Storage. Store the dress in a closet in either a garment bag or as simple as a dry cleaning bag. Just make sure it is hidden from direct sunlight and dust - that’s all you need to worry about. If it is a single piece dress - all you need is to hang it on any hanger. If the dress consists of 2 or 3 pieces - a leotard and one/two skirts - hang a leotard separately and hang a skirt on hanging loops sewn on the inside of the skirt belt. If a skirt does not have those loops, we recommend hanging the skirt on a hanger as if it is a wide-neck sweater. If you use hangers for pants, they may leave marks and stripes on the belt, which will require some treatment to get rid of.
Transporting. If you travel by car, place the dress in a garment bag and hang in on a handle or a hook above the door. If you travel by airplane, we recommend placing the dress in a garment bag and carefully folding it as needed. It will get wrinkles anyway, but all you need to do is let the dress “rest” overnight. Most dresses are made of self-smoothing fabric. You can also ask the hotel receptionist to give you a steamer or an iron with steamer, and simply steam the dress and let it hang for 10-15 min. Most fabrics absorb the moisture and naturally smoothes if hung or laid flat.
Washing. If you choose to take the dress to a dry cleaner, please draw their attention that this is not a regular dress. Show them the crinoline net at the bottom of the skirt. If not treated properly, it will curl up and ruin the look of the skirt, so make sure you talk to the person accepting the dress for cleaning. You can also wash the dress in a washing machine using a hand-wash cycle, cold temperature and low tumble. DO NOT wash pleated skirts in a washing machine. Those skirts should only be dry-cleaned. After washing DO NOT tumble dry the dress. Just let the dress lay flat to dry. If you wash it yourself (hand-wash or washing machine) - use only mild laundry detergents without any blue or pink colored crystals! Even plain slightly warm water can do all the work.
Ironing. We recommend steaming the dresses, as it is more gentle. You can iron a dress as long as you use “silk” mode AND protective fabric as a layer between the iron and a dress. I use a simple thin cotton protective pad just big enough to cover the area I need to iron. It protects the dress against burning and melting. Pleated skirts can only be steamed, no ironing, as it will flatten the folds. Place the steamer inside the skirt facing it outwards so that the steam goes through fabric from inside out. Or if that’s not convenient, turn the skirt inside out and steam as usual. Just be mindful of the gentle fabric you are working with.
You can do it! It is not as hard as it sounds, and you can always message us if you need any advice or have questions.