Some dresses cannot go in a home washing machine. The label says dry clean only and that is the end of it — unless you ignore it and find out the hard way. A silk dress washed in a machine drum rarely comes back the same shape. Velvet flattens. Structured bodices lose their form. Some things cannot be undone.
We dry clean dresses at Angelz on Arlington Way, a short walk from Angel tube. Standard and medium-length dresses start from £16.99. Long dresses are £19.99. The price covers cleaning, finishing, and returning the dress on a hanger ready to wear.
Most dress fabrics come through the shop regularly — cotton, linen, polyester, crepe, chiffon, satin, velvet, and structured occasion wear with boning or internal shaping. Each fabric gets assessed before cleaning. A thin cotton sundress and a structured chiffon evening gown need very different handling, even though both are dresses.
Standard and medium-length dresses are £16.99. Long or floor-length dresses are £19.99. If a dress has obvious staining — particularly around the underarms, neckline, or hem — we treat those areas before the main clean.
Silk is one of the more demanding fabrics to clean. It is sensitive to heat, water spotting, and the wrong type of solvent. A silk dress that has been put through a home machine on a delicate cycle can come back with a completely different texture and a colour that has shifted noticeably. The damage is usually permanent.
We clean silk dresses as a regular part of what we do. Our silk cleaning service in Angel covers dresses, blouses, scarves, and other silk garments using a process that protects the weave, the lustre, and the colour. Silk dresses are £19.99.
Velvet is an unforgiving fabric. The pile — the raised surface that gives velvet its look and feel — can be crushed permanently by mechanical agitation or incorrect pressing. Once flattened, it rarely revives fully.
We clean velvet dresses with the pile direction in mind throughout the process. Pressing is done carefully to lift and preserve the pile rather than flatten it further. If the dress has velvet sections combined with other fabrics — a velvet bodice and a chiffon skirt, for example — we adjust the approach for each area.
Playsuits and jumpsuits often end up in the dry clean pile because home machine washing affects their shape, particularly around zips, structured waistbands, and fitted sections. We clean playsuits for £17.99 and jumpsuits for £24.99. The higher price for jumpsuits reflects the additional finishing work — they are larger garments with more surface area to press properly.
Evening dresses, cocktail dresses, and formal occasion wear often combine multiple fabrics and have detailing — sequins, beading, lace trim, embroidered panels — that makes home washing impractical. We handle these regularly.
Before any embellished dress goes into the cleaning process, we check the embellishments. Sequins and beads can be heat-sensitive or adhesive-fixed. We identify anything that needs protecting and adjust the process accordingly. The UK Fashion & Textile Association — the trade body for the UK fashion and textile industry — notes that embellishment handling is one of the most common areas where garment damage occurs during cleaning. We take it seriously.
For wedding dresses, which need a more involved assessment and process, we have a dedicated wedding dress cleaning service in Angel priced at £125.00.
It depends on how often it is worn and what for. A dress worn for a long evening out — dancing, eating, warm venues — picks up more than one worn briefly to a daytime event.
As a rough guide: clean occasion wear after every two or three wears, or after any event where you perspired significantly. Do not leave stains — particularly food or drink marks — for months before bringing the dress in. They set. They become harder to treat. And in some fabrics, they become permanent.
Between cleans, hang dresses properly on shaped hangers rather than folding them. Folds left in structured fabric for long periods can crease permanently.
Drop the dress off on Arlington Way. We check it with you — fabric, condition, any staining, any embellishments that need flagging. We give you a price and a collection date before you leave.
Most dresses are ready within two to three working days. If you need something back sooner — an event coming up, a last-minute occasion — let us know and we will see what is possible.
The dress comes back on a hanger, pressed and covered. Heavily embellished pieces come back with the embellishment intact and the fabric in good condition.
We clean a full range of garments. Our dry cleaning service in Angel covers suits, coats, knitwear, silk, leather, and specialist pieces including Burberry and Canada Goose. If you have a coat that needs cleaning at the same time as a dress, bring both in. We handle everything in one visit.
We are at 18 Arlington Way, Angel, EC1R 1UY — two minutes on foot from Angel tube on the Northern Line. Customers come in from Islington, Clerkenwell, Pentonville, Finsbury, and King’s Cross throughout the week.
No appointment needed. Walk in, drop off, collect when ready.
My dress says “dry clean only” — what does that mean exactly?
It means the fabric or construction cannot safely be washed in water. Dry cleaning uses a solvent rather than water, which cleans the garment without the shrinkage, colour loss, or structural damage that water can cause. If a label says dry clean only, that instruction is there for a reason.
Can you remove a red wine stain from a silk dress?
Often yes, but the sooner it comes in the better. Red wine treated within a few days of the stain is much more manageable than one that has set over weeks. Bring it in and we will assess it honestly before starting.
Can I bring in a dress that has been stored unworn for years?
Yes. Old staining, yellowing, and storage creases are all things we deal with regularly. The result depends on the fabric and how long the marks have been present, but in most cases we can make a significant improvement.
Do you press the dress after cleaning?
Yes. Pressing is part of the service. The dress comes back finished and ready to wear, not damp and creased from the cleaning process.
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