Exams, tuition fees, stress…and the perfect prom. You can understand why 16 year-olds want to kick back and get dolled up at end of their GCSEs but they’re becoming bigger and more expensive.

Girls in the the North East are nagging their parents for £300 dresses, bridal make-up and limousines like the richest Americans they see on TV shows like Gossip Girl.

A dressmaker in Sunderland divulges some shop-floor secrets with me: