Iris & Edel Fashion Design

Iris & Edel specialise in making made-​to-​measure cheong sams (qi paos). I’m not sure how long they have been around — their web presence is pretty much just a Facebook page — but they seem pretty well-​known on the bridal circuit, particularly for their handiwork (i.e. the extras added onto the dress).
Anyway, I didn’t know very much about them when I visited the shop in November, other than that I wanted a cheong sam made for my wedding in 2015. The major problem was that I was only back for a short while and would be returning to London in less than 10 days. I hadn’t had a response to my Facebook enquiry as to whether they would have any time to accommodate me and pretty much just turned up the day after I returned to Singapore.
Still, they were able to speak with me, and presented me with their folder which had examples of different cheong sam designs, all of which they had made. I browsed through the folder, decided on what I wanted and they sketched out the dress I had in mind and said they would ask me to return for my first fitting six days later.
As I was in the vicinity a day earlier than my scheduled first fitting date, I called and asked if the dress was ready for me to try on. As it turns out, it was, and I went down for my first fitting and to finalise the design (as I was still thinking about the colour of the embellishments during my initial visit). The seamstress told me that they were aware of my time constraints and had asked other clients if they minded their orders being delayed by a few days so that they could prioritise mine. I was pretty impressed by that, as they didn’t grumble at all about the fact that I’d given them such a tight timeline.
Four days after that, I returned to collect the dress. It was amazing and fit me perfectly. Most of all, I felt incredible in it, and that’s really what I was going for. I was astounded by the fact that they’d made me a full-​length cheong sam with a train and handiwork in less than 10 days, and it still looked as incredible as it did.
The total cost for my wedding cheong sam was ~$ 900, inclusive of material and handiwork, without any extra being added on for the quick turnaround. The shop only took NETS and cash. I had to pay 50% upfront and 50% upon collection.