Ballgowns

[Kitty]

My studio wants to buy some number (5-6) of ballgowns, inexpensive (under $600 each), so that they can be lent to standard and smooth couples for competitions and performances. The problem we have is that most of what we found sold aren't really ballgowns, but rather cocktail dresses (which we don't want to buy since everyone owns a couple - there is no point).

So basically we are having trouble finding a place that would sell pre-made ballgowns (not made specially for us - it is too expensive).

Would you recommend any such place?

Thank you,

Kitty

[pygmalion]

Oh yeah! There are a couple discount ballgown places in the ads and announcements forums. I bought my last gown from ballroomdressforless. (There are quite a few other places, but I don't have personal experience, so I won't make a recommendation.)

Anne, one of the business partners at ballroomdressforless, was SO NICE. She corresponded with me via email and phone, and met my needs on a very short schedule, even though, at the time, her house was under threat from the Southern California wild fires last October. Nice lady, good quality, nice prices. 8) And a friend who bought a gown from them at the same time as I did, was also very happy with her purchase.

It's probably worth at least checking out their website or giving them a call.

There's also another low-priced vendor that comes up if you do a froogle search on google for ballroom apparel. I've never bought stuff from them, so I can't say personally. But the pictures look good, and the prices are definitely right. ballroom unlimited :wink: :wink:

[Adwiz]

Chrisanne Couture USA has gowns that are pre-made. I'm not sure of the prices, but I've been told they are reasonable.

w w w.chrisanne.us/

[pygmalion]

Yes, they are reasonable, but not under $600 retail. Maybe $600 or less on clearance? I don't know. another option is to wait for the biannual clearance sale at Designs by Lynn. Prices start at about $300, and you can get good deals. It might be worth a call.

[tasche]

Some of those styles on that ballroomfroless website I've seen on ebay from sellers in Hong Kong but the prices were sub $100

[pygmalion]

Yup. Try modenafashions. Way low prices. You have to pay shipping from HongKong, but the prices are very reasonable.

[tasche]

Alot of the hong kong sellers will also make a gown for you to your design but my advice is you get it plain and decorate yourself as some of their styles are a little well. PM and I'll giv eyou the info of a company I've worked with that do tasteful work.

[redhead]

I got one from modenafashions (I'm a student :oops: ). The skirt is amazing, I'm going to keep it and make a different top for it. Warning - seems like they have no ... aah... chest in Hong Kong, so if you're busty, you might not be able to fix your gown. These are also not for tall ladies- I'm 5-5 and wish the dress was a bit longer. Also, my gown came heavily decorated - Chinese style of course - and I figured out beads and sequins are easy to remove. Boy, did I know that they handsaw EACH little thing to the dress separately... It took me about 30 hours to remove all that stuff. and now it seems funny...

[pygmalion]

Thanks for the tips, redhead. I've only seen the pix. They do give the approximate measurements (onthe modenafashions page) but who knows?

And there's nothing I hate worse than ripping and removing. :x You have no idea how many garments I've throw away half-done rather than rip out seams and stuff. :shock: Just can't stand it.

[redhead]

I had to. Their measurements are OK, unstretched. The one I got has a very stretchy top (had to remove about 5 inches on the sides), but the skirt does not stretch at all. 99.9% guaranteed - you'd have to do some work on those dresses. But prices don't bite, and yourdress will be just that - yours, unique.

[twodance]

Chrisanne Couture USA has gowns that are pre-made. I'm not sure of the prices, but I've been told they are reasonable.

w w w.chrisanne.us/ The prices start at $2800.00 and go up.

[Larinda McRaven]

Not that it totally matters, in this discussion for inexpensive gowns, but the $2800+ is for a new standard gown, a new latin is less. And the more-dash-than-cash dresses are heavily discounted. In addition, right now they are having a sale and some of the dresses are as low as $1000. Not a bad price to pay for a Chrisanne.

