I want to buy my Mom a fancy dress for her 60th Birthday

First, you need to find someone with a time machine.

Why ?

How about giving her a gift certificate & let her pick out her own dress ?

Your use of the words "high society department stores" indicates you and your mother belong to a certain social milieu. To avoid embarrassing yourselves I would suggest you avoid the type of establishments you are considering. You would be out of place and the staff will be laughing at you behind your back.

I get co-ordinated at Bergdorf Goodman.

OP nobody does the modelling bit anymore and if you did manage to persuade a store to do it they'd be expecting you to drop a lot more than $2K for doing so. It's a nice thought but really not possible anymore, why not take your mother to a dressmaker instead, get them to make something bespoke for her?

R5 is giving you excellent advice, OP. Something from a good dressmaker is the way to go.

Are you sure that this is something she'd even want? A $2k dress is not something the average 60 year old has much occasion to wear. She might prefer to do something rather than obtain an item that is going to sit in a closet. When my mom turned 60 she went up in a hot air balloon and would have gone whitewater rafting if her right hip had cooperated. She had always wanted to do those things but never really expressed it. Just ask her what she'd prefer and do it.

Take her on a trip somewhere. Experiences are often better appreciated than material gifts.

While I applaud OP for wanting to do something nice for his or her mother, R8's idea has a lot of merit. I'm not rich, but several years ago I bought my parents a vacation package for my dad's 60h birthday (Spain, France). He STILL talks about how amazing it was even though I could only afford to fly him coach and arrange 3-star accommodations.

There are sites that let you rent thousand dollar dresses for a fraction of the cost (friends in DC do it for special occasions). Maybe you could take her on a weekend getaway where she stays in a 5-star hotel and gets to rent a fancy dress to see a play/opera, dine at a Micheline-star restaurant.

Sweetheart, that's such a nice thing you want to do for your mother, but it doesn't work that way anymore. Nordstrom or Bloomingdales will have personal shoppers who can help you. Just call the store and ask for their personal shopper. They will ask you to describe what kind of dress you want for your mother- evening, daytime, a suit, etc., her size, and your budget. They will set a time for you and you mother to come to the store and try on the dresses they've selected.

It might be nicer take your mother to lunch, then take her to the store and help her pick out a dress that she loves. But remember, a dress will go out of style. With a $2,000 budget, you could get her a nice piece of jewelry, a designer scarf or a classic handbag that would last forever.

Honey, it's entirely possible that your mother would rather spend that $2000 on a week in Hawaii or Vegas or something, or she'd rather have a new massive-screen TV and a year's premium cable.

Before you commit that kind money, make sure that's what she really wants.

Hilarious.

Buy her 2,000 lottery tickets.

Find a ladies who lunch place that still exists in your town or nearby city, and take her there, if that's the experience you are looking to bond over. Then give here the cash or present in another way. Or not.

They only way to give her cash that would look like you really care, is if you took her to a high-end store like those listed above, and handed her $2,000 then said, "Happy Birthday, Mom! Here's $2000. Now go crazy." and let her loose in the store. I think most 60-year-old women would love that.

My middle-aged gal friend buys all her fancy gowns at thrift stores, the kind where rich people donate their designer castoffs. She says it's because women who aren't In Society have so few chances to wear gowns or even cocktail dresses, it's not worth spending real money on something she'll only wear a few times, or once.

Again, talk to your momma about what she'd like to do with that kind of money.

Actually, most wealthier communities have at least one very high-end boutique that does trunk shows. And yes, often the clothes are shown on models. I would suggest finding such a store and inviting your mother to the trunk show. Tell her she can buy whatever she likes up to 2,000.00. If she has any manners, she will understand that she simply has to say that she didn't see anything she liked... and suggest another use for the money.

Go on a trip with her and document your time together. If you want something with a touch of the old world to it, I suggest a train trip. The food is good, you can walk around and you get to have your own space when you need it. She'll find people to talk to.

A cheap chanel dress will be $3,000, so cough up another grand, and have old mum be laughed at by the people who are wearing the "real" chanel dresses or pay a bit more and get a respectable fancy dress.

You can hire a personal shopper (or make an appointment in some stores) to spend some time with your mother, helping her figure out what looks good on her.

OP, I guarantee you that your 60 y/o mother does not want a $2000 dress. She knows she won't look good in it no matter what----because she's 60 fucking years old. Her time for swanning around as a fashion plate has passed (if it ever was). You will embarrass her and make her feel old if you insist on it.

Tell her your budget and ask her what SHE would most like to do with the money. Don't be surprised if she suggests something unglamorous and practical like paying all her utilities for one year. That's how a lot of senior people think and what makes them the happiest.

