Couture Studio
Marrekech Dress - multi cotton dutch wax African Prints
“ Sometimes, with exquisite delicacy, a touch of pink was added to the uniform gray of sea and sky; and at the very bottom of the Harmony in Grey and Pink after Whistler, a tiny moth asleep on the windowpane seemed to lend its wings to the favorite signature of the master from Chelsea.”
á L’Ombre des Jeunnes Filles en Fleurs - Marcel Proust
new Dutch wax print dresses in progress in my studio
visit from my niece, Lucy, wearing pontè knit butterfly sweater
Judith Linhares Flower paintings recently at PPOW Gallery in Chelsea
Judith Linhares
Winter doesn't want to leave, but Spring won't be deterred. . .the first buds are sprouting and the birds and small animals are celebrating the advent of warmer weather to come. i always love color and it is never lacking in my studio.
threads and roses
Barbara Haskell, my wonderful client, was recently profiled on NY1 speaking about her Grant Wood painting survey currently on view at the Whitney museum
she is wearing a custom red wool pants suit and black silk camisole with lace appliqué
Barbara wore a dress of mine to the opening of her Grant wood show
it is silk Gazar with lace capelet sleeves
My husband, Artist Taro Suzuki, in front of Grant Wood's most famous painting - American Gothic
one of Grant Woods's oddly narrative paintings at the Whitney
Barbara Haskell profiled in the NYTimes
red and blue Dutch Wax dress in progress
blue and fushia Dutch wax Qipau dress
A client brought me some beautiful Irish Tweed that she bought in Ireland in the 60's - there was just enough to make this coat with only tiny scraps left over
client wearing finished coat
For my sister's 60 birthday her husband arranged a surprise dance party and I made her a surprise dress
red, yellow and green wax-print dress
it fits!!
Indian block-print cotton Voile
Since the solstice and a very busy November and December I have been ensconced in my atelier meditating and working on new designs. It is always so informative to interact with the array of women who come to my sales and see their reactions to the samples and what they end up going home with. Their needs and desires ultimately influence what I come up with in the coming months. I am happily surprised to see that many of my patterns work on different sizes and shapes of bodies. This is an ever-evolving pursuit- to come up with figure flattering and flexible shapes. I have replenished my stock of Wax-print fabrics and I find it very cheering to have a bit of color around me and to think ahead to warmer weather.
Tailored suit in a silk/wool blend, inspired by Dior
This "Raj" jacket is convertible into different configurations- a simple fitted style or the pull back beribboned version shown here.
wax-print jacket with optional silk tartan bows
a blue version of my "poppy" dress in wax-print cotton is an example of a figure-loving dress
wax-print cotton - with selvage-edge finishing- size 4 - 12 in various prints - $475. - $575. depending on customization
wax-prints before washing
This was a magical December night of the super moon (which I didn't manage to capture) but it seems to be reflected in this taffeta moirè fabric which I made into a Qipau. . .
silk moirè taffeta from Paris
I met this bright young student on New Year's Eve who wanted to try on my flower crown- Happy New Year everyone! Let's try and stay positive!
pleas contact me through the contact page in the menu
Sale extended thru Dec. 22 by appt.
make appt by contacting me on the contact page
click or tap to move through images
suit and dresses by Elizabeth Cannon
Custom-Made Womenswear
New York City’s couture-dressmakers, tailors and custom-fitters are on the rebound. Here’s a guide to 10 who make the cut.
by Linda Dyett
We consumers—especially midlife and older Americans—are paring down our wardrobes and shopping less and less these days—but we’re also spending more for higher-quality wearables that express our individuality and suit us to a T. And after a decade of online point-and-click purchases, a lot of us are also eager to return to hands-on service in brick-and-mortar surroundings.
Enter custom-made—the artisanal antidote to fast fashion. Long the province of moneyed elites, celebrities, and mothers of the bride, custom dressmaking and tailoring are today also attracting regular women, who aren’t necessarily in the market for a dress to wear to a black-tie event. These new customers are ladies with style intuition, who know the cuts, fabrics, and colors they want when they see them. And with dozens of hours of pattern-making, cutting, sewing (sometimes by hand), and intricate multiple fittings, custom-made confers an optimal fit that disguises a bulging waist, out-of-shape hips, thighs, and arms, droopy breasts, posture slump, spinal curve, and other figure flaws.
