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Atelier Service · Established Milan, 2014

Made to Order,
built in fourteen days.

A commission is not a customization. It is a garment cut once, for one body, against one occasion — and finished by hand inside our Milan atelier within fourteen days from your first measurement.

Begin Your Made-to-Order Read the four steps →
A pattern-cutter pinning muslin on a dress form inside the Elena Stral atelier in Milan.

A note from Elena

A garment should not be chosen from a rail. It should be drawn against the wearer.

Made-to-order exists because the women we dress are not shopping for a season. They are stepping into a court appearance, an off-site in Lake Como, a rehearsal dinner, a once-a-decade photograph that will outlive the dress itself. For them, off-the-rack is a compromise — a sleeve cut for a stranger's shoulder, a hem drafted for a generic height, a fabric chosen because it shipped fastest.

Our made-to-order program reverses that logic. You arrive at Via Solferino 23 with a date, a body, and a refusal to be ordinary. We take nine measurements, hand you four Italian and Japanese mill swatches, and start cutting. Fourteen days later the garment is delivered, pressed, in its cotton bag, with a numbered card that records who cut it and on which morning.

The program was built for three clients: brides who want couture without the seven-month wait, creative directors who need a specific silhouette for a specific room, and women for whom a piece is a personal landmark rather than a wardrobe update.

— Elena Stral, founder and head pattern-maker

Provenance

Italian and Japanese mill textiles, chosen for hand and longevity.

The mills we work with are small, family-run, and unaccelerated. Every swatch below is held in our archive and available to made-to-order clients. We do not stock polyester, we do not stock anything with elastane above 2%, and we do not buy on price.

Double-faced wool crepe, brick red, from a Lombardy mill.

N°01

Double-faced wool crepe

Lombardy, Italy · 380 g/m²

The cloth our outerwear is built around. Cuts cleanly, holds a shoulder without padding, and presses to a knife edge.

Heavyweight silk satin, oxblood, from a Como mill.

N°02

Heavyweight silk satin

Como, Italy · 22 momme

A bridal and evening cloth. Falls in a slow, architectural drape rather than a cling. Reserves for clients ordering after 6pm.

Yarn-dyed cotton twill, graphite grey, from a Japanese mill.

N°03

Yarn-dyed cotton twill

Okayama, Japan · 320 g/m²

Sourced from a 1923-established Japanese house. The colour does not sit on the surface — it is woven in.

Heavyweight Belgian linen, warm oat, from a Tuscan finishing house.

N°04

Heavyweight Belgian linen

Tuscany, Italy · 410 g/m²

Woven in Belgium, finished and softened in Tuscany. The cloth we use for unstructured tailoring and the warmer bridal commissions.

The Four Steps

From first message to delivered garment, in fourteen days.

Half the typical Italian atelier timeline. We compress the calendar by removing the sales meeting, the showroom pull, and the seasonal warehouse — and by keeping our seven in-house pattern-cutters on the floor rather than in the back office.

  1. 01

    Day 1 — by video or in atelier

    Consultation

    A forty-minute conversation with Elena or a senior pattern-cutter. We discuss the occasion, the room, the silhouette you are trying to enter, and the fabrics in archive that suit it. No sketch is produced on day one — only a written brief returned to you by email before midnight CET.

  2. 02

    Day 2 to 3

    Measurement and toile

    Nine measurements taken in person at Via Solferino 23, or remotely via our posted measurement kit (a tape, a posture guide, and a pre-paid return label). A first muslin toile is cut and shipped to you for a single try-on. Photographs are reviewed by the cutter before the final pattern is released.

  3. 03

    Day 4 to 12

    Atelier construction

    The garment is cut in your final cloth by one of seven in-house pattern-cutters and assembled by a single tailor from start to finish — the same pair of hands throughout, recorded on the numbered card that travels with the piece. Two fittings are offered remotely by video at day 7 and day 10.

  4. 04

    Day 13 to 14

    Pressing and delivery

    Final hand-pressing, buttonhole reinforcement, lining check, and photography for our archive. The piece is wrapped in unbleached cotton, sealed, and dispatched by courier worldwide. Express shipping is included on commissions above €500. You will receive a numbered card naming your cutter and tailor.

By the numbers

The atelier, in four figures.

14

days

From first consultation to delivered garment — half the typical Italian atelier timeline.

7

in-house pattern-cutters

Senior cutters who physically draft and cut every made-to-order commission.

22

people on the floor

Total atelier team in Milan — pattern-cutters, tailors, pressers, archive.

300

piece cap, per style

Every style — ready-to-wear and made-to-order — is released in numbered runs of 300 or fewer.

Begin a Commission

Your measurements. Our atelier. Fourteen days.

Commissions open on a rolling basis. Lead time for the current quarter is approximately 14 days from consultation; the queue for bridal commissions closing season is 6 weeks.

Begin Your Made-to-Order Visit the atelier →

Or telephone the atelier directly, Tuesday to Friday, 10.00 to 18.00 CET — +39 02 8056 7419. We answer in Italian, English, and French.