For sheer usefulness, a tailored dress is hard to beat. A sheath or a shift in good cloth, fitted close through the shoulder, bust, waist and hip, will carry you across a very wide range of formal and professional occasions. It asks less of you in the morning than a suit does, it photographs cleanly, and it looks right from a ten o'clock meeting through to an evening function without a change of clothes. We make them in a range of styles and cloths, from a working wool crepe through to formal silk, and we fit them before they leave.
Sheath, shift or structured
A sheath is the fitted one, close through the waist and hip with the hem at or just below the knee. It is the dressiest of the three and by far the most demanding to fit, because there is nowhere for an error to hide. Cut well, it is one of the most elegant things a professional woman can wear to a formal occasion, and it is worth the extra fitting time it takes.
A shift is straighter, less fitted through the body, falling cleanly from the shoulder with no waist definition at all. It is cooler to wear, feels more relaxed, and goes to more places. In a good wool crepe or a fine cotton it is one of the most practical things you can own for a Chennai working week.
For cloth, a mid-weight wool crepe is the most useful and the most professional. Silk or a silk-wool mix lifts it for an occasion. And for a proper evening, a structured faille or a duchess satin makes a dress that reads unmistakably as occasion wear the moment you walk in.