Selene Alterations & Custom Designs

Soon after getting a great deal on an oversized dress I soon realized what a risk and expense I would have to get the dress perfect. Following several other consultations I was at the end of my rope when I came to Selene. First, I greatly appreciated the realistic expectations that were stated. The price was reasonable and the work was exceptional. I was especially impressed by having two experienced tailors working together to decide the best approach. I still have complements about how stunning I looked on the big day, but the complements really go to Selene. Thank you for making me look and feel beautiful at our wedding!!!

My experience with Selene epitomizes the power of Unilocal to lead consumers to the best local businesses. I bought a dress for a wedding that I absolutely loved, but I bought it knowing there was a small rip in the lace back. I did not think this was a huge issue, until I took it to a few tailors who all told me there was nothing that could be done to fix the tear, and it would only continue to get bigger. They said the lace was made with a special machine and it could not be altered whatsoever.
Then, I found Selene on Unilocal,whose claim to fame seemed to be «fixing dresses that other tailors said were impossible to fix». I decided to give her a try. When I showed her the tear, she did not looked alarmed, and the wheels started turning on how she would fix it. Not only did she do the impossible in my eyes, but she returned the dress in a reasonable time frame and her price was much better than I was expected /​would have been willing to pay!
She made a lifetime customer — highly recommend!

My $ 97 wedding dress made the NYT Style section thanks to Selene’s expert work!
I bought a black wedding dress for $ 97 on eBay. I had no expectations that it would look as good as it did in the photo when it shipped from China, I’d budgeted in extensive alterations (I work in fashion and have a background in design so I knew what I was in for) I loved the basic structure and knew it could become something special in the right hands.
A good friend who has brought many formal dresses to Selene enthusiastically recommended her. We hit it off on Day 1 — I was 100% confident she would turn the dress into something I was happy with. She TOTALLY surpassed all of my expectations — I LOVED my dress.
What I didn’t expect is that it turned out SO well that it would end up on New York Times Styles:
When it counts — if it’s your wedding, if you’re a bridesmaid, if you’ve made an investment in a gown — I wouldn’t trust ANYONE else. She’s a miracle worker!

While she may do great work, she no longer does custom made clothing, only alterations on existing bridal gowns. Very disappointing.

Selene and her mother are absolutely amazing! I just picked up my wedding dress and I’m so pleased with the wonderful alterations they have done. My wedding is next Sunday and I am so relieved knowing my dress and shoes fit me perfectly. Selene definitely took her caring time to make everything I wanted come true. We had fun and I would definitely recommend her and definitely will be back to see her for future fittings and just to pass in and say hi. She is a loving lady who cares about the happiness of her clients. Love you Selene! THANK YOU

I received a dress that I had ordered online for a black tie wedding and desperately needed the straps to be shortened before heading to the wedding the next day. I was in a serious time crunch, but I knew that taking in the straps shouldn’t be too difficult. I called a couple of places and they quoted 6 – 8 days just to take in the straps from the back! That definitely wasn’t going to work with my timeline.
I called Selene and she asked me to head over and she’d do it in under an hour. I walked in, tried on the dress, and was on my way within 15 minutes! All it took was 15 minutes, and the dress fit perfectly.
This was definitely a minor alteration, but I couldn’t be happier with the service she provided me. This level of care and service is almost impossible to find, and I’m so thankful that I called her. I will definitely be recommending her to all of my friends in the city.

Selene has been an absolute pleasure to work with. She’s patient, attentive, and accommodating… never mind her attention to detail and ability to make subtle, but effective, style changes. She’s a skilled hand with the demeanor you would want to work with.
I had a wedding dress bought at a sample sale that was a size too small, and way too tall. A lot of lace detailing as well. The end result was great. It looked like MY dress and was comfortable enough for me to eat a lot during dinner.

I came here at my friend’s recommendation, and was not disappointed!
I brought my HUGE bridesmaid dress here to be altered. I had gone with the bride to a bridal shop in California, and had ordered the size that the shop recommended based on my measurements. The dress was then shipped to me in New York, and I was shocked at how huge it was when it arrived.
I brought it to Selene, and she worked her magic! The dress was about 2 – 3 sizes too big on me, and I was worried that it would end up looking weird /​obviously altered. There were no issues, and the dress looked great! I’ll definitely come back.

My wedding was back in June 2015, and I had the most amazing experience getting my wedding dress altered at Selene’s. Besides the fact that she is professional, sweet and makes the entire nerve wrecking experience reassuring and relaxing, she and her staff are very talented. I took my mermaid style dress which has a lot of crystals, beads, lace to a few other places and they all said they were not sure they could even alter my dress to make it smaller because of the complex details! Selene said it would be a long process, but that she was confident she could do it. The dress required about 2 sizes smaller in the chest, to be taken in, in the waist and hips, and needed a bustle with about three layers of skirts (one layer was tulle). To do this, the beading and lace had to be taken off, and then sewn back on, creating a long and labor intensive process.
At the beginning, I was terrified my strapless dress would never fit me properly and would potentially fall off, or that the boning inside the dress which was way too long for my torso would be sticking out creating a bulge in the middle. I also did not like the bustles that looked like fish tails which I saw on so many wedding dresses.
Selene altered the dress to fit me PERFECTLY (it looked as if it was sewn with my exact measurements), there was never a moment throughout my wedding that I felt the dress would fall off, and I had a magical day with my gorgeous dress with a european style bustle (made with a number of ribbons and ties). This entire alteration cost $ 750 which although is pricey, the amount of work it took justifies it (not to mention the shop is located in NYC so I can understand the maintenance costs to keep the shop open is much higher than other areas). If you are determined to actually have a dress at the end of the process that fits you beautifully and that looks like you actually want it to, and for it to be done by a professional who has seen EVERYTHING when it comes to alterations, I would definitely recommend Selenes!

