Prom is a monumental time for teenagers. Courtney Barich, 18, of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, decided to defy this norm. Instead of buying an expensive dress for the evening, Barich took a potato sack and formed a dress out of it.
Barich told TODAY.com, “I thought my dress should help people who are in need. I decided I don’t need to wear a fancy prom dress.” Barich came up with this idea when she was shopping for dresses with her mother this past Dec. She came across her dream dress at a local boutique, which cost $700. She then made an appointment to return to the boutique the next day to make alterations on the dress. Upon returning to the store, Barich said that she felt guilty about the price. Her mom, Charlotte Barich, apparently then said to her, “You would look good in anything, even a garbage bag or a potato sack.” Barich then had the idea to take this comment literally.
Barich launched a website about the potato sack dress. She vowed to wear this to her prom in exchange for proceeds for the Saint Martin de Porres Orphanage in Manila. On her site, Barich wrote, “I will give up the glitz and glam of a beautiful grad dress and I will wear a Burlap dress to grad instead, if I can get $10,000 in much needed donations to help this orphanage.” That March, Barich and her classmates went to Manila for a 2 week mission trip, at which time her decision was completely reinforced.
Courtney Barich worked with designer Suman Faulkner, of Lata Design, to make the potato sack into a one strap gown with a trail of flowers. Faulkner had donated her time and skills for no cost in order to support Barich’s project. It took the duo two weeks to finish the dress. Faulkner joked about how she is very allergic to burlap, saying that she would “work for a little then walk away, then work a little more. It took me longer than it normally would.”
Charlotte Barish told TODAY.com that she entirely supported her daughters decision. Charlotte explained that,“I think it’s pretty cool, but at first, I wanted to make sure she was really sure about doing this. I knew that on the day of prom, when everyone was dressed up, it would be hard. I kept questioning her and questioning her to make sure. When I knew for sure that she was sure, then I jumped on board.”
The end product of the dress was stunning. The dress serves as Barich’s biggest volunteer project yet, even though the teen has volunteered at a soup kitchen and organized friends to donate toiletries to the homeless in the past. About the dress, Barich commented, “I loved it. It was better than I thought it was going to turn out.” Even though Barich has already reached her $10,000 goal, she will still use her website to fundraise through Sept.
You can check it out here.
