Fancy Schmancy has been selling formal gowns in the Capital Region since 2002, first out of a strip-mall location in Guilderland and then, since November 2013, from a considerably larger space on New Loudon Road in Latham. The Times Union covered the move at the time, when the old Guilderland inventory was cleared in a one-day sale. New Loudon Road is Route 9 through the Town of Colonie, the commercial corridor that connects Albany's northern suburbs to the Northway interchange, an easy drive when you are coming in from Clifton Park or Saratoga Springs with a car full of friends.
Owner Susanne Dura has been in the fashion industry since 1975, by her own account, and started her first business, Susanne's Stitchery, in 1980. That became Couturiere Designs Inc., a custom tailoring house, and after 22 years of that work she opened Fancy Schmancy in 2002. She runs it today with her daughter Ashley Dura, listed on the store’s site as co-owner and manager, and the store says Susanne personally curates the merchandise. The Latham floor runs about 6,000 square feet, and a Times Union iShopLocal feature in 2016 put the stock at more than 6,500 evening, prom, cocktail and mother-of-the-bride dresses priced from $199 to $1,299. Treat those numbers as a measure of scale rather than a current count.
Off the Rack, Walk-Ins Only
The buying model here is worth understanding before you visit. Fancy Schmancy sells formal wear off the rack, as the store described it to the Times Union. You try a dress, you buy that dress, and you take it home, with no weeks-long wait for a special order to arrive and no moment later when the gown shows up and you find out whether it matches what you remembered. For anyone whose prom is a month out, that is a significant advantage. The trade-off is that once a dress in your size is gone, it is gone. The store is also walk-ins only, so there is no appointment to book and no reason to wait for one. The other side of that is the return policy: no returns on prom dresses, evening gowns, cocktail dresses, shoes, evening bags or jewelry, and no cash refunds on anything. You decide in the fitting room. Shopping in February or early March beats shopping in late April for exactly that reason, because the deepest selection is on the racks before the rush.
Brands at This Location
The store's own designer page names Aidan Mattox and Joseph Ribkoff, both evening and occasion labels, which fits a shop that also carries shoes, jewelry, accessories, plus sizes, destination bridal, and mother-of-the-bride. The site also lists pageant among the occasions it dresses, and some of the floor can be shopped online.
One Rule to Know
During prom season, anyone shopping for prom must be accompanied by an adult who is 21 or older. The store posts this on its own prom page. A group of juniors cannot make the trip on a weekday afternoon without a parent or someone who qualifies. Plan accordingly.
The Saratoga Angle
This is one of the few formal shops in the region that also builds part of its year around Saratoga Race Course. The track is about twenty miles up the Northway, and the summer meet draws the kind of crowd that wants hats and track wear. Fancy Schmancy carries both, with derby-inspired looks it pitches for race day in Saratoga and a separate track hats category. If you are coming back in July after buying your prom gown in March, you are shopping the same store for a completely different reason.
Who This Location Serves
Shaker High School is in Latham, a few minutes from the store. Colonie Central is just south. Cohoes and Watervliet are a short drive east. Troy and Emma Willard School sit across the river. Niskayuna and Guilderland are west. Shenendehowa in Clifton Park is one Northway exit north. Saratoga Springs, Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, and the Albany city and parochial schools all fall inside a half-hour of Route 9. That spread is the geography that makes a Latham location work.
Capital Region prom season runs later than most of the country. Most local proms land in May and early June rather than March or April, which pushes serious shopping into February and March. An off-the-rack, walk-in store handles a late start better than a special-order shop would, but the earlier you visit, the better your selection will be.