London - Seams perfectly contouring your body, sleeves the ideal length and not an out-of-place fold to be seen.
Custom-made clothing might seem an unobtainable luxury, the preserve of A-listers commissioning top designers and stylists, bonus-laden bankers at Savile Row and extravagant brides for whom off-the-peg simply won’t do.
Now a new breed of online boutiques is making custom-made fashion easy to buy once more – and more affordable than it’s ever been, thanks to technology and clever design.
Take, for instance, Fit Me So (www.fitmeso.com), a Taiwan-based company that allows the customer to design the perfect dress on its website, choose a fabric and have it delivered to their home.
The wide choice of bodices, necklines, sleeves and skirt lengths lock together in an online illustration that allows you to play around with the design with your mouse until it’s what you’re looking for.
You could design a show-stopping evening gown or a gorgeous summer dress. You then send your measurements, using its guide to provide all the correct figures, and the team in Taiwan makes the dress before shipping it to you.
“In Taiwan, it’s normal to get your clothes tailored,” says 26-year-old Christine Lo, the woman who launched the site with her partner, Yann Gerardi.
“You can get anything made. When friends come to visit I always take them to the tailors. When I visited Europe, I saw this didn’t happen, so I had the idea.”
It’s not a cheap option, with prices ranging from £220 (R3 785) up to £350 depending on design and fabric, but then this isn’t sweatshop manufacturing, says Lo. “Our studio is small, and the seamstresses and cutters are experienced.”
From Gorgeous Couture (gorgeouscouture.com), tricky items such as jumpsuits and column dresses get the made-to-measure treatment.
Most online made-to-measure companies offer solutions for a mistake in measurements, such as paying for adjustments, but, says Eleanor Callaghan, the woman behind Dig For Victory (digforvictoryclothing.com) which makes retro-style dresses in its Brighton workroom, experience comes into it as well.
“Because we’ve done so many of these, we’ve learned to spot when there’s a mistake,” she says. “And we add in extra seam allowance, so the clothes can be let out if necessary.”
That also solves the issue of what to do should you gain or lose a few kilos. Although if a beautifully tailored wardrobe isn’t a good incentive to fight the flab, nothing will be. – Daily Mail