[tasche]

I ahd forgotten about these guys. w w w.dancewear.co.nz/affordable.htm a undecorated gown runs about $400 US so you could stick a reasonable amount of stones on it yourself and still come in under budget

They do a kind of mix and match thing . I.e 3 choices of neckline, 3 choices of skirt, 3 choices of sleeve and standard sizings

[pygmalion]

There are manyother discount places on the web, where you can get stuff ready-to-wear under $600. If I were doing the buying, I'd prefer to go for better quality gowns, and just wait for a clearance sale, unless I didn't have other options.

And as for stoning? I'm a seamstress, so I have an eye for color and cut, but I don't know that I'm equal to the task of stoning. Hmm.

[tasche]

Stoning is on of the funnest parts! I'm inquiring to the NZ company regarding their undecorated gowns as a) i dont ahve time to sew one right and b) I've heard good things about their quality

Unless you chose a designs thats ugly its really hard to totally mess up the stoning

[pygmalion]

It might be worth trying sometime, but not if I had a short schedule or on a dresss I really loved. Not the first tie around, at least.

[tasche]

The lead time for the nz place is 4 weeks which isn't bad not that I need it that soon.

Pratice stoning on some funky top or dress from forever 21 or something

[pygmalion]

That's a good idea. Practice on a throwaway inexpensive top. If it turns out well, voila! You have a cool new dance top. If not, all you've wasted is a little time.

[Standard Dancer]

The lead time for the nz place is 4 weeks which isn't bad not that I need it that soon.

Pratice stoning on some funky top or dress from forever 21 or something

Hi Tasche - I'm new to the forum :) and was reading this thread because I'm currently looking for my first standard competition gown. Did you ever get yours made by the NZ company? If so, how'd it turn out? Their prices look OK but I'm wondering if maybe it would be better to have it made locally so I could at least go to fittings, etc.

Thanks!

[DancePoet]

Welcome to Dance Forums Standard Dancer! :D

[Standard Dancer]

Thanks! :D Glad to be here. I love ballroom so this is great -- so many answers to questions I've wondered myself (or never even thought to wonder until now) and so many people who share my addiction! :wink:

[DancerForLife]

I would also suggest dreamgown - a Hungarian girl sells second hand competition gowns from Hungary, you can find very nice stuff at reasonable prices.

[Standard Dancer]

Thanks - you're right it is a great site. I just spent hours looking at all the pictures! There were a couple I really liked, too bad they were already sold! :(

Guess I gotta keep looking... if anyone has anymore suggestions on reasonably priced ballgowns please let me know! (I've already tried the ballgown thread and visited the sites mentioned there...)

[tanz15]

If you are conveniently located with respect to NYC, there is a Russian shop in Brooklyn that makes Latin and standard dresses for extraordinarily low prices. The last time I checked, it was $300-350 for a ballgown, plus cost for materials. The customer service experience can be a little, uh, weird if you don't speak Russian, but it's manageable. They can copy essentially anything off a video or photo, and it's very good quality work.

The business is called LaVal and is run by a woman named V. Matytsin. I'll try to post the address later. The place is only 2 blocks from a subway stop (King's Highway on the Q, I think).

[Standard Dancer]

Thanks for the recommendation. I do happen to have access to New York and have heard about the person you mentioned. I might actually end up trying her since I hear her prices, as you mentioned, are reasonable. Now I just have to come up with my own cut & stoning ideas! Since it's my first dress and I might be using it for a while (!), I want it to be a great fit. :D

[tanz15]

LaVal's address is 1637 E 17th, 3rd floor, Brooklyn, NY 11229.

[Standard Dancer]

Great! Does anyone know the best place to get Swarovski crystals in New York? As in, best selection, best price, etc.? :D

Also, I'm probably going to be buying the fabric myself as well ... I believe you can only get Angelskin directly from Chrisanne, but am not sure -- can anyone confirm this?

