Ashley McAchran took her first job at All the Rage in 2000, while she was still a junior in high school. She spent her shifts dressing her own classmates for their dances. Years later, when the owners decided to sell, they told her they would not offer the shop to anyone else. She runs it now. That arc matters for a prom shopper, because the person setting the buying direction once stood on the other side of the fitting room curtain at the same age you are.
The store itself goes back much further. All the Rage has been selling formalwear in Virginia Beach since 1980, and its location page describes it as the largest formal boutique in the area. Prom is the core of the business. The site groups the rest around it: homecoming, pageant, mother of the bride, wedding guest and tuxedos, with a bridal salon run as a sister store upstairs. The same page says it has served Hampton Roads and its neighboring cities since that first year, drawing shoppers from well past the city limits in southeast Virginia.
Five hundred gowns and the labels behind them
The FAQ is unusually specific about stock. All the Rage keeps no fewer than 500 dresses in the building at any time, and the count moves fast because hundreds of dresses go out the door each week. Sizes run from 000 to 24 Womens. If a style is not on the floor in your size, the staff can special order it, and the online catalogs show each designer's full collection rather than only what is hanging in the store.
- Designer labels
- Sherri Hill, Faviana, Ellie Wilde, Ashley Lauren, Portia and Scarlett and Chandelier LA, plus Babetique for ready-to-wear.
- House line
- All The Rage Exclusives, a collection of the store's own looks that the homepage says you will not find anywhere else.
- Price range
- Formal gowns start around $350 and average $400 to $500. Semi-formal and cocktail dresses start near $100, and the site sorts gowns into tiers under $350, under $550, under $750 and above.
- Best months
- January through March, when the selection for prom and ring dance is at its deepest.
The style talk on the site leans young and current. One FAQ answer runs through ballgowns, head-to-toe beading and bright color, and notes that ballgowns stay a favorite with teens shopping for prom or ring dance. The homepage points to feathers, fringe, detachable sleeves and heavy embellishment. The shop also posts prom try-on videos to TikTok and Instagram, so new arrivals tend to show up there first.
Ask McAchran why she stays close to the design side, and her owner page answers directly.
Being on the forefront of the prom and special occasion industry is important to me. At All the Rage, I have had the opportunity to work with designers to curate collections so we can provide our customers with the latest and best collection of dresses.
That focus shows up beyond the racks. The Virginia Beach location page links press from The Hampton Roads Show on WAVY, where McAchran talked through prom season shopping, and from The Virginian-Pilot, which wrote up an All the Rage dress design competition in December 2019. A design contest for students is listed as coming back. There is also an ambassador program that opens each summer, announced through the shop's social accounts, for students who want to model.
How a visit works on Virginia Beach Boulevard
No appointment is needed to shop. The FAQ answers that question with a cheerful "NOT AT ALL," and stylists are on the floor to pull gowns with you. At the height of the season, weekends can mean a wait for a fitting room. A weekday after school is the calmer option, and the store runs extended hours during prom season.
The city's public high schools include First Colonial, Cox, Bayside, Green Run, Kempsville, Salem, Tallwood, Landstown, Ocean Lakes, Princess Anne and Kellam. Their proms land in the same spring stretch, and ring dance adds a second wave for juniors at schools that hold one. Norfolk and Chesapeake students sit just over the city line.
A few house rules come first.
Sales
Every sale is final, in the store and online, with no returns or exchanges.
Layaway
Not offered, and no payment plans either.
Alterations
Not done in the store; associates keep a list of preferred tailors.
The FAQ suggests shopping early so there is time for tailoring. Late in the season the shop has run prom sale events with dresses marked as low as $99, which suits a shopper who can wait.
Generation Tux
Tuxedo rentals for dates
In the store
Book a tuxedo styling appointment
Online
Order without coming in at all
When to start
About two to three weeks before the event
Brides are sent upstairs to Studio I Do Bridals, the sister salon All the Rage introduced in 2014.
Quick answers for All the Rage shoppers
When is the prom and ring dance selection biggest?
January through March. The store says that window has the best selection, with special ordering available for anything not in stock. Shoppers with an event only a couple of weeks away will still find hundreds of gowns on the floor.
How small and how large do the sizes run?
From 000 up to 24 Womens. If your size is not in the store in a given style, staff can special order it from the designer.
Can a prom date rent a tuxedo here?
Yes. All the Rage rents tuxedos through Generation Tux and recommends coming in two to three weeks before the event, or ordering online without a store visit.