Covid supply chain sparks shortage of formal dresses

A shortage of formal dresses threatens to leave some Year 12 students high and dry as retailers warn those who don’t have a frock may have left their run too late.

Christopher Harris

3 min read

November 25, 2021 - 6:20PM

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A shortage of formal dresses thanks to the Covid supply chain crisis threatens to leave some Year 12 students high and dry as retailers warn students who don’t have a frock for the Year 12 formal may have left their run too late.

Despite the shortage, retailers report girls are happy to splash hundreds, and in some parts of Sydney, thousands of dollars in their bid to secure the perfect dress.

In Revesby in Sydney’s southwest ElissaJay Boutique owner Linda Allan said nobody bought any dresses for much of the year for fear the formal would be cancelled due to restrictions.

“Because of the lockdown, nobody was buying anything but now it is really hard to find a dress,” she said. “There is not a lot of stock left.”

She said it was too late to order a different size for a formal in December because it had to come in from either China or Vietnam and the turnaround time was at least six weeks.

In south west Sydney, owner of Beautiful Brides Leumeah Julie O’Neil who sells dozens of formal dresses every year said there had also been problems with sourcing dresses.

“A lot of these dresses are made overseas and they have had difficulties in certain areas getting these dresses made.”

Amani Yaghi with year 12 student Victoria Holdsworth, 17, from Kirrawee High School, at ElissaJay Boutique. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Penrith‘s Visage boutique owner Kim Cancellier said there has been a shortage of international dresses at her store but said they had managed to secure stock from Queensland.

“With Covid, we haven‘t been able to order in all those international brands so there is more of a forced trend to Australian labels,” she said.

There has also been a rush online for dresses, with retailer The ICONIC’s head of style Nicole Adolphe reporting a surge of interest in formal dresses in the past couple of weeks.

“(We) have seen a notable spike in people browsing for formal dresses onsite. In the past 4-6 weeks, our occasionwear category has seen an over 125% jump in demand, while October alone has been our most popular month for views across our formal dresses assortment,” she said.

And how much are schoolgirls willing to spend?

Victoria Holdsworth,17, from Kirrawee High School said her mother had given her a budget of $400 for a dress — and managed to find one at ElissaJay boutique but numerous ones were sold out in her size.

“I want something that has a low neckline, that has a slit and has a low back,” she said.

Like most other schools, hers has its own Facebook page where dresses get posted so they do not double up.

Victoria Holdsworth has been given a $400 budget t spend on a dress. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

“It is so no girls get the same two dresses… you know, you want to look your best and you don’t want to double up on dresses because then that isn’t fun.”

On the Northern Beaches, By Daniella Boutique in Dee Why said girls were spending between $200 and $300 on a dress while in south west Sydney punchbowl’s Sassy Boutique reported the spend almost double that, estimating their average customer splashed $450 on a Year 12 formal dress.

In Mosman, boutique Fox and Dove’s Liv Vitlich said girls were trying to find a dress they could wear again and were seeking out emerald green designs with some sort of cut out.

“We’re in Mosman so you get a lot of private school kids so they’re spending between $300 to $800 on a formal dress,” she said.

“We stock stuff which is wearable so you can wear it to your formal but rewear it again.”

Meanwhile in Double Bay, designer Maria Linker said she had sold a dress for $2500 to one student at her L’Elegante boutique — but said while her parents may have chipped in, the girl would work in her part time job to contribute towards it.

“It was a lot of money for a young girl to pay for a formal dress,” she said.

“She was a beautiful young girl — it was my fault and her mum’s because we put her in it just for fun and then she absolutely loved it, she said I don’t care if I have to work for the rest of my life.”