For the second year in a row, Alice + Olivia will launch “Buy a Dress, Give a Dream,” an initiative in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York, Prep for Prep and City Year New York.
Last year, Alice + Olivia gave away more than one million dollars’ worth of merchandise to underprivileged girls for their first prom and are aiming to do so again this year.
For every dress sold between March 6 through March 19 at any of Alice + Olivia store or on the company’s web site, Alice + Olivia will be donating a dress to one of the three participating charities. The program will culminate with a pick a dress day on April 8, which will be hosted by Stacey Bendet, chief executive officer and creative director, in New York. A similar event will take place at all domestic Alice + Olivia freestanding stores and on aliceandolivia.com. Those girls in New York will get an opportunity to meet Bendet who will be on hand to help them pick out and take home their dream prom dress.
The initiative was inspired by women who wrote the company messages about how they remember wearing their first Alice + Olivia dress. “We decided it would be a beautiful company initiative to donate dresses to young women for their first prom,” Bendet said.