And I'm also looking for chiffon and "netting" or possibly lace ... any suggestions for a good fabric store would be much appreciated! :D

(Can you tell I'm excited? heheh)

[Laura]

You can get fabric that is almost exactly like Angelskin (and their dance crepe, for that matter) elsewhere, but you have to be lucky about finding it. There's a shop near me in California that buys up designer sample leftover fabrics. We got dance crepe that is just like what you'd order from Chrisanne or Trim-It. Once you figure in the shipping, etc, it's about $30/yard from these places, but we paid $4.50 . The buyer for the store doesn't know it as "Angelskin" or "dance crepe," though, he just calls it lightweight lycra. Ditto for the Angleskin-like fabric -- we can get it for about $4.50 at this store. Selection is very limited -- you have to go in there with an open mind and get ideas from what you can find, rather than go in there saying "I want to find sunglow Angelskin."

If you are in New York City, there's got to be a store someplace like the one I have near me in San Francisco...after all, isn't NYC the center of the garment trade? It would help if you brought in a little swatch of Angelskin or dance crepe or whatever so the people in the stores will know exactly what you are looking for, and so be better able to help you find it.

[Dancebug]

What is so special about Chrisanne's Angelskin fabric?

[Standard Dancer]

Hi Dancebug - someone recommended Angelskin to me, but if I can find a similar material I'd be open to trying that as well ... :D

Thanks for the info, Laura! I haven't been a member here long, but from what I've seen you're the queen of dress-making heheh. :D Yes, I think I will try looking around the garment district, was just hoping that perhaps some other dancers in the area had a favorite shop or something so I could start with a more limited search area ... it's sort of overwhelming when you have so many choices to pick from (but of course I'm glad to have it). As a side note, I visit the San Francisco area sometimes -- what's the name of the fabric shop that you go to there? (if you don't mind sharing :) )

[Laura]

It's called Darlene's, and they have two stores on Mission St. One is full of fake flowers and stuff you'd use for making wedding favors, etc. The other is full of fabric. I just bought the most beautiful charcoal grey wool/rayon/lycra blend to make a pair of pants out of. It has acid green pinstripes, I love it, and it was like $5.00/yard.

I wouldn't say I'm a dress-making queen, rather that I just like to talk about it a lot :-)

[Medira]

I wouldn't say I'm a dress-making queen, rather that I just like to talk about it a lot :-)...and that's a very good thing, because I'd like to ask you for advice on how to go about making my own dresses relatively soon, if you don't mind. :)

[Laura]

Sure thing -- I'll do my best to help!

[tanz15]

In NYC, there are several blocks worth of fabric and trim stores near Port Authority (around West 38th/39th). Spandex House and Stretch World have more (and more kinds of) stretch fabric than the mind can imagine, and there are plenty of shops selling chiffon and so forth.

[tanya_the_dancer]

If you are conveniently located with respect to NYC, there is a Russian shop in Brooklyn that makes Latin and standard dresses for extraordinarily low prices. The last time I checked, it was $300-350 for a ballgown, plus cost for materials. The customer service experience can be a little, uh, weird if you don't speak Russian, but it's manageable. They can copy essentially anything off a video or photo, and it's very good quality work.

The business is called LaVal and is run by a woman named V. Matytsin. I'll try to post the address later. The place is only 2 blocks from a subway stop (King's Highway on the Q, I think).

If you have their phone number, can you please post it or e-mail it to me at tsmt1001@yahoo.com

I am not conveniently located in NY (anymore), but I speak russian, so maybe I'll have some luck with this lady.

Thanks

[elisedance]

found the Mother of Ballgowns Thread! Odd that it hasn't been posted to for 2 years.

Anyhow, was PMing with Kat about gowns and asked her if ballgowns usually come with extra fabric for future alterations/fixes? I insisted when mine was made that the rest of the material bought for the purpose should be part of the deal and I still have it (it has been invaluable). I also got any extra stones. My seamstress did not seem too happy about that but since the deal was worked out by itemizing materials separately from workmaship I could insist.

Did anyone else also get extra material or is my case the exception?

[fascination]

I have never recieved extra fabric except from skwiggy....but I have had one dressmaker honestly give me almost enough stones to nearly re-stone the dress...and I love that