Selene is a magical place :) my skirt for my wedding was about three ft longer than what it should have been. I had a very complicated skirt from Carol Hannah but the team of daughter and her mom didn’t hesitate to recreate the original look of the skirt after taking 3′ length ! These two are magicians :) I can’t thank them enough for making my wedding day even more special!

I was scheduled to have an appointment today with Selene. I live in BK so it was a little bit of a trek for me to go to her salon, especially carrying my dress in the hot weather. I arrived at the salon to find that it was closed– no notice or anything. Another customer who had also been waiting outside told me that Selene had an emergency so she wasn’t coming to the store today. Ugh hello?! Could she have at least told someone?! I called her and expressed my frustration. She apologized and told me she would be at the salon at 3 and asked if I could wait. Unfortunately no, I couldn’t. Sorry Selene but you lost a potential customer. Next time you should really communicate better with your customers.

Selene is the best! I priced out several options around the city and her prices were the fairest, but what was most impressive that her work. It’s perfection. My bridesmaid dress looked like it was made for me when she was done. She’s so very sweet and won’t steer you in a wrong direction. Very fast, too. Seriously, go here.

I had my bridal gown bustled –american style. It consisted of 6 pairs hooks and loops. Cost me 150 to have it done. After about an hour of dancing, one of the hook/​loops got undone so I had to ‘MacGyver’ it.
Three stars because it’s expensive, but services were prompt and easy!

I would highly recommend Selene — I brought my wedding dress in for alterations with just under one month to go until our wedding day. The work on this dress was great, it fit me like a glove. Thank you Selene for contributing to our most special day.

I came here with my wedding dress recently. They were so helpful, knowledgeable and efficient. They did a wonderful job altering the complicated lace top! They make you feel comfortable in their shop and really know what they’re doing. I highly recommend them!

I purchased a dress that was two sizes too large and I wanted it very form fitting and needed it done in 5 days. Selene did exactly what I asked and it looked amazing and fit perfectly. She made sure I was happy with the end result and was very accommodating throughout the whole process. I would definitely recommend her and will be back!

I had a dress that was a size too big, hidden seams, and way too long. She did a fabulous job… Not only does it fit great now, she finished the job in such short notice.

Selene and Georgia made my already dream wedding dress better than I could have imagined.
My dress had an all over beaded bodice with a flowy sheath bottom half. They ended up adding boning to the bodice so It can hold better.
My rehearsal dinner dress was also very nicely tailored and hemmed.
THANK YOU SELENE!

We go to the same tailor below my building in Gramercy for everything, so when I showed him my (non-​traditional backless Alice & Olivia) wedding dress a few months before the wedding and he said: «No problem! shouldn’t take more than a few days to alter» I thought I was being responsible by bringing it in 2 weeks before the big day. Wrong. I brought it in and received a call from him 30 minutes later that upon «deeper investigation» he wouldn’t be able to alter my dress AT ALL because the lace on the bottom was «too intricate.»
I tried not to freak out and meandered down the street to another tailor that had spent 30 years at Barneys and had a pretty decent rating on Unilocal who said, «no problem, we’ve got this.» Crisis averted. So you can imagine my horror when I went to pick the dress up THREE DAYS before the wedding and it looked awful. Seriously, un-​wearably awful.
When I finally called Selene’s I was hysterical. She calmed me down a bit and said to come in as soon as possible and not to worry. Oh okay. But I brought it in and basically like magic, she managed to fix everything and just in time for the wedding. I almost started crying tears of joy when I tried it on.
So. Long story short, she saved my wedding. And if you’re looking for someone to alter anything — Selene’s is the best :)

I am so devastatingly disappointed with Selene Alterations. I am a bridesmaid for the fourth time, this time in my only sibling’s wedding. I decided to try somewhere new in my neighborhood, because I usually go to a place that really isn’t too great, but that I’ve never had an serious concerns with. I read rave reviews about Selene and it was conveniently located in my neighborhood, so I gave it a shot.
The women in the shop were very sweet and helpful. The dress is a sweetheart neckline, so I asked them to make it a tad tighter so it wouldn’t fall down. Upon picking up my dress the following week, I had a doctor’s appointment immediately following so could not try it on in the store. Upon trying it on the next day, it was so tight that I actually could almost not zipper it all the way, and it is so uncomfortable that I can not breathe. It’s fine, girls are used to being uncomfortable, but my fiancé then noticed that there were stains ALL OVER it. This dress has NEVER been worn. With the wedding being 3 days away, we ran to the cleaners, who could not get it out. I am so far beyond upset and will absolutely never be returning here. Please save yourself the heartache of hundreds of dollars spent on a dress that was only to be ruined.