Terms
How a commission works
Plain language, because a garment made for one person deserves an agreement you can actually read.
Nothing is sold from this website
There is no shop here and no price list. Every piece begins with a conversation, and that first conversation is free and commits you to nothing.
The quotation
After we have talked about the occasion, the design and the cloth, you get a written quotation with the price, what is included and when the piece will be ready. Work starts once you accept it. Until then there is no agreement and no cost.
Fittings
Three fittings are included in the price of a couture piece. A wedding dress usually needs more. Any extra fitting is agreed and priced before it happens, never afterwards.
Time
One to six months, depending on the model, the design and the cloth. A wedding date is a deadline and it is treated as one. If a date is too close to do the work properly, you will be told so instead of being sold a rush.
Changing the design
The toile is the moment to change your mind, and changing it there costs nothing but time. Changing the design after the toile is approved can change both the price and the delivery date, and you will hear that before anything is cut.
Your pattern
The pattern is drawn from your body and it stays in the atelier. It is never sold, never used for someone else, and it is there if you come back, so a second piece starts from a shape that already fits you.
Made to measure and the right of withdrawal
Under European consumer law the fourteen day right of withdrawal does not apply to goods made to your specification. A piece cut to your measurements cannot be returned, which is exactly why the toile and the fittings exist: nothing is cut in the final cloth until the shape is right.
If something is wrong
If a finished piece does not match what was agreed, it is put right. Write to couture@scillasdotter.com and you get an answer from Alexandra herself, within 48 hours.
Which law applies
Dutch law applies to every commission, whichever country you write from.