Daughter Discovers Her Mom's 24-Year-Old Prom Dress and Rewears It to Her Own Senior Prom (Exclusive)
Vanessa Rivas discovered the dress sitting in a shoe box in her garage
Valerie Rivas
Vanessa Rivas and her mom Laura Rivas take a picture before prom.While moving houses last year, Vanessa Rivas stumbled upon a shoebox in her garage.
The 18-year-old opened it up, unsure of what to expect, and found a shimmery gold dress nestled inside. Intrigued by the gown, Vanessa, then a junior in Birmingham, Alabama, immediately approached her mom, Laura Rivas, to inquire about its owner.
" 'Oh, that's my senior prom dress,' " Vanessa tells PEOPLE exclusively of her mom's reaction.
At that moment, Vanessa decided to try on the dress — which her mom bought from clothing company Lillie Rubin — and to her surprise, it fit perfectly. Inspired by the history behind the gown, she made a decision.
"I thought, you know what? I'm going to save this for my senior prom because my mom wore it to her senior prom, and I just moved to the same school she graduated from in 2000. It would be perfect," Vanessa explains.
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As her senior prom approached, Vanessa decided to save the final reveal for her mom until the day of the dance. The only people she told about re-wearing her mom's old dress were her grandma, brother and twin sister, Valerie.
Then on Saturday, April 13, Vanessa put on the dress, did her hair and makeup for the dance and filmed her mom's reaction. She uploaded the video to TikTok, which has gone viral and garnered over 29.4 million views.
"She started crying ... when I walked up to show it to her," Vanessa says of the reveal.
"For me, it was honestly just a full-circle moment. It made me so happy to be able to share this special memory with my mom and feel so wholesome. I felt so happy that she was able to trust me enough and love me," she continues.
Valerie Rivas
Vanessa Rivas, her twin sister Valerie Rivas and their mom Laura Rivas take a photo together on prom day.Looking back on her decision, Vanessa says she's glad to have put a smile on her mom's face by re-wearing the dress. As another surprise, her mom gifted her the gown to keep.
"She was like, well, now that you've worn it, you have to keep it in the family. I was like, maybe my daughter will wear it to her senior prom someday," she says.
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