Prom 2005: Now you can dress like a movie star

By GWENDA ANTHONY
ganthony@jacksonsun.com
Apr 5 2005

Be the belle of the ball in a recycled prom dress.

While some West Tennessee teens getting ready for one of the biggest high school rites of passage may not choose that route, you can bet your bottom dollar others will take a dressed-up hand-me-down and wear it with pride and pizazz.

It can be as simple as slipping into your sister's dress from some years ago (how's that for getting back into circulation?) to adapting your mother's wedding gown or a bridesmaid's dress and putting your own signature on it, so to speak.

With some ingenuity on your part and the help of a professional seamstress, if you like, a dress that has languished in the closet without hope of ever again seeing the light of day is given a new lease on life.

An organization in the business of doing just - dusting off the castoffs and making them appealing for a new generation of teenagers - is the Society of Recovering Sorority Girls, or Rho Sigma Gamma.

The group, through its founders, Kristina ''Morgan'' Rose and Deandra ''Brooksie'' Brooks, recently announced the start of ''Project Cinderella'' for the 2005 prom season.

Project Cinderella is a formal dress donation drive that will provide high school girls in need with a dress to wear to the school prom.

''Brooksie and I strongly believe that formal dresses were meant to be worn, not relegated to closets,'' Rose said. ''So send your dress back to the prom by donating it to RSG's formal dress drive.''

''Dresses hold special memories, and sometimes they are hard to part with,'' the business partners acknowledged in a phone interview.

''But when you donate your dress, it's more than saying goodbye; it's giving an opportunity to another girl.''

Rose, as it turns out, sort of has a local connection. She is a friend of Cheryl Gray, whom she met in college. Gray grew up in the Denmark community of Madison County and is the daughter of Jackson firefighter Lonnie Gray.

Rose and Brooks work with the Arlington Public Schools outside of the Washington, D.C., area, where they live, by collecting gently used formal wear and bridesmaids dresses. The school system assists by sponsoring a districtwide event called ''Formals for Five.''

Girls who find a dress they like may take it home with a $5 donation to the Arlington (Va.) Public Schools in Support of Children Fund.

The school district's social workers,''who are really excited about this effort,'' Brooks said, use the fund to provide school supplies, hair cuts and other items to students in need.

In 2004, its inaugural year, Project Cinderella collected 65 formal dresses over a three-week period, and the dress donation raised $170 for the school fund.

The two friends hope to double that number this year, getting the word out through e-mails and fliers. They gladly make pickups, and will accept dresses through the mail outside of the D.C. area.

In launching the project, ''we mined heavily from friends and got a wide variety of dresses,'' Brooks said.

''Most who donate exercise really good judgment,'' Rose said. ''Nothing too risque, with plunging necklines or too-deep splits, but appropriate for 17-year-olds to twentysomethings,'' she said.

This is a win-win project for all, the two agreed.

The girl gets a dress at nominal cost, the school district feels good about being able to help and the Society of Recovering Sorority Girls promotes a worthy philanthropy.

- Gwenda Anthony, 425-9631

Society of Recovering Sorority Girls

The Society of Recovering Sorority Girls, Rho Sigma Gamma, was founded in 2003 by Kristina 'Morgan' Rose and Deandra 'Brooksie' Brooks, who live in the Washington, D.C., area.

They are also the authors of 'The Recovering Sorority Girls' Guide to a Year's Worth of Perfect Parties.'

RSG administers a local philanthrophy in the Arlington (Va.) Public Schools, outside Washington, D.C., that provides gently used prom dresses for students in need. Other organizations operate similar programs, such as the Glass Slipper Project in the Chicago area and Project Princess in Central Texas.

RSG seeks to apply many of the principles of collegiate Greek life to improve the lives of young professionals, and philanthropic service is an important component of Greek life. According to the National Panhellenic Conference, in 2004, college sororities raised $2.4 million for community projects.

To donate a dress to Project Cinderella, e-mail info@recoveringsororitygirls.com or call (207) 731-6646

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