One of TV’s most popular shows is making Melissa Saunders the star at her prom.
The senior at St. Hubert Roman Catholic High School wrote to the producers of “Desperate Housewives” last fall, after seeing her dream gown on the show. The lacy, rose-colored dress was worn by actress Eva Longoria as she mowed a lawn in the pilot episode.
Saunders wrote that she loved the show and that she wanted photos of the dress so she could shop around for a similar dress at a reasonable price.
“It was our very first piece of fan mail,” wardrobe assistant Roemehl Hawkins, the staffer who read the teen’s letter, told the Philadelphia Daily News.
Saunders, a 3.5-grade-point-average student and head cheerleader, told the show that she juggles two part-time jobs and her parents face high medical bills to treat her painful back and nerve conditions.
Hawkins showed the letter to her bosses, and they decided to loan the gown to Saunders, who’s the same size as Longoria. The show’s seamstress even added a lining to make it prom-modest.
The one-of-a-kind gown was designed especially for Longoria by Los Angeles designer Eduardo Lucero.
“I’m so excited,” Saunders said Thursday, the day before the prom, as she modeled the dress for her gushing classmates. “I cannot wait. I’m a little nervous about wearing the dress and spilling something on it but I’m so excited.”
Saunders said she knew the dress was the real thing when she noticed pieces of grass.
“Eva Longoria sent me a framed, autographed picture of herself so the grass will go in there,” she said. “In my living room.”
The dress goes back to Hollywood on Monday.