'The Prom Closet' in Oxford features free dresses so everyone can go to prom
OXFORD ― Two former Southbridge High School teachers, Deb Mercure and Michelle Aronson, run the Prom Closet, a one-stop shop for all things prom. The pair started the boutique after they realized some of their students could not afford prom dresses or tuxes in 2018.
"By the time you buy the dress, the hair, the nails, the shoes, the jewelry, the ticket, the transportation ... you're talking well over $1,000," Mercure said. "We realized there were probably a lot more students that couldn't go to prom because of cost. So that was kind of the catalyst for the whole thing."
At this boutique, customers are not expected to pay for anything. The dresses are loaned to customers with the expectation that they are returned after prom season.
Their boutique, which started in the closet of an old science classroom at Southbridge High School, moved to a new location this year. Mercure said in 2018, the head of maintenance at Southbridge High School "transformed the closet."
Now, the boutique is at the Barton Center for Diabetes Education in Oxford. The pair moved there at the beginning of 2024 because they had lost access to the school building on the weekends.
Mercure said the community's response to the move and the boutique's mission has been "incredible." As of February, they had given out 65 dresses.
The move also gives Mercure and Aronson more access to the boutique.
When the pair started the boutique, they framed it as a place only for people in financial need. Now, it is for anyone.
"We've kind of decided to look upon it as sustainable fashion — that it's crazy to go and spend $800 on a prom dress you're only going to wear once," Mercure said. "And yes, it still encompasses those with financial need. I've had quite a few come in this year and said there's no way they could have gotten to prom because they couldn't afford a dress."
The dresses come in all sizes and lengths, Mercure said. It's their sixth year providing girls with their perfect, gently used prom dresses. Mercure and Aronson use their own money sometimes to buy used dresses but mainly rely on donations from the community.
"The community has really rallied around us," Mercure said. "Donations are still coming in pretty much twice a week."
Mercure said they have "well over 800" dresses available. Some are even brand new, thanks to stores' donations to the boutique.
Every time a girl walks out of their boutique satisfied with her perfect dress, Mercure said that is enough.
"They have to show us (the dress), and we take a cheesy picture at the end for archives," Mercure said. "And I say that's my payment. My payment is the ability to see them happy in a dress that makes them feel beautiful, knowing that they're gonna get to go to prom and it's not going to cost them $1,000 to do so."
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: The Prom Closet provides special occasion dress loans at no cost
