It was just a little over a week ago that we first saw the dress that Mondo Guerra designed for the Project Runway All Stars Nanette Lepore challenge, but the magic of TV isn't fooling anyone. It took the creative team at Nanette Lepore an epic four months to produce his winning "tincan with a string" multi-print frock for fans nationwide, and we've chronicled every step of the way.
We've watched Mondo Guerra's winning Project Runway All Stars dress go from a pattern to a sample on a fit model to a garment that has been graded and cut for all sizes to one that has been diligently sewn a thousand times over.
But now, the last piece of the puzzle.
Nanette Lepore's production development manager Chris Stoia is back to fill us in on the final nips and tucks of the process.
"When the main sewing is finished, the garments get labels sewn in along with bar codes, stickers, and hang tags," Stoia says of the extra-special Project Runway label design.
"Then, someone from the factory rolls the racks of clothing down the street to our warehouse," says Stoia. "Proximity of the design offices, grader, and marker as well as the cutting room, sewing factory, and warehouse is what makes all this so efficient and work so well! And we do it all in New York City's garment district.
"The warehouse pulls orders by stores to assure the right sizes and quantities," he adds. "Then, they pack it up to be shipped out."
"Because we got these dresses out to our stores so quickly and had such a great response, we are able to turn another round of garments in only about four weeks," says Stoia. "That's one of the main advantages to manufacturing in New York. We can respond far more quickly to the customers' needs than any company producing overseas ever could."
The Making of a Dress Giveaway!
The silk dress is already sold out at nanettelepore.com, for $298, but fear not! You can still get your hands on Mondo's dress — for free! — in our Twitter "The Making of a Dress" giveaway!
But, you only have a few hours left! To enter to win, just follow @nanettelepore and @marieclaire on Twitter and send a tweet with the hashtag #MondosDress by today at 12 p.m. EST. The winner will be announced soon after!