Of course couture dressmakers and tailors come at a price. While I’ve located one who’ll work up one of her off-the-rack $100 to $400 dresses in a different size for no extra fee, most charge $240 and up for custom-made blouses and shirts; $500 and up for made-to-measure (a widely used industry term referring to garments derived from a standard pattern); and $1,500 and up for made-to-order dresses and suits. These are hardly bargains, but they compare so favorably with higher-end, A-list designer ready-to-wear that plenty of women, once they’ve tried New York couture, won’t switch back.
Here’s a rundown of some of the city’s most celebrated as well as off-the-beaten-track dressmakers and tailors who excel in couture and made-to-measure. Just keep in mind: what they offer isn’t seasonal fashion; it’s all about personal, individual style that you can hand down to your daughter or granddaughter, who’ll cherish it as much as you do. Appointments are essential almost everywhere, and finished garments take at least a month—sometimes several—to produce.
Elizabeth Cannon
Ensconced in a ground floor London Terrace studio, Elizabeth Cannon is that impossible-to-find accessible couturière whom stylish, independent-minded New York women dream about. Having honed her trade making costumes for the Paris Opera Ballet, her inspirations ranging from the Commedia dell’arte to Cocteau, she’s been designing made-to-order one-offs with a lyrical urban edge since 1980. Her clients? “Very decisive” artists, musicians, gallery owners, and entertainment executives, as well as members of the Trisha Brown Dance Company. “Nothing has ever fit me so perfectly,” says one delighted customer. “It’s as if Elizabeth were channeling Schiaparelli,” says another.
Cannon does couture by the book, using custom-padded dressmaker forms, muslins (initial mock-ups in an inexpensive fabric), and sometimes interior boned corsets. She also offers a signature collection of off-the-rack casual day- and eveningwear ($500 and up, though prices can plummet to $100 at frequent sales) that can be altered to fit. Outstanding items: A New Look-style silk shantung dress and jacket for a mother of the bride ($3,500); a silk-cotton blouse and heavy silk floral-print skirt with reinforced corseted yoke for a mother of the groom ($2,800); an African wax-print summer dress ($750); a belted, striped men’s shirting chemise, ($575, readymade; $750, made-to-order) that riffs on the frock Francoise Gilot wore in an iconic 1948 photo strolling along a French beach with an umbrella-wielding Pablo Picasso. Elizabeth Cannon Couture, 460 West 24th St., 212.929.8552.
I had a wonderful project to work on this winter - dresses for a travel-themed bat mitzvah for a mother and daughter. They had very developed ideas about what they wanted and had thought through every detail. I helped them execute their ideas and guide them through the process. We were delighted with the results and had a great time working together on this important milestone.
Sadie's Bat mitzvah dress
The "world" fabric was printed at Spoonflower who does both custom and stock printing on fabric and paper.
Sadie was born in China and we used a red embroidered line to mark her journey from her birthplace to her new home in New York city. Tiny crystals mark all the places mother and daughter have visited together.
Her Mother also wanted her own dress to represent all the places they had traveled together. She collected travel patches from as many of these cities as she could find and gave them to me to sew on her dress.
Navy Silk Faille with Travel patches and continents
We also showed the two continents representing Sadie's birthplace and her adoptive home cut out in wool felt and connected with a red stitched line.
The day of the bat mitzvah was one of the rare sunny days in a week of cold and rainy weather
Batmitzvah Day
Around the World in Sadie Days
Otherwise happening in the studio this month
cotton stripe blouse
Swatching for clients- choosing silk linings
Placement of print is always crucial- here it is gracefully figure-enhancing
African Print "Cyclone" dress
I love texture and design- this piece is reminiscent of decorative stonework
Appliqué on silk charmeuse
A corner of the studio with blue and orange
Stripe silk pants, cotton shirt w/ embroidery, ponté knit camisole- silk charmeuse top and skirt w/ barbed wire tie
sketch for artist colab dress
detail - cotton tuck dress
Book page from "Love in Venice" at the New York Public Library- flaps lift up to show the courtesans' undergarments
Subway mosaic near the Museum of Natural History at 81 street
