Confused by Expensive Clothing?

[GiggidyGiggidy2022]

A few weeks ago I splurged and purchased this Hayley Menzies dress https://hayleymenzies.com/products/beija-flor-cotton-volume-shirt-dress

I love the pattern and how easy it is to wear either casually or a bit more dressy. I purchased it knowing it was 100% cotton, and not silk or anything. But I've just gone to look at the care label and it says do not wash. Dry clean only. For an unlined cotton dress that set me back nearly £400

I've noticed a lot lately that expensive 'designer' clothing isn't any better quality in terms of fabric. A lot I've seen is polyester, recycled something or other, or other man made fabrics. The cut of the clothing is usually nicer, but I'm a bit miffed at the fabric being used.

Can anyone tell me why this is please?

Often it's the manufacturer being ultra cautious. I have machine washed many dry clean only clothes over the years with only a handful of casualties and they were wool.

Looking at that dress, I wonder if it's the trim that is the reason. It may not be colourfast or may behave differently from the rest of the fabric when wet which could ruin it.

I would wash it carefully by hand in cold/ tepid water using Lux or a baby shampoo. I would not wash it every wear and would probably just wash where sleeves join the body and the cuffs.

Beautiful dress btw.

I'd send it back for being dry clean only. It's a summer dress, surely you'll want to wear and wash it loads.

It doesn't need to be washed after every wear and a gentle hadwash in tepid water will be fine when it does. These are the care instructions from Palava for their cotton, linen and tencel dresses.

palava.co/blogs/palava-blog/how-to-care-for-your-clothes

It's all generally something of a con.
But you are paying for the prestige, the design and the (often) originality. Of course the quality will be preferable to Primark or Joules, but it isn't something that will blow you away, it isn't Saville Row. And sadly, in most cases, we will eventually grow bored of them or our bodyshape will change. There's no lifelong investment in clothes, no matter how much we console ourselves when the money leaves our account

I would probably spend my extra cash on permanent items such as jewellery, etc.

A cotton dress won't age so well, so it's hardly going to get passed down like the antique drinks cabinet or granny's diamond speckled broach.

If you have the disposable ££, it hardly matters anyway, buy what you love! Regardless the price point we can't be fully reassured of good ethics or permanence. Nothing lasts forever. But a dry clean only cotton dress can still fuck right off.

I would say if you love it and enjoy it, I'd either risk hand washing or just get it dry cleaned. I used to cultivate a wardrobe of well made, unique items until I grew weary of the cost and pointlessness. Nowadays I just don't care, I shop at Fat face, so for god's sake don't listen to me!

Apologies, didn't answer your question - other posters did. It's to save them having to deal with you on the phone when a home wash goes awry.

I would also class this as dressy, not casual. It isn't my style (I don't wear dresses much) but it is most certainly lovely and unique.

A cotton dress won't age so well

I have several Samantha Sung 50s style cotton shirt waister dresses which range from 10- 16 years old. They aren't out of fashion because they were never in fashion. They probably don't look as pristine as they did on day one but they're still lovely dresses.

They are dry clean only. I dry cleaned them a couple of times and after that used a very gentle, low temperature handwash.

100% cotton shrinks in the machine up to 5% - if it's not pre shrunk.

Pre shrunk cotton won't hang the same way your dress does.

Also there's a possibility the cotton has some sort of finish that won't cope with machine washing.

Or it's the trim.

Very gentle hand washing and flat dry might be okay. Don't iron it.

Designer fabrics - especially Italian or Korean ones - are usually finished in a more complex way to regular ones.

They're more unusual, and there will be less of them on the market.

H+M / Zara etc will put years of experience in the performance of their core fabrics. They know exactly how they should be washed and often they're selected for that sort of performance. They're also buying hundreds and thousands of metres so they have a lot of power at the mills.

