Boutique Gears Up for Proms with Midnight Madness

Proma. It's "prom" plus "drama," melded into one word.

"I've seen it," said Karen Mazer, owner of Synchronicity Boutique in Pikesville, noting that it mostly comes from parents. "It's already begun."

And the boutique is ready with thousands of dresses and a Midnight Madness sale on Friday. 

The sale's set to begin at 7 p.m. Jan. 13, and will run until midnight Jan. 14 at , located in Pikesville.

"We thought Friday the 13th is a fun time to do a midnight madness sale," Mazer said. "It’s going to be a lot of fun."

During those hours, after a customer chooses her dress or gown, she will reach into a bowl of discounts at the counter and draw from 10 percent off—all the way up to "free," Mazer said.

So begins "proma," or prom drama in Pikesville.

Mazer defined the word: "It's artificially created drama where there doesn’t need to be any because of things that people don’t really need to worry about."

And it mostly comes from the parents, she added. For example, "A mother trying to assure that her daughter will look prettier than her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend," she said.

But Synchronicity customers shouldn't worry about most of the things that cause prom drama, Mazer said.

That's because the boutique, with its dress registry system, already takes care of issues that can cause it.

"We have every single school bookmarked and the customer comes in and we look to see if anyone from their school has bought anything yet," she said. "They cannot buy that dress" if someone else from their school or that event already has.

"The kind of money people are spending, girls don’t want to show up in the same dresses," she added.

run from about $150, but can cost more for custom-made ones, she noted.

Drama aside, there are good reasons to buy now, Mazer said:

• Chinese New Year begins early this year—Jan. 23. That means all the manufacturers will close for one month, right during the peak time when customers want to buy.
• Because it's early, Synchronicity has the biggest selection now. "So you'll get first dibs," she said.

But don't be dramatic about it. Synchronicity is well-stocked and prepared. "We have more than 2,500 dresses in the store," Mazer said.