The school formal industry is estimated to be worth a staggering $10m to the ACT economy annually, and listening to 17-year-old Queanbeyan student Georgia Reardon describe her dress, it's easy to see why.
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Georgia will attend the Queanbeyan High School Year 12 formal on Friday night at The Deck at Regatta Point, and said when she tried on a scarlett J'adore dress at Enchante in Civic back in August, she knew it was "the one".
"I tried on lots of other dresses but I just loved how it fit and the colour, and decided that was the one," Georgia said.
The $540 price tag was never an issue.
Georgia's older brother Linden is also in Year 12 at Queanbeyan High School and will attend Friday night's formal. But if you thought Linden's budget wouldn't even come close to Georgia's, think again. Gone are the days of renting a suit and borrowing dad's shoes, Linden spent $580 on a black and white Politix suit and $120 on shiny new Julius Marlow shoes.
He'll save money on a car by driving his own ute to the formal, and the siblings' mum Bernadette wins the "best mum ever" award for agreeing to host the after-party. Georgia and Linden both have part-time jobs and said they went halves with their mum in their formal attire.
"We're just looking forward to seeing everyone dressed up, all in one place," Georgia said.
Linden added: "I'm looking forward getting dressed up and hanging out with my mates."
More than 10,000 students across the Canberra region attend a school formal every year, and for one Jerrabomberra mum, this represented a fantastic business opportunity.
Robyn Murphy was running successful spray tanning business Tan Me Happy when it occurred to her that an online destination for "all things formal" could be a great concept.
Robyn launched itsmyformal.com.au in July of this year, as a one-stop online hub for Canberra teachers, students and parents. So far thousands of people have visited the hub, with 'transport', 'makeup' and 'spray tan' the most clicked on sections of the site.
"I did my research and realised the industry was worth $3billion nationally and about $10million in the ACT," Robyn said.
More than 20 businesses have signed up to advertise on itsmyformal.com.au, and Robyn wanted to grow that to 70 next year. In off-peak months, she'll keep students engaged through the site's blog, sharing tips on global dress trends and even how to pluck up the courage to ask a date to the big event. She said people in Sydney and Queensland had contacted her to ask if they could start their own itsmyformal franchises.
"The formal journey really starts at the beginning of the year when students think 'I've hit Year 12 and it's my turn this year'," Robyn said.
"It's high impact in terms of spending between July and December, but in-between people are researching what's on trend."
Gungahlin's Dave Costa is another entrepreneur whose purpose-built mobile photo booth business, Little Cab Co, is designed to cash in on school formal spending. The business is a "vintage London cab meets photo booth" experience, which takes formal-goers on a drive through Civic and a stop at Lake Burley Griffin for pics before hitting the big event.
The cab hit the road in Canberra about a month ago, and features a mini screen that pops up between the two front seats to take photos of those in the back seat.
"I thought maybe I'd launched the business a bit late for formals this year but I'm getting lots of enquiries and bookings - the phone is ringing non-stop," Dave said.
