Nine months, five fittings, one wearer. What happens between the first conversation and the final press.
A bespoke commission is an original design drawn for one person and made once. It is not a collection gown with changes, and it takes about twice as long. The sequence below is the one we follow for every commission; the timings shift with the cloth, not with the design.
Two hours in the fitting room, without a sketchbook. We talk through the venue, the season, the hour of the ceremony and what you have worn comfortably before. Sample gowns are tried on to test proportion, not to choose a dress. Nothing is ordered on the day and there is no charge for this appointment.
Two or three drawings follow within a fortnight, with cloth cuttings pinned to each. Silk is ordered from mills in Como and Suzhou and takes five to seven weeks to arrive, which sets the shape of everything after it.
The design is made up in calico and fitted on the body. This is where necklines change, straps move and skirts are shortened or widened, all of it before a metre of silk has been cut. Most commissions go through two toiles; a heavily structured bodice sometimes takes three.
The silk is cut against the finished toile, then the gown is built up on the stand. Bias-cut skirts rest for three weeks before the hem is marked, because the cloth continues to drop under its own weight.
Structure, balance and finish, in that order. By the fifth fitting the changes are measured in millimetres, and the gown is stitched closed only after the last of them.
The gown is pressed by hand in the week of the wedding and packed flat or on a rail depending on the cloth. Travel instructions are written for the specific gown, not the general case.
| Plain silk, unstructured | £6,800 – £8,500 | Bias skirts, simple bodices, minimal hand finishing |
|---|---|---|
| Structured bodice | £8,500 – £12,000 | Boned or corseted interiors, seamed shaping, heavier cloth |
| Hand embroidery | £12,000 upward | Priced by the hour of embroidery, quoted after the sample panel |
| Reworking an existing gown | £1,400 – £4,000 | Depends entirely on the condition of the original cloth |
A deposit of one third is taken at the drawing stage, one third when the silk is cut and the balance at the final fitting. Cloth is ordered in the name of the commission and cannot be returned to the mill.
