On February 19th, the Malmstrom Spouses Club made an appearance as the MSC Cinderella’s Closet Pop-Up Prom Shop at CMR. The shop provided prom dresses, shoes, and purses in the S.T.E.M. conference room. The best part about it was that they were all free.
The pop-up shop was created to help high school students find prom dresses without paying hundreds of dollars, but also to have fun trying on dresses with your friends. By giving away these dresses and accessories, not only do they find a new home outside of the pop-up shop, but also they bring together a whole community to have a fun night out.
Two CMR sophomore students, Khalia Riley and Gemma Quenzer, expressed their opinion about their time at the Pop-Up shop, and Cinderella’s closet chair and MSC vice president, Kate Davidson and Megan King, told their thought process behind the Prom Shop.
“The ladies that worked there were really helpful. I didn’t have problems getting around at all,” she said. Her experience was excellent, and the MSC volunteers helped pick out dresses for her to try on with her style, her size range, and the decision to keep it.
“I really liked the dresses they had. Some of the dresses that they did bring weren’t really prom dresses in my opinion, but to each their own,” she said.
Riley explained that there was a good selection, but some of them didn’t feel like the ‘typical prom dress’, like the lacy and very oriented kind.
“I would go again. It was really helpful, especially if you’re someone without a huge budget. I would suggest going earlier since they might have more of a selection, but I am happy with what I ended up with.” Riley said. They recommended arriving earlier for a wider selection but were still satisfied with what they found.
Likewise, sophomore Gemma Quenzer expressed enthusiasm for the Pop-Up Prom shop, noting that she enjoyed the experience and would attend again.
“I thought it had amazing dresses, and it surprised me that there was a decent amount of really nice dresses,” Quenzer said. Quenzer noted that the dresses were impressive and expressed surprise at the number of stylish, high-quality options.
“I made the time to try on multiple dresses, and it kind of felt fun feeling girly,” she said. Quenzer explained that her experience was enjoyable, trying on several dresses.
“Picking dresses and getting input from my friends was probably the best part. I will definitely go again if it’s there next year,” Quenzer said.
Quenzer explained that selecting dresses with input from her friends was the highlight of her experience, and she plans to attend again if it returns next year.
Providing another perspective, Cinderella’s Closet chair Kate Davidson and MSC vice president Megan King discussed how the idea originated and how successful it has been.
“We have a lot of extra dresses that we were looking to share with the community, and we figured that since prom was around the corner, that you guys would be a good first choice,” Davidson said.
“We could pass on dresses that were donated to us to fix that overflow, but also pass them on to people who weren’t necessarily military connected, but to people who might need them,” King added. King and Davidson explained how Cinderella’s Closet had too many dresses, and thought that having the Pop-up Shop at CMR would have been a good way to give out their dresses to not only military families, but to families that aren’t affiliated.
“I would say it was a success. I believe that we brought in about seventy dresses, and of those seventy, we gave away thirty-three. We also gave away fourteen pairs of shoes, and eight handbags.” she said. Davidson recalled that the MSC brought in lots of dresses, bags and accessories to give out, and the majority of them were gone by the end of the day. This suggests that it was a success for the students, and also for Cinderella’s Closet.
“We’d like to make the Pop-up Shop an annual thing for the closet, and we figured we could alternate years between Great Falls High and CMR,” Davidson said.
Davidson wants to make plans for next year to have the shop be a tradition for Great Falls High and CMR, being a good way to give away dresses for many students who can’t afford them.
Overall, the MSC Cinderella’s Closet Pop-Up Prom Shop proved to be a successful and meaningful event for CMR students. By offering free dresses, shoes, and accessories, the Malmstrom Spouses Club helped make prom more accessible for students who may not have a large budget. With positive feedback from students and dozens of items given away, the event not only helped students prepare for prom but also brought the community together. If plans to make the shop an annual event move forward, even more students may have the chance to find their perfect prom outfit in the years to come
