From custom to customized requests, American designers continue to create a bespoke experience for customers from their New York ateliers.
invited VIP guests to stop by the Samuel B. & David Rose Building penthouse. Cherry blossoms scented the relaxed presentation space, where a fleet of couture gowns on dress forms were displayed. In contrast to the usualweek spectacle, the room was calm, quiet and discreet, reflecting the appeal that former J. Mendel designer Gilles Mendel has found by pivoting his
Building off their core ready-to-wear businesses, today’s designers continue to field special requests ranging from customized tweaks to bespoke. And while celebrities often wear custom looks for well-documented events like red carpet premieres, many special-order clients remain under the radar. Custom has been a mainstay for the designer ever since he launched his label in 1983, and represents about 20 percent of his overall business, with customized requests representing close to 40 percent.
“I like to say when I’m at a trunk show or meeting with clients, ‘everything is possible,’” said designer Bach Mai. “The collection is just a starting point. It’s a suggestion,” he added. “What can we do to create something that will make you feel the most amazing?” Patternmaking is often the trickiest hurdle when moving from the category of customization to made-to-measure.
“I have a lot of customers who find a dress they like and want it in six colors, eight colors, that kind of thing,” said Lippes, whoin the Upper East Side to facilitate personal one-on-one shopping experiences. “We’re always looking at what’s new in fashion,” he added. “But the customer tends to want what she knows and what she likes and what she feels good in. So we’re able to do that for her to keep that same style alive for a long time.
House of Gilles uses Procreate to create digital mockups of what the final design will look like on that customer’s specific body. “My dad’s amazing at sketching directly on your body,” Mendel Corgan said. “The woman can actually envision what she’s going to look like. Or he might even take something unexpected, that she might not think looks good on her, but when she sees it, she’s like, ‘Wow — I never knew I could look like that.
“When people come to us, they love the style of the collection. They just want it for them,” said Hudson, who has rooted all of his ready-to-wear collections in color. “And sometimes they might not like a neon yellow. They’re like, ‘Can you give me more of a canary yellow?’” “ have been consistent since we started, I think because the brand really took off from that moment with Mrs. Obama at the inauguration,” Hudson said. “Everybody could tell that we custom made that for her, so people want that experience. That’s the biggest reward for me: to dress the most powerful women in the world and to dress people like my mother.”
And for customers first venturing into the made-to-measure space, the pricing differential can be jarring.
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