If you don’t have a fairy godmother to get you ready for your next big formal event, Diane Hosey, owner of Ducky’s Formal Wear in downtown DeKalb, is the next best thing. Diane has decades of experience outfitting both men and women for weddings, proms, fraternity and sorority functions, charity balls, and just about any other occasion that calls for people to look their best.
Diane has been involved in the formal wear business since the late 80s, when she went to work at her aunt’s bridal shop in Elgin. Though she already knew something about sewing, Diane honed her skill at alteration during the years she worked for her aunt and picked up knowledge of merchandising at a part-time job with Marshall Fields. Both were areas of expertise she would draw on when she became a business owner in 2012.
Of course, the transformation from employee to proprietor didn’t happen with the wave of a magic wand. “Owning my own business was never really a goal,” Diane recalls. “As I got older, though, I started wondering what I would do if my aunt and uncle sold their business. My husband had been a typewriter repairman, and we all know what happened to that profession. He went to work after that as a dispatcher with Waste Management, and we moved to DeKalb. I still had my part-time position at Marshall Fields, but since the commute to the city was just too long, I started looking for opportunities locally.”
Diane applied for work at Ducky’s Formal Wear and was hired by then owner Steve Anthony. “I started out as production personnel,” says Diane. “Basically, I worked in the back pulling coats and shirts and shoes and so forth, assembling the components for delivery.”
It wasn’t long before Diane’s experience and sewing skills brought her a promotion to store manager. “Steve had several stores back then scattered over Illinois,” she notes, “and he wanted to lighten his load. On the strength of my experience, he also expanded the store’s offerings to include the sale of formal gowns, which was a natural fit with the tuxedo business.”

Diane enjoyed playing a central role in an established family business that traced its roots in Illinois back to Steve Anthony’s father, George “Ducky” Anthony, who opened his first store in 1946. “Ducky’s is sort of a tradition in DeKalb and the surrounding towns,” says Diane. “We had customers who had rented their first prom tux from Ducky’s and would then bring in their son to rent his first tux, or their daughter to buy her first prom dress. Although I wasn’t born in DeKalb, I really became a part of the community during the years I worked for Steve.”
In 2012, Steve asked Diane if she would be interested in buying the DeKalb location. “My husband is usually the procrastinator in the family,” Diane says, laughing, “but he jumped on the opportunity. I knew the business, and I was excited about the challenge. We completed the sale in December of 2012.”

At that time, Ducky’s was located on the corner of First Street and Lincoln Highway, in the building many will remember as the home of Otto’s Bar. With plate-glass windows fronting both busy streets, it was an ideal location for catching the eye of passersby and showing off the latest styles of tuxedos and formal gowns. True, the building came with all the quirks of a structure that was nearly a century old: There was no air conditioning; the furnace wasn’t always up to the challenges of Northern Illinois winters; pipes occasionally leaked; but the building enjoyed a place of pride in DeKalb’s rejuvenated downtown district. Diane knew how to adapt, but she hadn’t yet realized how important that ability would be to the future of the business.
Near the end of her first year of ownership, Diane was starting to get her footing in her new role. The January calendar included several bridal shows, and Martin Luther King Jr. Day had seen a record number of formal gowns head out the door for special events. The fairytale success story seemed within reach, but the wheels were about to come off the enchanted carriage.
“My husband and I walked in the back door of the store on the morning of Saturday, January 25, 2014,” Diane remembers, “and the first thing I noticed was a squish when I stepped on the carpet. Then I saw it: Water was coming through the ceiling. A sprinkler pipe had broken, and our entire inventory was in danger of getting soaked. We had just set everything out for prom season. My first reaction was just to stand there and cry.”
What happened next might not have been magic, but it is certainly the kind of human miracle that can occur when friends and family pull together in a crisis. Tracie Grimes who is my right-hand gal got on the phone and started making calls. Within an hour, she had a crew of people helping her empty out the rapidly flooding building. “The dry cleaner showed up with a van. Our employees dropped what they were doing and showed up ready to go to work. I called Paul Miller to see what spaces he had available. He found space in various nearby buildings where we could store everything.”
“Believe it or not,” Diane continues, “we were able to participate in the bridal show scheduled at Aquaviva the next day, and we were open for business on Monday. We moved our showroom to the yarn shop that had recently vacated their downtown space, and we had our inventory scattered around three other locations. Putting everything together for delivery was quite a challenge. Shirts would be in one place, coats in another, shoes somewhere else; it was crazy.”


While it might have been difficult at the time to envision a “happily ever after” for this story, within six months Diane and her co-workers were relocated to a completely remodeled space in the center of downtown. “We bought the building where Chilton’s Sporting Goods was and demolished the interior,” says Diane. “We were able to design the space we wanted, and it has worked well for us.”
Today, customers entering Ducky’s showroom will be greeted by a stunning selection of tuxedos, business suits, and formal gowns in an amazing array of styles and colors. “Keeping up with the latest fashion trends is crucial,” explains Diane. “The high-school students watch the red-carpet events, and they want the latest looks. That includes the shoes, the cut of the coat and pants, and the color of the shirt. We stock all of our rentals in house, so unless you need a jacket in a size 60 or over, we can almost always show you how the tux is going to fit, in the style and color you’ve selected.”
Whether you are renting a tux or purchasing a gown, Ducky’s alterations department can ensure that you receive a custom fit. “A lot of people don’t realize that in addition to making alterations to our own merchandise, we also make alterations on items they may already own or that they may have purchased elsewhere. We’ve been known to save the day for someone who purchased a dress or rented a tuxedo online, only to discover at the last minute that the cut wasn’t what they had expected or that the sizes weren’t exactly right.”
Customer service is obviously the jewel in the tiara that sets Ducky’s apart from the competition.
“To be sure everything is perfect for our customers’ big days, we’re even implementing a concierge service for weddings,” she adds. “The tuxedos will be delivered to the rehearsal dinner, and everyone will try them on right there. If there’s a problem, we can address it right away. The day after the wedding, we can arrange a pick up. That saves a lot of trouble for the wedding party.”
Diane says nothing is more gratifying in the formal wear business than seeing a customer’s expectations fulfilled when they see themselves in the mirror. “I remember a woman who brought in a white wedding dress that she actually wanted to have some black added to it. She was having a late October wedding, and everything hinged on that dress being accented with black. We worked some magic in the alterations department with some special fabric, and when the bride tried on the dress, she teared up. She said it was exactly what she had envisioned.”
Diane Hosey’s innovative thinking, her perseverance in the face of adversity, and her dedication to customer service promise to maintain Ducky’s as a DeKalb tradition for years to come. Next time you are in need of formal attire, head downtown and be sure to let her share a bit of fairy dust so your event or evening is magical.

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