A 12,000-square-foot Victorian mansion off the Beltline is an unexpected place to shop for a prom dress, but that is where Vera's House of Bridals keeps its party floor. The store is best known around Madison for wedding gowns. Prom has its own section, though, and it runs on different rules than the bridal side: no appointment is needed to shop it. Students can come in after school, browse, and try on without booking a slot.
The store says it carries hundreds of party gowns in all colors and styles, in sizes 0 to 20, with more than 200 prom styles. The store refreshes its prom lines every season. The same floor also covers ball gowns and black-tie dresses, and the selection suits prom, quinceañeras and school dances alike.
Two prom labels on the party floor
The store names two party lines: Morilee Prom and Sherri Hill.
A couple of scheduling notes help.
Sundays
Reserved for bridal Luxe Appointments.
Prom days
Any weekday or Saturday the shop is open.
For alterations, Vera's keeps a list of recommended seamstresses, including some in nearby states for families who live across the border, since it does not alter gowns itself. Leave room in the calendar for that fitting, because a prom gown bought in March still needs a hem before a May dance.
Since 1964, and now on its third generation
James and Vera Stillmank, a photographer and a seamstress, started the business in 1964.
1964
Helping brides from a small farmhouse south of Janesville
1968
A larger Janesville building follows
1981
A Madison store opens
When the Madison shop outgrew its space about five years later, Vera designed and built the current store on Big Sky Drive, with 16 showrooms under one Victorian roofline.
Family still runs it. Vera's daughter Renee, a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, is the corporate manager, and her two children joined the business after graduating from UW-Madison. That makes three generations of the family on the floor. In 2003 the original Janesville location became Vera's Clearance Center, a home for discounted designer samples.
Bridal is the larger half of the business, with more than 800 wedding gowns in sizes 2 to 32 and a separate mothers department. The bridal side draws from far beyond Dane County; the store gives driving directions from Milwaukee, Green Bay, Wausau, Chicago, Minneapolis, Des Moines and Dubuque.
Getting to Big Sky Drive from the west-side schools
From Highway 12, the store's own directions take the Mineral Point Road exit and a turn onto Big Sky Drive. That route works well for students at Vel Phillips Memorial High School, the Madison Metropolitan School District school formerly called James Madison Memorial, and at Madison West High School. Families from Middleton High School and Verona Area High School use the same Beltline exits, and the store is a natural stop for anyone shopping in south-central Wisconsin who wants to see prom gowns without booking ahead.
The store sums up its prom approach in one line.
You'll be dressed to impress in any one of our gowns from our exclusive prom dress designers.
Vera's prom floor, briefly
What size range does the Vera's party floor stock?
Party and prom gowns run from size 0 to 20. The wider 2 to 32 range applies to wedding gowns.
Can I shop prom at Vera's on a weekend?
On Saturdays, yes. Sundays are only for bridal Luxe Appointments, so plan a weekday or Saturday visit.
Does the party floor work for a quinceañera as well as prom?
Yes. The same selection is meant for proms, quinceañeras and school dances, and the same floor carries ball and black-tie gowns.