Signature

The size range is the first thing to know about Signature.

The boutique keeps more than 1,000 dresses in stock across that run, by its own count, so a prom shopper who wears a 24 gets the same labels as one who wears a 2. Gilda Mizrahi founded the boutique, and it has been dressing the region since 1990 on her buying instincts. Her own bio on the site credits her with national and international recognition in the fashion business, and the shop advertises that it has been voted Washington's number one formal store.

Today the boutique sits on the Friendship Heights stretch of Wisconsin Avenue in northwest Washington, D.C., the neighborhood that runs right up to the Maryland line. Longtime customers may remember it farther down Wisconsin in Georgetown: a 2017 Washingtonian item placed Signature on Wisconsin Avenue there and quoted Mizrahi saying that the week before that year's inauguration, prom requests outnumbered inauguration requests. Inaugural balls come every four years. Prom shoppers come every spring.

The labels, by occasion

Signature organizes its stock by event rather than by designer alone, which makes it easier to see where a prom shopper should spend her time. The site's own collection filters break down like this:

The prom filters alone run from short dresses and two-piece sets to long ballgowns, corset bodices, mermaid and trumpet cuts, high-low hems and even a few jumpsuits and suits. Fabrics range from allover sequin and glitter tulle to brushed satin, chiffon and beaded mesh. Ashley Lauren also has its own homecoming collection on the site, which helps fall shoppers who want something shorter than a senior-year gown.

Pageant girls get a real department here, not an afterthought, and that overlap helps prom shoppers too. A stage gown built to read from the back of an auditorium is often the same silhouette that photographs best in a hotel ballroom. Signature added wedding dresses recently and stocks bridesmaid lines, but the front of the house is still evening and prom.

How a Signature fitting runs

The store's schedule is split by day of the week, and it states the rule in a single line on its appointments page.

Walk-ins are welcome on weekdays. However, appointments are required on Saturdays.

So a Tuesday after school can be a walk-in visit, while a Saturday in prom season means booking ahead. Anyone hoping to work with a particular stylist is asked to call and set up a time. The contact page adds a request worth honoring: if you have a specific style number from a designer's site in mind, call first to confirm the boutique actually has it in store.

Alterations are handled in-house. The boutique describes professional designer stylists on site who custom fit each gown, which means a hem, a strap adjustment or a bodice taken in can be handled by the people who sold you the dress instead of a separate tailor. Ask about the alteration timeline at the register, especially in March and April.

The shop's media record includes appearances on CBS's Great Day Washington, WUSA9, Fox and ABC, and international shipping is listed among its services. In 2026 the business also opened Signature Edit, a ready-to-wear floor upstairs run with partner Raana Kalpakji, aimed at the dinners and trips between the big events.

The address puts three jurisdictions within reach. In the District, Jackson-Reed High School sits in Tenleytown, the next neighborhood south on Wisconsin Avenue. Across the line in Montgomery County, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and Walt Whitman High School are the large public campuses closest to the border, and Arlington's Washington-Liberty and Yorktown sit just over the Potomac. For any of them, the size range is the reason to come, since the plus sizes hang in the same designer lines as everything else in the room.

Shopping Signature in Friendship Heights: common questions

What if I order a prom dress from Signature's website and it doesn't work?

Online orders ask for a wear date, and the FAQ says no return or exchange is accepted after that date. Returns need a return authorization number, must come back unworn with original tags and garment bag, and are settled as an exchange or store credit. Bridesmaid orders are made for the event and cannot be returned.

Can Signature alter a gown bought there?

Yes. The boutique offers in-house alterations with stylists on site who fit the dress to you.