I love looking at all the beautiful dresses on a dance floor and then imagining myself in one (or all) of them. However, the nitty gritty of designing a dress and finding someone to make it is not easy if you’re just entering the dance world. In my college years, I turned to eBay and Chinese dressmakers. These were not bad options for college. In amateur league, however, those dresses definitely pale in comparison to European and American-made dresses (as in, they tend to look cheap). This year, I used the same Chinese dressmaker I used in college and stoned the costume he sent me. Stoning was a difficult task, but worth it in the end. It probably cost about $900 in the end, instead of $2000 or more. For my first year back in dancing, I simply needed an appropriate dress and this worked very well. My latin dress, however, is another story. I bought a practice dress that would meet the requirements for Nationals at BYU and again stoned it myself. The result of this one, however, was less than stellar. It wasn’t a terrible dress, but it looked juvenile and like a less-experienced person stoned it. I needed to find a dress that was midway between high-end designer and college comp wear. Basic, but stylish would be perfect. Still, this was not easy to find.
Right now I’m working with – or maybe tempering – a designer. I first started to inquire about prices and designs. She has a lot of energy and probably throws everything she has my way - lots of information and examples of dresses she was working on. The only thing is, her price is pretty high (for me). We discussed some options and I finally sent her a design – rather basic in my opinion – and asked what she would charge for it unstoned. Her lowest was still very high for me. I told her I’d think about it and let her know the next week. I was about to concede and fork over the money when two people strongly discouraged the idea. Then I became depressed. I wanted a nice dress, but I couldn’t afford her price. I had looked at the websites of a few other designers and my guess was that prices would be comparable. I didn’t know where else to go, aside from getting a practice outfit and stoning it or continue to blindly search for options. What does a person do without connections?? Then I remembered - online forums. You never know if you’ll get any responses, but it was worth a shot.
I went into my favorite dance forum and posted the question if a stoned practice dress would be good enough for my level of dancing. A couple people responded: some said yes, while others said no. One of those “nay sayers” gave me another option: Europe. She said dresses are so inexpensive because the market is bigger. She bought hers for several hundred instead of several thousand. It’s scary to have a dress made overseas, she said, but it was worth it: it was beautiful and comparable in quality to its expensive counterparts. She gave me a name and a few avenues to try. When I talked to Ibrahim, he suggested starting with Russia. He read through Russian dance forums (which he says are mostly run by obsessive mothers) and picked a few designers who were highly recommended. We looked through their websites and decided that once I had a final design, we would spam them all, asking for prices and construction details. Hope was restored with an expansion of **options**.
My dance forum friend also gave me some perspective: a dress is an expense, not an investment. It's similar to a car in that Its value goes down after wearing it. This changed my mind-set toward dress-buying in general. I have to think about it as a loss instead of a gain, so it would be optimal to find the least expensive option that I can get away with. However, I have to find the zone where time, energy, and money meet what I can do...more energy, time, and assistance from my personal translator may mean lower cost, while a higher price would yield something sooner and more convenient.
Now that I had a new paths to try, there was still one obstacle left – letting the American designer know that I was no longer interested, but without burning the bridge. Who knows, maybe the European dress will turn out poorly and I’ll need someone to go to in the future? Plus, she’s been friendly. I had told her I would get back to her the next week and let her know if I could meet her price…so I waited until the last minute on Friday of course. I texted her, thanking her for her time, but said her price was too high for me - maybe I'd try her again in the future. Then came a conversation I wasn’t prepared for. What I hoped was that she would say, “Oh I’m sorry it’s worked out that way. Let me know if things change.” Instead, she wanted to bargain: she lowered her price and went on about the advantages of having a custom-designed dress. I was a little put off and didn't know how to respond: just accept my "no"! I tried to delay the conversation by saying I had changed design and I would get back to her about it when I was done (which was true). But that only added wood to the fire…she started talking about designs and colors. I finally had to say I was busy at work and I’d get back to her in a few days.
Suddenly the tables had turned. She evidently wanted work and was willing to lower her price (although it was still high - over $1000). I could recognize all the maneuvers she was pulling and realized I was caught in a business game. She would say things like, "You can't get into a final without a custom-made dress...Since I'm giving you such a good deal and partially sponsoring you (knocking only $300 off the previous cost?) by making a spectacular dress..." I wanted to say, "Excuse me? I don't need you." However, Ibrahim encouraged me to maintain a friendly relationship...she was just doing business after all and trying to earn a living. I also don't know the value of my leverage. I have European options, but maybe they won’t work out. Maybe getting a dress over there would be just as expensive or wouldn't be done well. Maybe none of them would work with me because I lived abroad. If I could do anything, I'd get a dress from over there first, see how it turns out, and then go back to the American designer if I didn't like it. Right now, though, I'm trying to delay this person tactically while seeing what Europe has to offer.
No comments:
Post a Comment