A costume designer couldn't believe her eyes when she returned home after 14 years and discovered her prom dress in a thrift store – before buying it back and repurposing into a stunning modern design. Having moved back home to Saint John in New Brunswick, Canada, after more than a decade in Toronto, the last thing Jillea expected to find in a local thrift store was her 2010 prom dress. Jillea and her friends come from such a remote area they had a group chat at the time, making sure they didn't buy the same prom dress from one of the local boutiques. Fortunately for Jillea, though, she stopped off in a shop in Miami while on a cruise and, certain no-one else would have a dress like it, picked "a massive, ruffled, sparkly, blue cheetah print dress." After her prom, Jillea kept the dress for a few years, before selling it online in the hopes of buying a camera that would help her pursue an arts career. Years went by before she returned home and headed out to purchase some materials for a costume she was working on. With the town's fabric shop now closed down, she decided to head to a local thrift store, where she saw her dress hanging at the end of a rack.
