M2 - The Place for Prom — Local services in Urbana

last year’s hoco season, i applied to be a guru and told one of my friends about it also thinking that we could both do it together and have a fun experience. she ended up being chosen and i did not, which was when i first started seeing red flags. my friend had never been to M2, and i had been many times. i still ended up getting my homecoming dress there and felt pressured into buying it even though i wanted to continue looking as it was only the second dress i had tried on. i then applied to be a prom guru, and was invited to the store, tried on dresses, and took pics and videos. while i was there, not a single person made conversation with me and i felt very out of place but was trying my best to be social and positive, but basically got ignored. a week later i get a message telling me that i wasn’t chosen as a guru, even though i had already been to the store and everything. they tried telling me that they chose someone else from my school, but not a single person from my school applied other than me. they completely lied to me. when i told them this, they just said something like they had too many gurus. i have spent well over $2k in that store and i just felt kind of used. since then, i realized they turned me away because i’m a bigger girl. looking through their social media, there’s about 3 posts with girls that are over a size 10, and the captions say things like “we accept ALL girls” or “we have dresses for ALL sizes” but the selection of dresses over size 10 is extremely small. and i can’t imagine how that makes the girls in the pictures feel. they cater to skinny girls and clearly didn’t want me to be one of the faces of their store. if you’re a bigger girl, please don’t go to this store, you’ll only leave feeling absolutely terrible about yourself when you have no reason to. M2, it’s 2025. why are we still making girls feel bad about themselves?...

This is a long one so buckle up

I live in a military base in Tennessee and I needed a dress for a military ball. I wear a size 2x/20. I came up to IL to visit family and look for a dress because the town I live in does not have many plus size choices. As a big gal I am very shy and insecure about my weight. The young woman at the store, I wish I had asked for her name, made me feel so comfortable. I told her what kind of dress I was looking for and what features I would like to “hide”. She understood the assignment. She was sooooo kind. I cannot stress enough how important it was for me to experience kindness in that way when I was feeling so vulnerable. If you’re not a big gal it’s hard to understand the glares and looks of shame we get on a daily, especially when we’re just trying to look as beautiful as anyone else.

Yes, the dresses are expensive, but as someone that drove up from Tennessee I can say with confidence that it’s like that everywhere. Yes, the dress need alterations. If you think you’re going into a dress shop and they’re gonna have the perfect size and shape for your body then you’re crazy. However, the young woman gave me several tips and tricks if I wasn’t able to see a tailor, but they also give you a list of several alteration shops. They have amazing customer service and they want you to look good, I promise. My sales associate was so sweet, patient, and helpful as she would adjust and tie the dress for me. Plus, she wasn’t pushy or fake in order to sell me a dress.

I’m very happy with my purchase here and the way it conducts...

Me and my friends are plus sized and we were shopping for our senior hoco dresses. We first started in Lincoln where our size 0 friend was able to try on a selection of dresses. Me and my plus sized friends were pushed in a corner where they had 10 or so plus size dresses with only one type of style. Then we had went to Springfield where we again had another bad experience where the workers were whispering to other people talking about how bad the dress looked on my friend. M2 was our last hope and it was amazing! I felt completely normal there. Not like I had to be pushed to the corner. I was treated the same as all the other smaller girls trying on dresses. They had a variety of plus size dress styles. Even with me being a walk in I had M2s amazing staff to hype me up and give me their honest opinions on all the dresses I tried on. When I dress didn’t fit me they didn’t make me feel ashamed or embarrassed. I’m so glad me and my friends were able to buy cute high quality designer dresses for our senior homecoming! I usually don’t write reviews but I want all plus size girlies to know this...