Style on a Whim

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On the 1st day of Christmas … a Shibui Designs custom-made dress

December 8th, 2009

Grace Kelly. Ingrid Bergman. Jackie Kennedy. Have you ever wondered why some women always seem so effortlessly put together, elegant and sophisticated? According to Shibui Designs’ founder Elizabeth Nill, the answer is, in a word, tailoring.

Now, you can have that look too!

Elizabeth’s firm, Shibui Designs, creates handcrafted, one-of-a-kind investment dresses and skirts that fit like they were made just for you – because they are! Fashioned from a huge choice of amazing, fine fabrics, these dresses and skirts are subtle and classic, and destined to become the go-to pieces you reach for time and again. In fact, Shibui dresses are haute couture style and fit without haute couture prices.

How does it work? It’s easy and I had a great time playing on the website. Simply go to Create Your Dress. Choose a style from the slide show of dress images that appears on the left. My personal favorite is the Jackie, a simple sleeveless sheath dress with a timeless appeal. This dress would be lovely on its own with a statement necklace, paired with a jacket, or even a cardigan.

Then comes the real fun! There almost endless fabric swatches to choose from — from simple jersey knits and printed cotton, to sensible Cashmere and wool, to jacquards and gorgeous embroidered silk shantung. There are even fine Italian wool knits and delectable French brocades. It’s like an endless game of dress-up, with the bonus that these are mom’s old cast-off prom gowns!

Visit Elizabeth in the little village of Barnstable on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Or visit Shibui Designs online.

The Barnstable Patriot Barnstable, Massachusetts December 4 2009  Written by Ellen Chahey

Shibui Brings ‘Understated Elegance’ to Barnstable Village Elizabeth Nill of Shibui Designs in her shop in Barnstable Village Owner hopes to participate in revitalization efforts Some 30 years ago, Elizabeth Nill fell in love with a Japanese word: shibui. She has no connection with Japan – in fact, on her mother’s side she is the fifth generation to live in Barnstable Village. But the connotation of shibui, “understated elegance,” said Nill, spoke to her, and she always wanted to use it as the name for something in her life – maybe a boat. Then along came her business plan.

The Harvard MBA, who has been a senior executive at her alma mater and later went into independent consulting, got tired of shopping for clothes only to find that they were all designed for younger women. “I’m 61,” she announced, “and I want to be elegant.”

So, although she had never been in a consumer-oriented business before, Nill decided to open a “custom house” where she would offer about a dozen dress styles whose look could be varied by “season, fabric, and purpose” and that would be tailored to fit the customer comfortably and flatteringly.

That, Nill reasoned, would be understated elegance: shibui. In October, Nill’s dream came true and she opened her business of the same name.

“I’m way out of my comfort zone,” Nill said, in starting a business that is so unfamiliar to her in such a chilly economic climate. But, she added, key to her plan was that she didn’t have to get it done alone.  “I know how to select people” to get a job done, she said. For the actual production of the dresses – which Nill emphasized are “expensive” – she has contracted with Jeanine M. Duquette, “a seamstress of extraordinary talent” who trained in Paris and at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. Duquette will be able to sew for clients everywhere thanks to using body measurements and pattern making  to provide women with precise fittings and style advice to flatter their figures.

Will it be a little scary to trust a computer to communicate your measurements and your taste to a seamstress you may never meet?  Sure, Nill agreed, for those who did not grow up with computers. “But I’m banking on those 40-year-olds who are facile on-line” for the future of her business.

Her own Web site (shibuidesignsltd.com) is up and running. Nill said that some of the initial work was donated by a collaboration of Brenda Adams Design,  BKJ Productions, Sherman Photography and Scarlet Letters, firms which, like Nill, had never marketed apparel before. The site allows shoppers to create an image of how a Shibui design would look in a particular fabric.

If Shibui succeeds – on an early December afternoon several potential clients came in and one left with business cards for three of her friends – Nill’s dream would be to have work enough to employ several local women.  “I imagine giving American citizens good work to do, to engage them in crafting again,” she mused. “I can just picture them working together in sewing circle chitchat.”

