Custom · Made to measure
Couture atelier — Cape Town, South Africa
Nothing here fits anyone else.
Odette Gomes designs and makes one garment at a time — drafted to your measurements, fitted on your body, finished by hand.
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01 — The studio
A dress is
a drawing until
someone stands
in it.
The work here starts on paper and ends on a person. There is no rail of samples to choose from and no size to squeeze into — every piece is drafted from your own measurements, cut for your proportions, and adjusted on your body through fitting after fitting until it sits the way it should.
That means the client is in the room for most of it. You choose the shape, the fabric and the finish, and you see the garment take form before it is finished. It is slower than buying a dress. It is also the only way to own one that behaves like it was made for you — because it was.
02 — What is made here
Four kinds of
commission.
Each begins the same way: a conversation, a sketch, and a set of measurements. What changes is the occasion it has to survive.
Bridal
Wedding gowns drafted from the first sketch — plus veils, detachable overskirts, bridesmaids, flower girls and the reception change.
02Matric Dance
The dress nobody else will be wearing. Designed with the client from a blank page and fitted right through to the night itself.
03Evening & Red Carpet
Gowns, corsetry and tailored jumpsuits for events where the photographs last considerably longer than the evening does.
04Occasion
First communion, christening, pageant and mother-of-the-bride — pieces cut for the person rather than the size chart.
03 — Selected work
Recent
commissions.
A short cut of the archive. The full gallery runs to forty-four pieces across bridal, matric, evening and occasion.
04 — How it works
From first meeting
to final press.
Commissioning a garment is unfamiliar territory for most people. This is the whole of it, in order, with no surprises left for the end.
Consultation
We meet in the studio, look at references together and talk about the occasion, your body and your budget. You leave with a direction — not a quote you did not ask for.
Design & fabric
Sketches come back to you for changes. Once the drawing is settled we source the fabric together and confirm the costing and the dates in writing.
Toile & fittings
A calico toile is made first, so the fit is solved before a metre of the real fabric is cut. Fittings continue until it is right — a wedding gown usually asks for more of them than an evening dress.
Finish & handover
Hand-finishing, pressing and a last fitting. The garment leaves the studio bagged, with care instructions written for the fabric it is actually made from.
Enquiries
Bring the occasion.
We will draw
the rest.
Consultations are by appointment so that the studio belongs to one client at a time. Tell us the date you are dressing for and we will take it from there.
Start an enquiry