Glass Slipper Boutique carries hundreds of prom gowns. For a teenager in far southwest Virginia, that is a deep rack of gowns.
By far the largest group, with well over a hundred gowns
Also on the prom list
Smaller numbers
- Colors
- Envious
- Panoply
- Poly USA
The size spread is the detail that stands out.
Prom sizes
00 to 32
- 00
- 0
- 2
- 4
- 6
- 8
- 10
- 12
- 14
- 16
- 18
- 20
- 22
- 24
- 26
- 28
- 30
- 32
Sizes run from 00 up through 28 and 32, with W cuts such as 16W, 18W and 20W mixed in.
So plus-size juniors and seniors are shopping the same designers as everyone else rather than a separate corner. Prom gown prices have run from about $199 to $1,699, and a sale group collects marked-down formalwear.
A dress shop that also sells your Tuesday outfit
Glass Slipper is a full fashion boutique, and the formal side shares the floor with tops, jeans, western dresses, boots and heels, plus Kendra Scott, Enewton and Brighton jewelry. The store leans into that range with a wink, asking whether you want "Fashion to charm...or disarm?" and promising to bring out the inner "DIVA." It also dates its time in the fashion industry to at least 2001.
For homecoming the store runs its own collections: a Homecoming group and a Short Formal Dresses group, with labels such as Ava Presley, Sherri Hill, Ashley Lauren, Rachel Allan and Primavera. A cocktail and semi-formal group covers spring banquets and dances that do not call for a full-length gown.
Downtown sits at a crossroads. Norton is an independent city ringed by Wise County, where US 23 meets US 58 Alternate. John I. Burton High School is Norton's own. The county's three consolidated high schools are Central in Wise, Union in Big Stone Gap and Eastside in Coeburn, and Ridgeview High in Clintwood serves Dickenson County to the northeast. That is five high schools within about 30 miles of downtown, each holding its own prom every spring.
Reading the racks
The store is frank about how stock behaves: the store sells through quickly. When a style is gone, staff first look for something similar on the floor, then check whether the designer can still supply it. Special orders are possible when your size or color is not on hand.
Measuring well matters, and the store walks through it.
Measuring and fit, per the store
- Follow the designer's size chart
- Measure the bust at its fullest, the waist at its smallest and the hips at their fullest
- Get someone else to hold the tape
- A dress too large can always be taken in, while letting one out is far harder
- Even with careful measuring, expect a hem, strap adjustments or added cups, and set money aside for a local seamstress
All of which comes back to one line from the store, the one that explains why a style seen in January may be someone else's by March.
Because we sell off of our racks in each location, the turnovers are high, and we sell through most styles that we carry each season.
Glass Slipper Boutique, answered
Does Glass Slipper Boutique carry prom gowns in larger sizes?
It does. Prom gowns have run up to sizes 28 and 32, including W sizes, across labels such as Alyce Paris, Clarisse, Rachel Allan and Tiffany Designs.