1. Never a wire hanger
A beaded gown can weigh three or four kilos, and all of it hangs from two shoulder points. A wire hanger concentrates that weight into two narrow lines and stretches the fabric permanently within a season. Use a wide padded hanger, and if the dress has interior ribbon loops, hang it from those instead of the shoulders — that is exactly what we sew them in for.
2. Hang or fold — the beading decides
Light surface embroidery is fine hanging. Dense all-over beadwork should be folded flat, with acid-free tissue between every layer and inside the bodice to hold its shape. A heavily beaded dress left hanging for a year will lengthen and the beadwork will pull; the same dress folded properly will not move at all.
3. Cotton cover, never plastic
The plastic sleeve from the dry cleaner is for the journey home and nothing more. Sealed plastic traps moisture against the cloth, and in Qatari humidity that produces the yellow bloom along folds that no cleaner can fully reverse. A breathable cotton or muslin garment bag costs very little and prevents almost every long-term problem.
Sweat and perfume are colourless on the night and amber a year later.
4. Deal with the invisible marks before it goes away
Perspiration, perfume and hairspray leave nothing you can see on the night. Left in the cloth for a year they oxidise into brown-yellow patches at the underarm and neckline — the most common irreversible damage we are asked to fix. Have the dress cleaned within a few weeks of wearing it, not a few weeks before wearing it again.
5. Where in the house it lives
- Inside the cooled part of the home — never a majlis store, a garage or anywhere the temperature swings.
- Away from direct sunlight. Ivory and champagne yellow first, and it happens in months, not years.
- With room on either side. A gown pressed between two winter coats comes out creased in ways that need re-pressing.
- Cedar rather than mothballs — naphthalene leaves an odour in silk that takes months to lift.
6. Bring it to us before the next occasion, not after
A dress that fitted perfectly two years ago will almost always need something — a seam eased, a hem lifted for different shoes, a few beads re-secured where a thread has worked loose. Ten days is plenty for that work. Ten days is not plenty if we discover the beading needs replacing. Send us a photograph when you take it out of the wardrobe and we will tell you which it is.
