Parents outraged after not receiving their teen's prom dresses from Humboldt Park shop

A crowd of fired-up parents surrounded a Humboldt Park dress shop, saying the owners never handed over the gowns they paid thousands for, and the dance is this weekend.

Parents were riled up outside Makeda Designs on Pulaski on Wednesday afternoon to the point they called police to file reports after they learned they would not be receiving the custom prom dresses they had waited months for.

"We want to pursue charges against her," said parent Catherine Smith

She says her daughter has been coming to the location every month since January to get alterations on her prom dress. It was supposed to be ready by this weekend, but Smith says she did not receive any response from the owner, even though she paid her $2,200 for the dress.

The families say they went to Makeda Designs because the owner, Makeda Evans, makes gorgeous gowns as seen on TikTok.

"She recently made my mom's wedding dress in November, and it was lovely, it was wonderful," said senior Teriyana Gage.

Gage booked and paid for her dress over a year ago. She says she was supposed to pick up her dress hours before prom last Friday, but it was still unfinished, leaving her with an hour to find a dress at another store.

"And this is the only day that I have for prom, you don't get another prom at all," she said.

"I got this two hours before my daughter's prom," Taneshia Lambert.

Lambert actually got a dress. She said she paid over $1200 for her daughter's gown, but she showed that the sequins were hot-glued, the ribbon holding the dress together broke, and the bottom was not hemmed.

While parents were on the sidewalk near the store, the owner, Makeda Evans, posted on Facebook saying she apologizes for not finishing their dresses and will work it out with each customer after she deals with what she calls a mental health crisis.

"The police was out here earlier, and I spoke to them, and they said they had been here three years ago, two years ago," said parent Roy Pierson.

Pierson says he believes Evans is making thousands off his daughter, Rakyra, and the rest of the parents. Rakyra says she just wanted Evans to be honest.

"If you ain't have the, um, time to finish the person dress, you could've just been straightforward," she said.

So everyone here could have found the dress of their dreams elsewhere.

"It's sad to say that she's stealing these moments away from our kids," Smith says.

Chicago police said at least one person broke the window of the shop on Wednesday evening. They say multiple people then entered and took property from inside, but did not say if any of the items were prom dresses.