Bariano is definitely a good place to go, the only thing is there is a chance that someone might end up with the same dress as you. (On a side note, it doesnt really matter if someone wears the same dress, its a bit awkward if anything. I suppose going to a girls school, it definitely caused some controversy though) Some of my friends got some nice dresses from there. Definitely try Chapel Street and Bridge Road, if your in that price range. I looked online, there are some really good American designers like Tony Bowls, Sherri Hill and Jovani, but their dresses cost around 400-500 mark. They are reliable, and worth it I suppose. I was really really cheap and took a Sherri Hill design that I liked and got it made for less than 100 dollars when it costs about 400 online. Be carefull with some of those Asian sites with cheap dresses that have copies of the American versions. I found which which was selling the dress that I wanted for about 120 dollars, but I emailed them several times and they had no idea what I was talking about and sorta werent really professional in their correspondence with me. Two of my friends bought dresses from such sites, one of them got her looking kinda different from the picture that was shown and was too big, the other friend didnt get hers at all. She sent them an email about a month before the formal, just to see the status of her dress, turns out they couldnt make her the dress, but had conveniently forgotten to tell my friend about it. My friend got the dress she wanted made by the same person I did. But even then, both our dresses didnt exactly look like the designer versions they were based on. We found it hard to find the same sort of material etc.
Anywho, what sort of dress are you looking for? Floor length? Cocktail dress? One shouldered? Colour? LOL I was a bit of a turd, got a Pink dress. If you want something 'extravagant' you could go Gasp, try the Chadstone one. Or alternatively, there is a shop called Vivid which sells the same sort of dresses. And I may have been mistaken, but I'm pretty sure there is a Bariano in Chadstone. K, just go Chadstone LOL