Nill, whose great-great grandfather was a judge in Barnstable Village, said that as a person who “spent every summer of my life” in the village she is sad that “the economic vitality of the village has disappeared over the last 25 years.” She recalled the time in her childhood when the village boasted two gas stations, a general store, and a meat market. “This,” she said as she gestured around the rooms at 3217 Main St., “was a curio shop.”

In her quest to market one-of-a-kind clothing made by a circle of skilled workers, Nill hopes to recapture some of the old Cape flavor that she feels has been lost to what she called “big-box stores and suburban development.” She acknowledges that the Cape has deep social problems. “My husband and I delivered meals on Thanksgiving and I was blown away. I had no idea” of the extent of the poverty here, she said.

Yet as people went about their business on Main Street, some stopping to examine a few dresses she’d hung on her studio’s porch, Nill observed, “I’m committed to this village. It’s about tradition, family, nature, beauty.”

And perhaps, if she gets her way, about a touch of shibui.

Yikes. Did I really eat that much stuffing?  Fortunately for my 61 year old body, the Shibui Designs dresses that I wear ALL the time are beautifully designed to camouflage that slightly more prominent tummy….  The gored skirts and the slightly wider relationship of waist to hip make for a relatively clean line on the dress skirts. Very flattering.  I feel a little forgiven for my over indulgence.

New fabrics are coming in!   What fun it is to indulge creative urges in finding a fabric that we love and then having it turned into a classic and beautiful style that FITS!  AND …the joy of knowing that no one else, anywhere, has that same dress in that same fabric!

What does it take for a woman in her 50’s, 60’s and 70’s to feel elegantly dressed?  When I look around at what’s available (that I can afford!) in department and small clothing stores, I’m horrified.  Almost everything is geared to women who must be 20’s and 30’s and sizes 4-8!   What happened to clothing that fits and flatters and is made to enhance our shapes?  What happened to the approach to clothing that our mothers enjoyed — dresses and skirts that swirl and are colorful and have elegant details.  It’s AWFUL trying to find something out there these days.

We’ve been busy…. in NYC looking for unusual and elegant fabrics. Have found some beauties which we’ve posted on the site in our swatch section. And, remember, you can Create Your Dress by mapping a fabric on a sketch of a style that interests you! Let us know what you think.

We’re MORE than excited and will have more information shortly! Stay tuned!!!

So…this was a bit of a surprise! I received two phone calls on Tuesday — one from Stephanie in Alabama; the other from Joanne in Chicago! Both referenced an article on MSNBC which I and my dream to open Shibui Designs were the lead and the conclusion! I scurried around and sure enough! Pretty exciting! Here’s the link if you’re interested: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33493781/ns/business-careers/from/ET (which you may need to copy and paste into your browser.) In any event, we are honored and it has, amongst other things, upped our commitment to keeping our blog up to date. So, stay tuned! and thanks for your interest and support.

We have just returned from a spectacular trip to New York to find new fabrics and to scout out some possible fall and winter ones.  We buy in small lots as each of our garments is custom designed as a one-off, and therefore we end up paying retail for the fabric. But because we can buy usually in 2 yard or less increments, sometimes we find amazing bolt ends and other gorgeous offerings. So be sure to check out our site! And, as always, we do link to two of our favorite on-line providers who have amazing selections that our clients can select for ordering and fabrication of our garments!  Do be in touch!!!!

We attended a fabric trade show at the Javits Center last week and came away wowed and thrilled by the assortment of gorgeous new fabrics available. And, most exciting to us, as we are a one-of-a-kind custom provider, we found a German manufacturer of washable, light weight wool prints who has no minimums, and we can therefore purchase in small lots. While in the city, we also visted our favorite fabric store, Mood Fabrics.  We returned to the studio with armloads of unusually elegant, beautifully colored and saturated fabrics for fall and winter. Some have been posted on the website; more are here in the studio, so just give us a call or shoot us an email.