Runway Fashions MI

Two lines on the Runway Fashions website show how this Sterling Heights store runs. One is printed across the top of its pages: no appointments, no waiting list. The other sits in the store policies, and every family with a high school student should read it before the first visit.

All students, regardless of age, must be accompanied by their own parent in order to try on dresses.

The store holds firm on this. The policy goes on to rule out relatives, friends and other adults as stand-ins for a parent. So a Saturday shopping trip with an aunt or an older sister will not get a student into the fitting room. Plan the visit for a day when Mom or Dad can come along, and the rest is easy, because the door is open to walk-ins.

"Michigan's #1 Dress Store Since 2002" is the line under the Runway name, and prom, evening and pageant are the three words beside it. The shop sits on the southeast corner at Ryan Road just south of 16 Mile; the store's own directions use the Troy name for that road, Big Beaver. Prom comes first in the website's menu.

The designer lineup for prom

Runway lists its prom collections by label, and the lineup leans toward the names students already follow online:

• Sherri Hill, including the newest fall collection
• Jovani
• Portia & Scarlett, in prom and couture
• Amarra
• Terani Couture, with a separate Terani prom collection
• Jessica Angel, which the store notes is made in the U.S.A.
• Ava Presley

The site adds that more exclusive designers are available in the store than online, and that some of what is in stock is one of a kind. Posted prom prices start a little under $300 and run to several thousand dollars at the very top, where couture and pageant pieces live. Most students will shop the lower end of that range. Runway describes its selection as the largest choice of new designer dresses in the state, with personalized styling and affordable pricing on top.

Prom is not the only occasion Runway dresses.

• Homecoming

  Its own section online, built heavily around Jessica Angel short and long styles

• Evening

  Wedding guests, black-tie galas and military balls

• Mothers' gowns

  On the floor as well, in a modern cut

Fittings, couture and the weekday rule

Runway offers expert alterations in the store and runs them on a weekday schedule.

The couture and pageant side works by appointment, also on weekdays. That collection is mostly C&H Couture gowns, fully beaded and built for the stage, and the store protects them by limiting try-ons. The store describes each of these gowns as handmade with meticulous care, and they are worth seeing even for a prom shopper who has no plans to compete.

A few other house rules help a visit go smoothly.

Phone orders are possible, but the policy page is candid that the store cannot take responsibility for a size it has not measured itself. That is one more reason the in-person fitting matters here. A student who comes in with a parent, tries three or four styles, and lets the staff take measurements leaves with a gown sized by people who have seen her in it, and with a weekday fitting already on the calendar.

The local draw is easy to map. Sterling Heights High School and Henry Ford II are both in the city, Cousino and Warren Mott are just south in Warren, and Utica and Troy families reach the corner by 16 Mile from either side. Ryan Road runs straight up from Warren to the store's corner. For prom season in suburban Detroit, Michigan, few addresses are as simple to give a parent driving over after work.

Runway Fashions policies parents ask about

Can my older sister take me to try on dresses at Runway?

No. Runway requires every student, at any age, to be accompanied by her own parent to try on dresses, and it does not accept other relatives or friends in their place.

Does Runway Fashions offer layaway on prom gowns?

Yes. Layaway is available, and like every sale at the store, layaway purchases are final.