Designer fabrics are often just selected for their hand feel or beauty or whatever, the customer is expected to be prepared to dry clean / hand wash etc. They may be bought in tiny quantities and the mill may have very little experience of their performance long term. Not because they don't know what they're doing, but because the fabric is niche.

Something that expensive I’d want to wear ALOT - and therefore wash a lot.

I'd be tempted to look in Monsoon next time.

www.monsoon.co.uk/artisan-studio-woodblock-floral-fauna-dress-black-34062201.html

Yes it also says do not iron. It's come wrinkled as hell, but luckily I have a steamer. I assume that's ok? Why no iron though?

Thank you all for your replies on this. Some good points in ever thought about.

As for the wearability of the dress, I will probably wear day to day when out and on holiday, and then dress it up a bit more for dinner. I've worn it a few times out to lunch and shopping, so was looking to wash it, but will now take it to the cleaners instead. Generally I don't wash my clothes every wear and I credit that with keeping them in very good condition.

That’s not ok! I don’t like the fact this info is omitted on the website in the ‘garment care’ section & would potentially complain about that.

I do like the dress though.

I get very hot and sticky so I would need to wash it every time I wore it. Maybe you are different.
I don't think I'd risk hand washing something that cost £400, if the care label said dry clean only.
The steamer might be good though for keeping it fresh between wears - I love mine. Haven't ironed anything in months now.

I steamed it when I first got it and it seems ok. I assume that's how they got everything. Wrinkle free in the shops so I just did it without looking at the label

I read labels say dry clean only because some people are very careless about washing and put things in a very vigorous hot wash not suitable for more delicate type garments. So they cover themselves by the dry clean only label.

The dress is beautiful, but I try to avoid dry clean only these days especially for casual or everyday wear

Gorgeous dress, but I agree with others- I avoid dry clean only other than for coats and jackets, or rarely-worn formal stuff.

It’s beautiful, I’d wash it in my machine in a gentle wash in a mesh bag. I often ignore care labels - not had any major disasters!!

This. I always look carefully at the care instructions before I buy and would be pretty cross to find this out on arrival.

I've a friend who works in the fabric trade and has always made the point others have here - that dry cleaning only can often be ultra-cautious and to to cover the backs of manufacturers. She machine washes everything. BUT I would worry about the trim and buttons here.

I don't know what I'd do tbh. My head would say return however. It is a gorgeous dress but you'd only want to wear it a few times on a hot day before wanting to wash it surely?

It’s £400, hardly equivalent to a piece of heirloom furniture. If taken care of it will last for several years and will hopefully bring the op a lot of pleasure in wearing it. It’s not haute couture but it’s more unique and I would bet it hangs better and feels nicer than mass produced high street stuff. Not everyone would notice or care but if the OP does I would think five or so years of regular seasonal wear is well worth the price. It’s not meant to be passed through generations. If you prefer to save money for furniture and jewelry that’s valid too but not relevant to OP’s question. Everyone puts their resources toward the things that matter to them.

Manufacturer doesn't want to take responsibility, so you can't claim refund if something goes wrong. In short, manufacturer is taking the piss. It's not the first time I see it.

Btw. I always wash my wool coats in hand wash cycle or something similar. Labels always say dry cleaning only, but nothing happened.

Dear GiggidyGiggidy2022,

Hope you are well.

Thank you ever so much for choosing to shop with us, we really appreciate it.
As the customer care manager at Hayley Menzies, I thought I would reach out to you with a response regarding the dry clean only instructions for you Beija-Flor dress.

Due to the gold hardware on your dress if this was to go into a washing machine it would run the risk of damaging the buttons. Therefore, we suggest that the dress is dry cleaned only, to keep the integrity of the garment and hardware.

The plus side of dry cleaning is that it is much less aggressive than a regular washing machine, meaning less bleeding of dyes so your clothing keeps brighter for longer. Dry cleaning also keeps delicate garments in like-new condition for longer.

Do let me know if there is anything I can help with in the future and we hope to see you shopping with us again in the future!

Warmest,
Abi