Jesus -- I'm a 57-year old lesbian and I sure wouldn't think like that!! Why do you think a 60-year-old woman is broke, anyway?? Chances are good you'll all still be working when YOU'RE 60.

If it were me, I'd like to take a trip -- and if my gay son was my bff, I'd like to take it with him.

Just a thought.

Thanks, honey. I'll hang it in the closet, the one next to the table with the LLadro on it, that you bought me last year. When my heat runs out again, in the dead of Winter, your thoughtful gift will warm the embers of my heart. That, and my cup of "Spaghetti-os", warming over a can of tinned heat.

I'd like to eat something more than a really dry, high protein bar.

To those who are saying they don't do that in-store modeling anymore, when did they stop? R4's clip is from the 1960's so they were still doing it at least then. Does Bergdorf Goodman still do it?

R25, Lord and Taylor was still doing it in the 1980s. Models would wander the store with cards that described the outfit and in which department it was located . I ate at the L&T tea room near every lunch. They always made a pass through the tearoom.

Altman's had a full theater in the building. Again, during the 1980s, they still had trunk shows with models wearing the clothing. They also had invited "previews" for very special clients.

Of course none of this was like my childhood. My mother and I would get dressed in our best clothes to go to Bullock's Pasadena (the Hollywood trash shopped Bullock's Wilshire). We would sit on gilt bamboo chairs while models showed the clothing. A lot of it was authorized copies of designer clothing. Mother would go in about a month later for a fitting, and then about two weeks later for a final fitting. Rather different from shopping online.

I've seen the modeling in Saks sometime within the last ten years. They actually walk around in the restaurant sometimes (the one that faces Rockefeller).

Take her to the Don Loper Salon and ask for Amzie. They frequently have celebrity waves in to model the dresses!

R7 wins with the simple question ARE YOU SUE IT IS SOMETHING SHE WOULD EVEN WANT?

I hope OP doesn't sue his Mom.

It's a lovely thought, OP. I always liked those scenes in the classic movies. But the others are right, the stores don't employ girls to model the outfits in private viewings anymore. The haute couture houses do, but for that type of experience you need a lot more than 2,000 bucks.

I disagree with those saying your mother will not enjoy a beautiful dress at the age of 60. What nonsense. I'd advise you book a personal shopper at a good department store and ask them to select some pieces by your mom's favourite designers, or those whose designs you think would look well on her, and ask for some special treatment when you both arrive - some champagne and nibbles , for example. Then you can sit and get sloshed as she has fun trying on the items,

I think if OP buys his mother a lovely dress, it would be nice if he could also take her somewhere that she can wear and enjoy her lovely dress.

[quote]The haute couture houses do, but for that type of experience you need a lot more than 2,000 bucks.

How much more you think?

Good advice, R5. Shame on so many of you for being rude to OP for no reason.

Hire her an escort.

Buying a nice dress and taking his mother to brunch, how sweet. Though, I do not know if dept stores are doing this anymore. This stuff occurs at high-end boutiques, esp in East Coast (NY) and Southern markets. You know, places where you need to make an appointment and ring the door bell. In California, she would not be treated well.

If you really want to try to see what's avail at dept store (blommingdales, etc). Call and ask for a personal shopping experience. And give you directives for it. See if they have want your client expects, aka you and your mother. I think you will be underwhelmed.

This dress buying system went out in the 1980s.

Lord & Taylor closed its Fifth Avenue flagship last year and announced earlier this summer it's in bankruptcy and liquidating its entire chain of stores.

These are some of the things I actually miss about the way life used to be.

Op is setting his mom up for this kind of heartbreak if he sends her into a high society department store with cash:

OP is typing from 1955

I adore luxury shopping excursions too.

Perhaps contacting Don Loper might help. I wonder if he's still in business?

R33 REAL haute couture starts in the tens of thousands for a dress, and can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars for an evening gown.

But in this case, that kind of spending is completely unnecessary.

he wants a personal shopper experience, where they serve mimosas and canapes, honey.

Hong Kong I imagine, still offers that experience.

The Hong Kong you're thinking of is OVAH, R46.

OP's mother is now 64 going on 65. Did you bring her to Dress Barn or Fashion Bug?

why are people being so mean to the OP? He sound sweet and is asking us a question.

"Our new one piece lace foundation garment. Zips up the back and no bones."

Oops.

R43 I love that Georgia Holt (Cher's mother) makes an appearance in that episode!

OP, if your mother is 60, how come you sound like you're 80?