SIMONE HILLER works from a small studio in Euskirchen, north of the Eifel, making clothes for ordinary weeks rather than occasions. The shop carries eight pieces: four dresses and four soft layers. There is an apricot button-front sweater dress, a black floral mini, a blue velour mini and a navy plaid skater, then a beige turtle lace, a brown shirred sleeve, a deep green ruched top and a pink V-neck with lace trim. Each layer was tested under each dress, and a piece only stayed in the edit if the two could be worn on the same day without the dress pulling at the chest.
Everything is washed once at thirty degrees before it is photographed, because a viscose that shrinks in the studio will shrink in a customer machine too, and the photograph should show the garment after that first wash. Colour is checked against a card afterwards and anything that moved more than a shade is re-dyed or dropped. Cuffs are stretched over a wrist and released, hems are levelled on a body rather than a table, and the lace trim is pulled gently at the seam to make sure it is stitched through rather than laid on the surface of the fabric.
Parcels are packed at the studio table in Euskirchen. The layers are folded flat in tissue and never hung, so a shoulder cannot grow in the wardrobe, and the dresses are folded along the bias with the hem supported by a board. The card inside carries the measurements that matter most: shoulder, chest, finished length and, for the layers, the gauge. If a customer asks whether a layer will sit under a dress, the answer is the two measurements side by side. Messages are answered by the person who packed the parcel, usually the same day. Nothing leaves the studio without a second look at the hem and the seam allowance, and a piece that is not right is unpacked, re-pressed and checked again before it goes out.
Sizing is the question that fills the inbox, so the studio keeps a fit note for every style: the chest and length of each size laid flat, the amount a knit will give after a day of wear, and the point at which a dress starts to pull across the back. If you are between sizes, send three measurements and the answer arrives with the size that matches the dress rather than the size on the label. Unworn pieces can come back within thirty days, and the fourteen-day statutory right of withdrawal is always there. A return is read before it is refunded, because a note about a sleeve that was too long is worth more than the parcel itself.
