Party Girls owner Amy Regal in her store surrounded by bat mitzvah and party dresses Girly Girls Amy Regal may not be the new girl in town, but she's bringing a whole new party to it. Lynne Konstantin Contributing Writer The pink dress on the left is by B'Dazzle and costs $185; the turquoise dress is by Allure Night Moves and costs $299. C5 0 celebrate! I March 2013 > 0 0 - my Regal's already got a fan club — her preteen and teenage granddaughters and their friends have been counting the seconds until school ends each day so they can zip over to Regal's new shop and see what delicious confections she's gotten in. Regal, the hippest grandma around, has been a makeup artist for more than 40 years; for the last seven years, she's been beautifying clamoring clients at Glamour Puss Beauty Bar & Boutique, the full-service makeup studio plus clothing, jewelry and accessories shop that she owns in Franklin. Specializing in custom-blended products, including everything from powders to lipsticks, Regal also is a local guru for the art of permanent makeup, plus facial waxing, lessons in makeup application, special occa- sion application and more. "I'm a resource for my customers because I've been doing it so long — I'm on the fourth generation of some clients' families, so I have to know how to appeal to 85-year-old women and 11-year-old girls. And I create products and palettes to suit each one," Regal says. With so many hours invested in personalized customer service, particularly geared toward special events, Regal's thoughts began to evolve toward the next step and a younger market. "I've got eight grandchildren, and seven of them are girls," Regal says. "They're all little pageant girls, always looking for new dresses, and they've been bugging me for a few years to expand to young girls' party dresses. I always said no. I've had moms texting me, customers from my shop, who wanted to me to do party dresses. And I finally started thinking how much fun it would be, to have a space just for girls, to make it fun and comfortable like their bedroom at home, where they can try on dresses for each other for proms, homecoming, bar and bat mitz- vahs — every special occasion, in a very boutiquey atmo- sphere." Just this month, Regal opened Party Girls in a space above Glamour Puss in Franklin. And though she had planned to start out slowly, catering to each season with homecoming in fall, prom in spring and something here and there for b'nai mitzvah year-round, it just hap- pened that as she was preparing to open, the owners of Cinderella's Castle in West Bloomfield — an all-occasion girls' clothing shop — decided to retire, leaving a mother lode of lovely inventory to start Regal out fully stocked in style. Although there are a handful of shops locally that offer dresses for these occasions, it's a tricky market to cater to, A as the sizes that Regal offers range from preteen to junior, while girls are still growing, and their tastes may differ broadly from what their mothers' want. "I try to offer something for everyone, but with every- thing unique and gorgeous, and fun and flirty," says Regal, who travels often around the globe both for Glamour Puss and on holiday with her husband, always devoting a scrutinizing eye to possible additions to her shops. "People are always asking me, 'Where did you get that?' so I want to offer the same uniqueness to Party Girls." Colors are huge this season, "beautiful and vibrant," Regal says. "Not everything is embellished with stones, but most of these kids want to look like princesses, for senior prom especially. "A lot of girls in our area are very sophisticated, so I try to have everything from short bandage dresses to long, beautiful and flowing gowns with lots of tulle and jew- els." At the same time, because there are many 12-year-olds who still wear children's sizes, but also girls who are developed but still need juniors' sizing and not yet pre- teen, Regal is careful to offer options that are both body and age appropriate, particularly for modesty-conscious bat mitzvah girls who will be on the bimah. (She also offers shrugs and other coverings.) "As with any clothing, they have to try things on. So I want to give them options," Regal says. Among those options are pieces by sought-after brands including Alyce Paris, Tony Bowls, Faviana, Sherri Hill — a favorite of Selena Gomez — and more. In addition to popular designer names, Regal has hired a seamstress so she can offer custom-dressmaking servic- es and eventually create her own Party Girls line, as well as offer mother-of-the-bat-mitzvah-girl dresses. The boutique is already fitting in nicely amongst its downtown Franklin neighbors. "It's a market that Franklin doesn't have and complements all the other little stores nearby really well," Regal says. "People have been very excited and receptive — it's good for everybody's busi- ness." Her granddaughters and their friends, especially, are thrilled. "I have girls calling every day, asking if they can work here," Regal says. "I only hope I'll need that much help!" ❑ Party Girls, 32751 Franklin Road, Franklin (248-562-7420).