ALBANY PARK — It happens every year after the Grammys.
Customers come into Grisel Corona's Lawrence Avenue dress shop, Grisel's Bridal, with visions of red carpet fashions in hand.
"They bring the pictures. 'Can you make this?'" Corona said.
Last year, everyone wanted to look like Beyonce, she said, and Jennifer Lopez is a perennial favorite.
As of Monday afternoon, Corona had yet to receive any requests for "the Rihanna," perhaps because the couture gown the singer wowed with at Sunday's award ceremony — described by the Fug Girls fashion bloggers as a "giant pink lemon meringue" — didn't so much set a trend as follow one that's existed in the Latino community for decades.
We're talking about the quinceañera dress.
The quinceañera ceremony marks 15-year-old girls' passage to womanhood. Among the celebration's traditions: The honoree decked out in a giant Cinderella-meets-Scarlett O'Hara confection.
"The dress has to be poofy," Corona said.
Grisel's, 3432 N. Lawrence Ave., is one of a handful of shops on the North Side that specializes in quinceañera fashions, selling 20 to 30 of the dresses each month during peak season from April through October.
Rihanna, Corona noted, was even on point with the bubblegum hue of her gown, in line with this year's quinceañera pastel palette of aqua, mint and coral.
"Who decides on that?" Corona asked, wondering how manufacturers in New York, China and Indonesia collectively agree on the year's fads.
These voluminous explosions of tulle and ruffle call for 15 to 18 yards of fabric, versus four to six yards for your average prom or bridesmaid's dress, she said.
Most of the material is found in the skirt. Corona lifted up the top layer of one of her display gowns to reveal one, two, three, four, five, six, seven layers underneath. At bedrock level is a petticoat, which gives the skirt its classic bell shape.
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The result, whether seen on Rihanna or the girl next door, is what InStyle called "the cupcake dress of our dreams."
For girls more accustomed to wearing leggings and jeans, the simple act of walking becomes a challenge with 15 pounded of tulle measuring several feet across hanging from their waists. Rihanna herself, whose red carpet looks tend more toward "naked," reportedly struggled to maneuver in her "bed of pink fluff."
"They practice with the petticoat," Corona said of her clients. "They take the petticoat home the week before and practice walking."
Rihanna's Giambattista Valli showstopping ball gown, which closed the designer's spring 2015 runway show at the end of January, likely took hundreds of hours to sew and cost five, possibly six, figures.
A facsimile from Grisel's is a relative bargain, relative being the key word. It will still set you back $650. Grisel's custom-made dresses average $800 to $900.
In Corona's opinion, her designs aren't just less expensive than Valli's they're also infinitely more flattering to the figure.
Corona wrinkled her nose when shown a photo of Rihanna at the Grammys.
"The empire waist is too high," she said.
Fashion bloggers Tom & Lorenzo agreed with her assessment, deeming the proportions of Rihanna's gown "bad to the point of silly."
Her corset dresses, Corona said, give shape to the waist.
"They make you slim and tall."
Even with a boost from a high-profile celebrity like Rihanna, Corona doesn't foresee quinceañera-style gowns becoming popular with her other top customer base — the prom crowd.
Older teen girls have a decided preference for more body-conscious dresses, she said.
"They like it fitted and backless," said Corona.
There's one demographic, though, who would likely favor a Rihanna trickle-down effect.
Fathers.
Dads shopping with their daughters during prom season always argue for a more covered-up look, Corona said.
"They always ask me if I can add fabric," she said.
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