I heard this eve that I have been entertaining a young visitor to the castle who will soon be attending prom. If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion, you might have decent luck spending your gold at this fine tailor A very good friend found her wedding dress there. (The now discontinued La Traviata gown in red and black, unless I am mistaken.) There are a few nice dresses on the site for not so much…well, comparatively “not so much.” The best thing about it is that you can use the dress again at faire. I, myself, adore their clearance sales and have gotten some nice jewelry that way.
I would suggest that you bring a parent or grand-parent with you when you browse that shop, however. Clothing and jewelry are usually safe enough to browse there, but some of the “gifts” can be of a delicate nature–although most are not. There are a lot of fairie ornaments, for instance, as well as crystal balls and dragons, etc, but the catalog does not separate these “gifts” from certain others. Granted, Pyramid Collection is a lot more tame than a lot of the other New Age and Goth Shops I know.
Hot Topic is, of course, very good, but the cost of clothing tends to be on par with some of the fancier mall stores. I have not seen positive proof, however, that the quality of the clothing is extensive.
My very favorite local store (local=Gainesville for me) is The Gypsy Palace. They are located on Newberry Avenue, West of 34th street, but before you get to the Oaks Mall. They have a nice selection of cheongsam at the moment and much in the way of gauzy/gypsy style clothing. They also have a selection of Victorian underwear (no corsets, that I can recall) which may be adapted into modern outerwear for special occasions.
Good luck with your dress shopping. Tim tells me you are interested in Faires/SCA??? I might be able to get him more information if you want. I work with a number of people involved in our local chapter and in the thieves guild and know a few more socially. I, myself, am not SCA. I never was much of a joiner. More of a lurker or shadow-skulker, really.