My Morning at Melange: Custom Luxury Style

There was a time when women’s clothing was custom tailored for YOUR body type, YOUR size. Imagine the confidence that came from wearing something made just for your proportions and style.

I was invited by Chandan to visit her Palo Alto boutique and learn about Melange Custom Luxury: a program designed to create perfectly proportioned collections for women of all sizes to express their own unique style with confidence. Your style, Your size. You read that right, at Melange Style, Chandan can create and customize any style from her collection, to fit YOUR unique body type. How fabulous is that?

We settled on a morning to meet last March, one week before the first Pandemic lockdown. As we casually sipped our Starbucks while previewing her latest line, I never imagined how businesses would shelter, or that it would be a full year, before I’d be sharing my experience from that morning; early March 2020.

Shop Off the Rack (online and in-store)

Before I dive into my morning of learning all about the Melange Custom Luxury Program, I want to share an example of the type of piece you can buy off the rack, OR have the option to customize to your liking. I chose not to customize this top, because I loved it (and it fit) as-is.

The Aristea Embroidered Top is a classic, timeless top that has hand embroidery of over 88 hours. And like all of Chandan Allen’s designs, this piece was created in California and hand crafted in her family run factory in Mumbai, India. See how I styled and have been wearing the Aristea top in this month’s March Stylish Monday Round-Up (HERE).

Melange Custom Luxury

After selecting the Aristea Top, Chandan asked me to select a piece that spoke to me, one that we could then customize. Her pieces are gorgeous, so you can imagine it took some time for me to decide which piece I wanted to alter.

I finally settled on the Rivoli dress, a dress designed for women, like me, who like transitioning from day wear to happy hour.

This elegant dress was designed with a high collar, is made in a sheer fabric, fully lined, framed by shirred full length sleeves and encased elastic.

As beautiful as it is, I’m not comfortable with a high collar, and I feel more relaxed with a V neck silhouette. So Chandan suggested the dress to be customized in a V Neck.

Delicately smocked on the hips, for a flattering fit along with ruffled tiers, this dress is feminine and elegant.

However, being that I am 5’7″, I shared with Chandan that I preferred knee length rather than a shorter length, so she increased the length to my desired fit.

What Does my Customized Dress Look Like?

I invite you to stop by next week for an all new What I Wore post here on AskSuzanneBell.com, and see how I style her!

And in the meantime, if you have thoughts or ideas on how you’d style the Rivoli dress, drop me a line in the comments below, I’d love to hear your ideas!

What Can be Customized?

Customization is only currently offered at Chandan’s Palo Alto boutique, but I hear that online customization is on the horizon.

Customization can be done on any of the styles from the collection
Size customization, where a style is made as per the users body measurements.
Style customization, which is what I opted for, where Chandan changed the neckline to a V Neck from a high collar neck. She can change any features on a style including neck, sleeves, length etc.
Lead time for custom pieces from order to delivery are 2-3 weeks, depending on the embroidery.

About Chandan Allen

Growing up in India, Chandan was introduced to a rich heritage of textiles, handmade crafts, spirituality, yoga, and vegetarianism. She studied at Central Saint Martin, London, UK, where Chandan honed her skills and learned the art of European fashion.

Chandan’s obsession of quality and attention to detail led to establishing her own manufacturing in India, where she can oversee production and manufacturing of all her pieces.

(PRESS HERE) to learn more about Melange, and browse all of Chandan’s beautiful designs.