The Life and Culture/Fashion section of the Wall Street Journal
published an interesting article on March 28, 2010.
In an article entitled "
Spring Cleaning Your Wardrobe: What to Save", fashion
journalist Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan reminded readers that the far reaches
of their closets offered interesting and cost effective
opportunities to return long-loved but long-forgotten garments to
immediate use.
More specifically, Ms. Tan posited the idea that past season
designer garments could be coupled with current season accessories,
thereby repositioning those past season garments for spring and
summer 2012.
A perfect example of this repositioning strategy was
demonstrated to us a few weeks ago.
A client brought in a two piece Celine skirt suit from the early
1990's that had been gathering dust in her closet of past season
designer garments.
The white cotton, past season two piece suit, which still fitted
her perfectly, was surface printed with a black animal print. In
addition, the cotton fabric had been heat pleated prior to the
construction of the garment so as to impart an unusual "wavy
pleated look".
The client was excited about the possibilities of resuscitating
the suit for the spring, especially given the fact that animal,
floral and abstract prints are trendy for spring 2012.
The big question was as follows: could we restore the suit to
"like new condition"?
The suit presented a number of problems:
- The suit was rather dingy due to poor dry cleaning in "
dirty solvent".
- The black dye used to create the animal print exhibited poor
adhesion to the white cotton fabric.
- The suit smelt rather musty.
- The reddish make up around the collar and cuffs was deeply
ingrained in the fabric.
- The suit exhibited oxidized oil stains, caramelized water
stains and rust stains that had turned yellow or brown over
time.
- The heat-induced wavy pleats were not water-resistant, meaning
that the pleats would "disappear" if a water-based restoration
process was required to be employed.
- The lining of the skirt was urine stained.
We asked the client to leave the suit with us for about two
weeks and told her we would call her upon completion of the
work.
The following before and after photos reflect the
transformation.
BEFORE
AFTER
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