WACO, Texas — Quinceañeras celebrate a girl's transition into womanhood, and a big part of that transition is finding the perfect dress to make a girls dreams come true.
Maria Sanchez owns Vanessa’s Boutique on 18th Street, and it’s filled with big extravagant dresses.
“Poofy, elegant, lots of bling bling, glitter,” Sanchez said.
But not just any dresses are quinceañera dresses.
“They need at least a year to be able to start looking for the dress or maybe a little more, because it’s a long process, its money that’s going to be involved in it, not just the dress but accessories," Sanchez said.
Quince dresses can range from $150 to $2,500. The celebration can cost up to $30,000, but Sanchez says the celebration creates memories that will last a lifetime.
“You can go out of town, out of state, out of the country, any time, any age. But not her quince, only 15 and 16," Sanchez said.
Maribel Avila is the owner of 25th Street Bazaar, and she’s been helping girls find the perfect dress for the past 25 years.
“Oh it makes me so happy that they get to choose, and I get to help them choose the color," Avila said.
"A lot of them will ask me, 'How does this look with my complexion?', and I'll say, 'Look, this one looks better'x and I help them choose, because I love quinceañeras so much.”
Years ago, girls would wear white dresses for their quinceañera, now it’s all about finding the perfect color that's unique to them.
“The trends could be royalty, western, princess and the frog, Rapunzel — there's a lot of colors that intertwine with that," said a sales associate with Vanessa’s Boutique, Lizbeth Duarte.
Avila says her shop was the first quinceañera store in Waco. She opened after she saw there was a need for the tradition in the community.
"You’re no longer a girl, you become a young woman," Avila said.
"When you become a young woman, we all think, 'Oh! Well now I can have a boyfriend because I'm 15, now I can finally wear makeup because I’m 15!'."
Turnint 15 is more than just a party, it’s a moment to bring family, friends, and the community together.
“Celebrate their Latin roots with different people, different races, culture, religion, you know, be able to celebrate a young girl becoming a lady,” Duarte said.
