Bargain beauty
$10 dress complements priceless prom night
Christie Ernsbarger of Conway slowly walked around the First Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall, where more than 200 past prom and party dresses, available for just $10, were draped over folding chairs.
The project, called Cinderella’s Closet, is sponsored by the University of Central Arkansas Panhellenic Council, which represents five UCA sororities.
Lindsey Osborne, director of sorority life at UCA, said the purpose of the event is to provide affordable prom dresses, and the money raised is given to a charity. This year, it is Bethlehem House, Conway’s homeless shelter.
“It’s amazing — we have double the amount of dresses we had last year,” she said, looking out at the colorful array.
Christie, a 19-year-old University of Central Arkansas freshman, was attending Conway High School’s prom again with her boyfriend, Simon Stone, a high school senior.
“I didn’t really want to spend a lot of money this time, especially because this isn’t my senior prom or anything. … I thought this was a great deal,” she said.
Christie picked out two blue dresses and a purple one, but as she stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom-turned-dressingroom, she called her mother, Rene Ernsbarger, to come help her decide on a dress.
Rene came, and so did Simon, who walked around with Christie a few minutes before he had to leave.
Rene found a navy, long, classically styled dress that she loved.
“I’m thinking Audrey Hepburn,” Rene said.
It didn’t work out. Not just any dress would do for Christie, who stands a modelesque 6 feet tall.
Christie was partial to a light-blue dress she found, but the purple one got higher marks from her mother.
“I like the way it fits you at the top,” Rene told her.
Then they found a black strapless dress with clear rhinestones, and it quickly became a top contender.
Christie called in her “toughest critic,” she said — her 14-year-old brother, Brenton — who was waiting in the car.
She tried on the purple dress. “Do you like this?” she asked. “Versus what?” he asked. “Just do you like it?” she asked, swaying side to side, making the dress swing.
He did, but she tried on the black one, and he voted for it.
For $20, she bought them both.
Ultimately, she decided to wear the black dress.
“It had an old-style, classic, glamorous look,” Christie said.
On April 14, the morning of prom, it was cloudy and windy, and Christie was up early putting on a garage sale with friends to raise money for a mission trip.
Shortly after 5 p.m., she went to get ready for prom at the home of a friend and neighbor, Kate Mccalman, a freshman at Arkansas Tech University. A third friend, Makenzie Green, a freshman at the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton, joined them at the home.
Three college women, three high school senior guys.
“Robbing the cradle,” one of the girls joked.
Kate said she has dated her boyfriend, Jeremy Parris, the longest.
“Today’s 16 months,” she said, as she looked in the bathroom mirror to put on eye makeup.
Makenzie said she and Jack Evans have dated for “about five months,” and Christie and Simon have been together for “a little over a year,” Christie said.
The college women were calm, cool and collected as they got ready — Christie can put on false eyelashes like a pro, thanks to her past theater and dance experience.
Makenzie’s biggest decision was whether her necklace was “too much” with the chandelier earrings, sequined dress and other bling.
“This is way out of my comfort zone,” she said, looking in the mirror. She decided the necklace was too much and took it off.
Rene came armed with a camera, a curling iron and super-strength hairspray.
She had fixed her daughter’s hair; then she curled Kate’s, squeezing into the bathroom with the three girls.
Rene also made Christie’s wrist corsage from tulips that Simon bought, and Rene saved one to be his boutonniere.
“I’m a jack of all trades,” she said, laughing.
The girls had no idea where the guys were taking them, “because it’s not our prom,” Christie said.
The doorbell rang, and the girls yelled, “Boys!” in unison.
Kate’s dad, David, looked at the three young women.
“You are lovely — you really, really look nice,” he said.
Simon, wearing a black tuxedo with a gray vest, came in and disappeared to get Christie’s corsage, while his mother, Sharon Stone, waited nearby with her camera.
When Simon saw Christie, he had a sharp intake of breath and his eyebrows went up.
“It’s amazing — wow,” he said, not taking his eyes off her.
“The corsage, or me?” Christie asked, teasing him.
“You and the dress,” he said.
The dress. The $10 dress that she looked like a million bucks in.
The parents took pictures — lots and lots of pictures, for which the couples playfully and patiently posed for an hour.
Christie took off her shoes at one point during pictures to be more equal in height to the others, and Simon got on one knee and slipped them back on her like she was Cinderella.
The boys had a top-secret plan to surprise their dates. They had cleaned up a work house the Stones own.
Christie said the boys cleaned out the tools and equipment, put down carpet, separated the large, open area with light-colored sheets to give it a “flowy, nice feel” and hung Christmas lights. They brought in a dining table and set it, creating their own restaurant.
“Oh, my gosh, it was beautiful,” Christie said.
Before dinner, the young men, who all play an instrument, performed songs for their dates. Get ready to swoon, ladies — Simon, a drummer, learned to play the guitar just so he could play a special song for Christie.
“I leaned over to Kate and said, ‘What is Simon doing? He doesn’t play the guitar,’” Christie said.
The guys then served a three-course meal they had prepared: broccoli salad, chicken alfredo and icebox delight.
“The girls just loved how they made dinner for us instead of going out, because it can be kind of stressful going to a fancy restaurant,” Christie said.
A fter tripping the light fantastic at prom, the boys had set up a miniature golf course for an after-prom activity.
Christie said their boyfriends achieved their goal to “blow senior prom out of the water.” The dress: $10. The perfect prom: Priceless.