Fabrics and colours for an evening dress: what to choose for made-to-order tailoring

Fabric decides more than it seems at first: the same design in silk and in satin is two different dresses. It either holds its shape or pours, catches the evening light or stays matte in photographs, breathes through dinner or grows heavy by the end of the evening. When a dress is made to order you are not choosing from whatever arrived in the showroom by the batch - you take a length of cloth for a particular figure, season and occasion. Here is what to make it from, and which colour will not let you down.

Fabrics: what actually differs

• Silk - a refined matte sheen, pours over the figure, pleasant against the skin. Good for straight and fitted silhouettes, but demanding in wear: creases show after a long sit.
• Satin - denser than silk, with a pronounced gloss, holds a mermaid silhouette and a corset bodice superbly. It creases less and is easier to manage through an evening.
• Crepe - dense and matte, it does not flare in flash photographs, which is why it is often chosen for restrained straight silhouettes and formal business occasions.
• Velvet - warm and deep, it absorbs the excess glare of evening lighting. Better for autumn and winter: in summer it is hot even in a light cut.
• Lace and embroidered fabric - almost always used as an accent: the bodice, the sleeves, panels on the skirt. A whole dress in dense lace weighs the silhouette down.
• Chiffon and muslin - weightless, flying in movement, for outdoor ceremonies and summer dinners in the open air.

Often the best answer is not one fabric but a combination: a satin corset with a chiffon skirt, crepe with lace sleeves. The atelier works with more than 250 fabrics and laces - a sample can always be held against your hand to see how the cloth behaves in the light, before anything is cut.

Colour: from the safe choices to the bold

• Emerald and bottle green - a refined tone that suits most skin and hair colours.
• Burgundy and marsala - dignified and warm, especially in velvet and heavy satin; more an autumn and winter choice.
• Dusty rose and lavender - a soft palette for daytime and intimate celebrations.
• Navy and graphite - the working alternative to black when you want a restrained tone that does not read as mourning.
• Black - almost always safe, but on a plain matte fabric it risks disappearing in a dimly lit room: add texture, sheen or a contrasting accessory.

If you are going as a guest rather than the heroine of the evening, keep in mind the unspoken ban on white and its shades. We covered this in detail in "A dress for a wedding guest".

How fabric affects the price

The cost is made of two parts, the work and the material, and they are counted separately. Natural silk and hand-embroidered fabrics naturally cost more than dense crepe or satin, but that does not mean a modest choice looks worse: often the difference in price does not read in photographs at all. Once the fabric is chosen, we name the price of your dress at the consultation and fix it in the contract.

See it and touch it in person

Fabric and lace are better chosen in person than from a photograph on a screen - they behave differently in daylight and in evening light. You can do that at a consultation at the atelier on Ligovsky Prospekt. And on how an evening dress is made to order, see the "Evening dress made to order" page.

In brief: common questions

Can two fabrics be combined in one dress? Yes, it is standard practice: a dense fabric for the bodice and the fit, a light one for a flowing skirt.

What should I choose if the dress has to work both indoors and outside? Look at crepe-satin or heavy silk - they crease less and do not billow in the wind the way pure chiffon does.

How much time should I allow for choosing fabric? Usually the decision is made at the first look at samples - 30 to 40 minutes; after that the time goes into making the dress to your measurements.