A teenager drove six hours to a plus-size dress shop to buy her dream prom dress and became overwhelmed when the shop owner gave her the dress for free as a generous act of kindness. As she left the shop, her excitement quickly turned into a teenager’s complaint about discomfort regarding the attention she might receive at prom. She worried about how her peers would perceive her, fearing that her beautiful dress might attract unwanted scrutiny. However, with support from her friends, she began to feel a sense of pride and anticipation for the magical evening ahead.
Elyse Monroe, 18, drove from Manteo to Charlotte to meet Summer Lucille, the owner of the plus-size-only boutique owner, Juicy Body Goddess. She found her store after watching one of her live-streamed consultations on TikTok
Elyse, who had only a $400 budget to buy her dream dress, tried on different prom dresses in the shop while Lucille filmed the entire scene and later posted it on her TikTok account.
After putting on a couple of outfits, Monroe finally picked one dress that looked stunning on her. However, the dress was out of her budget as it cost $700.
“When she got into that purple dress, she lit up,” Summer told PEOPLE in an interview. “I couldn’t let her walk out of that store without that dress.”
According to the publication, “At the very start of the consultation, Lucille’s store manager came to her and said that the kinds of dresses the student was interested in would be more expensive than that. The store owner’s response? “It’ll work itself out.”
“They drove six hours,” Lucille told her manager. “Don’t worry about the budget, we’ll figure it out.”
Lucille, who films almost all her consultations and shares them on her TikTok account, said while she was live streaming that one, one of her followers called and wished to chip in $200 to pay for the dress.
“At that moment, I knew that was the universe telling me, just give her the dress,” Lucille said. “That follower was just an angel just reminding me that just you have to give.”
“I went in and the mom and the aunties kept asking, ‘How much is this dress?'” she recalled. “I said, ‘Well, we’ll worry about the price when we get to the register.'”
Summer Lucille also shared the video of the fitting session with Monroe on her account, which broke the internet. The video received over 13 million views and thousands of comments from people, all showing their love.
The video showed Monroe and her family standing at the counter, ready to pay for the dress.
They were shocked when Lucille told them the dress was worth $700. But became even more shocked and emotional when she told them, “well, it’s free.”
“I’m going to cry,” a very emotional Elyse said in the clip.
“It was a beautiful, beautiful moment,” Lucille told PEOPLE.
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Source: PEOPLE –
