UKC

Mrs M's younger son is being called to the bar later this year and Mrs and I will be attending as guests.

Obviously I can get away with wearing my best suit etc. but Mrs wants to buy something special(although not something that she's unlikely to wear again) We've looked in the usuals like Debenhams for outfits but she's not found anything that REALLY suits or fits her and we've seen outfits costing £350 plus.

With all the faffing about I'm beginning to think that it might not be such a bad idea to go for made to measure at a small independent tailor/dress maker

Assuming something costs circa £350 off the peg does anyone know how much a similar outfit might cost made to measure?

Thanks.

In reply to mypyrex:
http://intu.co.uk/traffordcentre/events/in-store-personal-shoppers-and-stylists


I don't really know about dress making prices but it sounds like a good idea.

I would suggest trying John Lewis, Hobbs and Monsoon if Debenhams have failed. If you can face a day at the Trafford centre there are personal shoppers who you book an appointment with for occasions like this.

Coast is good too.

In reply to marsbar:

Thanks. We'll put that on the options list.

In reply to mypyrex:

If mens made to measure suits are anything to go by then I reckon a £350 dress would get you enough to cover the intimate bits but not much else.

£1000+ when its all factored in would be my guess.

In reply to Indy:




That's what I was worried about
What is it about ladies attire that makes them so bloody expensive?

In reply to mypyrex:

It's not that expensive when you understand whats needed. Also don't forget that dresses in shops are almost certainly made in sweatshops in the far east on an industrial scale.

Might I suggest you don't look at your wife's bill from the hairdresser!

In reply to Indy:



Tell me about it!

In reply to mypyrex:
Men's too, as Indy suggests. Getting a really nice dress made from scratch by someone in the UK is going to cost a bomb, and local tailors can be a cr$p-shoot. So much of a dress is in the fabric too, which is often much harder for a small tailor to get right.

My wife and I always seem to do OK buying the nicest clothes we can 'sensibly afford' and then get them adjusted (often quite a bit) by a very good local tailor. When we got married my wife didn't want white, so wore a dress from Liberty (very fancy but not the normal wedding dress second-mortgage affair) that had been fairly extensively recut.

I reckon buying something relatively classic in the £250 range (Shop will depend on taste, figure, age and all sorts of things, but maybe Jigsaw? J-Crew? Karen Millen? Hobbs as mentioned?) and then getting it altered by a good tailor might be the best bet overall. That also gets away from nagging fit issues so there are loads more options - as long as the neck/shoulders and any really defining or structured elements of the outfit fit correctly, the rest can be sorted by a good tailor. No more rejecting a lovely dress because the waist/bust/hemline/whatever aren't quite right.

Alternatively, just a fairly standard suit or dress could look great if you spent the money on some seriously good shoes or a very fancy scarf/hat/necklace? For £350 you could get one or two really amazing accessories that would also have a usefulness beyond the event?

Happy shopping.

In reply to mypyrex:
1.Book yourself a holiday to Thailand.
2. I'll give you the number of an excellent tailor in Bangkok,
3. take along your own fabric
4. you'll be reet in 4 days. 5 tops.
5. Spend the rest of the time up in the north chilling out.

In reply to mypyrex:
it would depend on the style of dress, fabric and buttons/zips etc requirements and time spent to measure your wife and make the dress, with a couple of fittings as well! the advantage of having a dress made is that it will be completely unique to your wife as you can choose whatever fabric you want that is suitable for the pattern.

most clothes in the shops are mass produced in eastern europe or china. your george at asda will be made the day after ralph lauren in the same factory.

I can make dresses from a pattern (adjusting darts and waists, etc to fit) and have done for other people. it would depend on the pattern and fabric and time to make it on how much it costs.

In reply to RockAngel:
>


Good call - for something unique, without exceeding the £350 budget, there are a lot of designer patterns in the Vogue pattern books, for instance - my wedding dress was designed by some fancy American name, and made by me using raw silk. It cost around £120 all in (thanks to a magical bargain fabric shop in Burnley!)

MyPyrex - there will be plenty of people out there who could make your wife an amazing bespoke dress for well under £1k - a first port of call to find such a person might be a local dressmaking fabric shop, or asking for recommendations in a local 'zips and hems' place.

In reply to Indy:



I'd say you are maybe thinking about London prices. My wife's wedding dress cost less than that and it was a bespoke dress from a well known designer in the north west.

In reply to galpinos:

I was thinking it sounded a bit like London prices.