Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Seamstress to the Stars

I started calling around for seamstresses in the LA area in case I bought a different wedding dress (it turns out Bridal Stores don't like it when you bring in dresses to be altered that wasn't purchased at their store- especially if they carry the same brand). I found this one woman on the West Side from some sort of Clothier Union website and called her up. What resulted was the weirdest one hour conversation of all time.

Me: Do you do wedding dress alterations?

Her: Yes, but I'm booked up for two years.

Me: Really??

Her: Yes, I design and alter a lot wedding dresses and evening gowns. This is an especially busy time for me because of all of the award shows.

Somehow, we got to the topic of wedding dress costs and her philosophy was that any dress under 25-30 THOUSAND DOLLARS was cheap and a good deal. I also learned over a course of an hour that: she used to be an architect, wedding dresses are based on a really old style and that's why people don't know how to alter or wear them correctly, $600 for alterations is really cheap, bras became popular in the 40s, if I learned how to make my own clothes I would look fantastic, I should consider renting a wedding dress, I should consider a non-white dress, I should consider a wedding non-dress (that would be a bustier and skirt), alterations is a lost art, alterations require different skills than clothing construction, she gives private sewing lessons, she once made a wedding dress with a dark green lining, could she have my contact information, and she didn't know if any other seamstresses that I could contact.

Yeah, she talked a lot. And I didn't have the nerve to ask what celebrities she worked for. But since she has my contact information, who knows, maybe she'll call back ;)

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