Need recommendations to a good NYC wedding gown cleaners (long story) ...

Sep 26, 2007
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Madame Paulette, a supposed luxury gown cleaners that Vera Wang "personally" recommends, are known to be notoriously expensive. They are supposed to be the "best" cleaners that frequently services gowns that come from the Met Ball and other major social events in NYC. since my Monique Lhuillier wedding gown cost $7200, i wanted to make sure that the gown would be treated the best way possible.

i called the director of bridal directly and told her that i would bring the gown in, and also told her that i recently got a $100 voucher on Gilt.com. we had agreed that I would drop off my gown, and she would call me the next day with a quote. i dropped off the gown, and waited for 4 days with no calls. i finally called her on Saturday and she screamed at me telling me that she had a ton of meetings and was too busy to check the gown out. she said she would call me BEFORE monday and hung up. it is now Wednesday (so 4 more days, 8 days in total) and no calls/contact from her. Madame Paulette is holding my very expensive gown and would not relay my calls to the director, saying that she was either "away" or "busy".

i plan to go back to the cleaners and demand my gown back immediately.

Meanwhile, can any of you NYC brides offer a few recommendations on a good wedding gown cleaner?

thankyou so much in advance !!
 
Madame Paulette is supposed to be the best, but that service sucks. I second Meurice - I go to the location downtown on 9th st. The guys who work there are very nice.

I would also call the boutique where you bought your dress and ask for additional recs and tell them about the awful service, maybe they will stop sending people.
 
thankyou so much you guys! i just called Madame Paulette today and they STILL wouldn't relay my call. i plan to just show up and demand my gown back... WTH right ?!?!

i will call Meurice today, thankyou so much again for you recs !
 
that's ridiculous. i can't believe they would do that. I just started using Maurice for my expensive items and service is great when i get my skirt back on friday I'll let you know how the cleaning is.
 
Just thought of something - watch Maurice's pricing. They charged $150 to dryclean a very basic Herve Leger because it is a "designer" label. The pricing is very discretionary, They charged less than $100 for another dress - nondesigner - that was hand pressed due to a pleated skirt.
 
yeah well. they charged 40 bucks for my theory skirt... but they did warn me about the pricing i think you just have to go in and be prepared for it.. and clean something that's super important to you.
 
^ not necessarily. i went to a dry cleaner for two years and it was 1.50 a shirt and maybe 2 or 4 bucks a dress. Hemming was only 6 bucks. she was very good. midtown east 36 and madison. Never lost my stuff, never broke my buttons, which a lot of the expensive ones have done before.
 
Just thought of something - watch Maurice's pricing. They charged $150 to dryclean a very basic Herve Leger because it is a "designer" label. The pricing is very discretionary, They charged less than $100 for another dress - nondesigner - that was hand pressed due to a pleated skirt.


OMG that is INSANE!! I don't consider myself a cheap person but wow, $150 to dryclean a dress???

I don't live in NYC..I take my clothes (designer and non-designer) to one of your typical Korean-owned dry cleaners and never had a problem. Can someone explain what is the difference between places like Madame Paulettes/Maurices and your average dry cleaner? Is the cleaning process different? Do they handle your clothes differently?

IMO its bad customer service to have such inconsistent pricing - how can they tell whether a piece of clothing is "designer" or "non-designer", especially if tags have been removed? For example, places like Bebe and BCBG also sell bandage dresses...
 
I am cleaning and preserving my very expensive wedding gown and therefore am obliged to look for the best place possible, but for my other clothing, even my Marc Jacobs collection silk shorts and Chloe silk tops for instance, I would still take them to my neighborhood cleaners. they do unbiasedly charge me the same prices as my urban outfitters silk tops... for my fur items, leather jackets, lace dresses, and other types of clothing that need more time and skills, and furthermore a climate controlled room, I would take them to places that exclusively handle designer clothing, such as Maurice (thankyou for the rec again by the way!)... for instance I would not have a pair of jeans hemmed at Madame Paulette, a place where they specialize in cleaning eveningwear. they would do it, but it would take 2 weeks and would cost you $60!

laurayuki I need to know which cleaners you used on 36 and Madison! I currently live around there and my place charges $2.75 per pressed men's dress shirt and $14 for dresses!!!!!
 
Maurice never charge me extra for designer. Never heard of that. But I only take there difficult cases. I had a DVF silk dress that regular $16 dry cleaners couldnt fix after 3 attempts. Maurice charged me $47.50 (they told me before accepting the job what it would cost. I Always ask) and dress looked new. It was worth it for me because I almost threw the dress out, the other cleaners told me the stains were permanent (my nephew ran up and hugged me with super dirty greasy fingers. I mean mix of paint, crayons, burger grease, french fries and ketchup. LOL)
 
yeah well. they charged 40 bucks for my theory skirt... but they did warn me about the pricing i think you just have to go in and be prepared for it.. and clean something that's super important to you.

I don't have a problem paying a lot when the clothes require special attention. I willingly pay them $70 for an Ann Taylor Loft skirt that has sequins and pleats because the sequins are falling off and the skirt needs to be hand pressed because of the sequins, pleats, and embroidery. BUT they charged a premium on the Herve Leger only because it was a designer label.

Maurice never charge me extra for designer. Never heard of that. But I only take there difficult cases. I had a DVF silk dress that regular $16 dry cleaners couldnt fix after 3 attempts. Maurice charged me $47.50 (they told me before accepting the job what it would cost. I Always ask) and dress looked new. It was worth it for me because I almost threw the dress out, the other cleaners told me the stains were permanent (my nephew ran up and hugged me with super dirty greasy fingers. I mean mix of paint, crayons, burger grease, french fries and ketchup. LOL)

I did pickup for a bunch of clothing so didn't ask for a price before. When I got the clothes back and saw how much it was I called to ask. I explained the dress (which had no stains) and asked why it cost so much. The manager said because it was a designer label and designer cocktail dresses start at a higher price than normal dresses. They refunded $50 after I called to the base price for a designer dress. Also while I think the DVF is a contemporary label versus Herve Leger being a designer which is why they wouldn't have charged you the designer premium.

They also lost a button on my Burberry trench, but I didn't notice until months later because I had put the trench away for the summer right after cleaning it.
 
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i got my dress at Wedding Atelier and took it to them to get cleaned back in June and still haven't gotten it back. Takes a few months to clean wedding dresses since they clean them over and over and over...so it is a long process. Make sure where you go that they do a good process and remove all stains and preserve it properly.
 
I know DVF is not "designer". What i was saying was they always charge me about the same: $50. Regardless if it was very intricate Cavalli dress or just a simple DVF silk jersey wrap. I dont go there for my regular dry cleaning (no stains, just to refresh the garment). i take that to regular dry cleaners: $8-10 a dress