Up rents tuxedos through a partnership with Du Bois, which it calls the leading tuxedo provider in the Midwest, and it lists hundreds of styles and colors to pick from.
From the tux FAQ
Du Bois rentals
Appointments
Not required for fittings, though the shop prefers them for groups of three or more
First fitting
About ten minutes: neck, sleeve, waist, out-seam, chest and overarm measurements, plus a shoe try-on
What to wear
Skip the sweatshirt that day, and bring dress socks if you show up in sandals
For students who would rather own than rent, the shop also sells suits for prom, homecoming and other events. Accessories round things out: shoes, jewelry and C.C. beanies, plus Skinnies, which the shop pitches as a lighter, cooler alternative to shapewear for open-backed and short styles.
Beyond prom, the racks carry informal bridal and rehearsal dinner looks, along with dresses for moms, but the floor is built around the dances. If you are hunting for something specific that you do not see on the floor, the shop asks you to stop in and tell them. That kind of request is how a single downtown store keeps up with students from every corner of Delta County.
One planning note for the season: the shop has been running temporary hours, with a couple of weekdays by appointment, and it points shoppers to its Facebook page for updates. Families driving in from Gladstone or Rapid River should check there before setting out. For more shops across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and below the bridge, this site's state page lists them by region.
Shopping prom at Dress Up in Escanaba
Will someone else at my prom end up in my dress?
Not one bought here. Dress Up guarantees that nobody else headed to your prom will buy that gown in that color from its racks, so give the staff your school when you buy.
What if the dress I want is only in a catalog?
Fill out the quote form on the shop's prom page with the page number, style number, color and size, and the staff will reply with details and a price.