Aida at the Met

At last count your man Jeeves  has cleaned over 36,000 costumes for the Metropolitan Opera House. What an accomplishment.

And these aren’t everyday items.

The costumes at the Metropolitan Opera’s are the best-of-the-best. Their costume designers use only the finest fabrics and materials. Yards and yards of silk, miles of crinoline. You wouldn’t believe  how much padding is in some of the petticoats.

Garments are referred to as; mantua, frock, breeches and court jackets. The language of their wardrobe quickly transports one back in time.

Corsets are worn under gowns to pinch in a woman’s waist and  padded petticoats give  hips the required width. When all is said and done some of the gowns must weigh 30 pounds!

One of the most amazing things about the costumes at the Met is how well made they are. No detail is too small, including proper period buttons and embellishments.

The costume designers at the Met are truly magicians. My staff and I are transported to another place and time every time these costumes are brought to us for cleaning.

This week we are in ancient Egypt; we are cleaning Aida.

Thanks for listening, your man Jeeves.

American Ballet Theatre

On Saturday morning at 8:15 I got an emergency phone call from the head of wardrobe from the American Ballet Theatre. It seemed that the costumes that we were  dry cleaning for Monday were suddenly needed at Lincoln Center by 11:30 for an early curtain.

Thankfully my cellphone number is on all of my business cards from Cameo Cleaners of Gramercy Park. and the wardrobe supervisor just had to call me to solve the problem.

As the best dry cleaner in New York City, I give my clients my cell phone number in case of emergency. In the past 5 years since I have been doing this my clients do not abuse the privilege.

The previous phone call to my cell phone was from a young woman who missed our closing time and was frantic to get her bridesmaid dress for a wedding the next day.

Problem solved and another happy client because of a cell phone number printed on a business card. Imagine if all companies were this easy to deal with.

Thanks for listening. Jerry Pozniak

Every Friday I am going to post a “garment of the week” which I will comment about. This may entail the complexity of cleaning the piece, the lack of serviceability (cannot be cleaned as labeled), a difficult stain removal or a really well constructed garment.

For the first “garment of the week” we have a costume from the Metropolitan Opera House,  as we are in the process of cleaning the entire wardrobe from “The Damnation of Faust”.

This leather jacket worn by the principal male lead is a challenge because of the construction as well as the artificial aging added by the “paint shop”.

This garment was cleaned “by hand” by my head cleaning technician Michael White. The “aged” effect was well as the detailed construction did not allow us to use any other method.

We were able to remove the makeup from the collar as well as deodorize the jacket for the next performance with any harm to the aged detail or faux fur trim.

“Pure as the driven snow.”

“So white it almost glows.”

Owning white in your wardrobe can sometimes be a challenge. White does not hide stains and sometimes does not stay that way forever.

In nature the thread given from the silk worm is not florescent nor is the off-white cotton puff which becomes a crisp cotton top.

Garment makers coax, tease and eventually dye these fibers to become brilliantly white.  Dye, just like the indigo which makes blue jeans blue is used to make off white fibers white.

At the counter clients holding garments cleaned by lesser dry cleaning shops all complain of whites that are now gray. But how?

Other cleaners don’t keep their cleaning solution clean, it is reused until it as dark as a Cuba Libre. Imagine taking a bath in water that ten people have used before you. It’s an easy way to save money.

There is a reason why better quality dry cleaning costs more, your whites should stay, well, white.

Over time as your white garment reaches middle-age, you may notice that the brilliance has faded. The natural break down of the dyes used to make white, brilliant white is starting to occur.

Your white garment is just trying to go back to how it started, not brilliant any more, but older and maybe just a bit wiser. Like the person who wears it so well.

If your whites are coming back from your cleaner less than white, bring them to me. I will be able to help.

My shops are Jeeves of Belgravia and Cameo Cleaners in NYC and Arthur Copeland on LI.

Thanks for listening.

Like the “Invisible Man” some stains do start off invisible. When those words leave my lips at the front counter of my shops I have to consider what the client is thinking.

“Is this guy for real”, must go through my client’s heads. It sounds like a bad pick-up line. It is lonely at the front of Cameo Cleaners of Gramercy Park.

That big yellow stain, right there in the front of your blouse, the one that wasn’t there when you dropped your blouse off, yep, that is an invisible stain. Stuff like this makes you feel that you were “taken-to-the-cleaners”. (Does anyone know where that saying came from?)

Invisible stains do exist, they are real and they were not invented for the pleasure of your local dry cleaner. They are stains which oxidize, like when you bite an apple and 10 minutes later it is turns brown.

If you get a splash of white wine on your blouse or even a light sauce, the stain may not be visible when you take your blouse off.

Over time, especially when you put your clothes away for the season, these “invisible” stains will oxidize and turn yellow.

Sometimes the heat used in the dry cleaning process will accelerate the process though a great dry cleaner should be able to remove the yellowing if the oxidization isn’t too bad.

Your best bet is to never put away clothes for the season that have been worn. Always clean before you store and watch out for those “invisible stains”.

Thanks for listening.