Robert Berry Design

I was on a mission to find the right wedding dress. After flipping through magazines and checking out wedding boutiques, I quickly learned what I didn’t want in a wedding dress. However, I needed help finding something that made me look and feel elegant. Here’s the clincher, I also wanted a dress that flattered my full figure and allowed me to move comfortably and dance with my husband.
While in the neighborhood, I passed by Robert Berry Design and was awestruck by his window display. I decided to venture in and ended up having a conversation with Robert. I shared with him my predicament about finding «the dress». He spent time talking with me about the various types of styles that I could consider when shopping for a dress. He really listened to what I had to say and came up with a design that suited my taste.
I had never had a customized dress made before and this was a new experience. Throughout the entire process of designing, fitting, and picking up my dress, Robert put me at ease. His work and attention to detail not only made me look good but feel good – starting from the moment I put on the dress on to when I boogied on the dance floor with my husband.

i wish i did not have to write this review, but having had an especially bad experience, i want to be as public about it as i can be, in the hope of saving someone else the frustration, disappointment, and cost i endured.
visiting SF from LA, i wandered into robert’s shop, drawn in by a great-​looking dress in the window. inside, even more appealed. i tried on a one-​shoulder black silk dress, which my guy and i pretty much loved. robert showed us dozens of swatches of possible colors, including white. marrying soon, i wasn’t necessarily looking for a wedding dress — in SF, after all — but here’s what convinced us to order a custom made version of this dress for our wedding: robert said he’d made it tons of times, would take detailed measurements and i would need to return only once for a fitting. very much taken with the design, we factored the cost of a return trip to SF into the cost of the dress, trusting in robert’s professionalism and integrity, and we ordered the dress, paying in full.
you can tell this isn’t going to go well, can’t you?
when i returned to SF for the fitting, expecting minor adjustments might be required, i was astounded to try on a wildly ill-​fitting dress. cut way too wide across the bust; armholes gaping; seriously torquing in the torso; nothing but the length was right. robert said he’d have to consult with his pattern maker to figure out the required corrections, and another fitting was needed. what could i do? i would need to book another trip to SF — paying premium airfares and rental car rates, as i was no longer able to plan in advance. my wedding was now less than 3 weeks away.
still believing robert could do this, i spent another $ 500 on airfare and a car, and returned for my second fitting. horrified, i looked at the dress. to fix the gaping across the front, they’d inserted stay tape: instead of fixing the problem, it created serious new problems, as the tape caused the silk to pucker. while the torquing was improved, it was still very much present. robert studied and studied the poor fit, not knowing what to do. finally, he decided we should drive across town to show the dress in person to flavia, his pattern maker.
once she saw the dress on me, she was clearly aghast. she came up with one idea to fix it, then another. finally, they decided they would use boning to try to correct the sagging, gaping, puckering, and torquing. she also pointed out some mistakes the sewer had made in the armhole — which flavia characterized as the expedient fix, rather than the right way to do things — which also needed reworking. when flavia referred to the need for me to return for another fitting, robert tried to hush her — clearly not wanting to admit how serious the problems were, and not wanting to acknowledge having, once again, failed to produce the perfectly fitting, custom tailored dress he promised when we’d ordered it, weeks and weeks earlier.
so, after another $ 500 in unanticipated travel expenses, i returned to SF for a third fitting. while the dress basically fit, it puckered all along the front diagonal, fabric buckled at the shoulder, and some torquing remained at the torso. we had, by this point, spent nearly $ 2000 on this dress, and the fit was not worth $ 20. this is what robert said:
— we’ve made the dress 3 times, now, and there’s no fabric left to fix it.
— the sewer worked for 3 hours just to get it to this level.
— this is as good as it’s going to get.
i was 10 days from my wedding.
if my name was on the label, i would make the dress 10 times — 100 times — as many times as it took to make it fit properly. but robert clearly does not have that sense of pride, responsibility, or integrity. there was nothing for me to do but get dressed, return home, and find a new dress in which to get married.
i can not quantify the stress, anxiety, and uncertainty this episode with robert brought into my life — particularly at a time when i wanted to be nothing but happy and excited. i am so sad and disappointed about it all — and in robert, especially.
if you go into his shop and can buy a dress off the rack, fine. enjoy it. he uses some great fabrics and has some great designs. BUT, if you are considering having a dress made for you, STAY AWAY FROM ROBERT BERRY DESIGNS. robert simply does not have the technical skills in understanding fit or fabric.

If you’re like me and everything you own is black, and every time you step in a store you vow to buy color, but it’s just not «the right color»…go see Robert!
It’s not just the color, EVERYTHING is fantastic! I love Robert as much as his clothes and every time I wear one of his pieces, I’m almost embarrassed to the number of compliments I get (okay, not really). I almost don’t want to anyone to know my secret source, but I guess I have to share his fabulous clothes with everyone else.
Robert makes, designer clothes at such reasonable prices, it’s an investment worth making! One other business and Robert Berry is the ONLY reason I joined Unilocal!If they aren’t worth 5 stars, I’m not backing them! :-)

I haven’t been able to afford anything here yet… But my god, I wish I had a few thousand to spend on this Academy of Art alum’s pieces.
The store is basically a small room to show samples — he can make dresses and jackets to order/​tailor with whatever colors you like.
His mom is a real sweetheart as well. You can tell she’s super proud of him, with good reason!

I was looking for a non-​wedding dress and tripped upon Robert Berry Design. It was a total fluke. We were going ring shopping in the neighborhood and got a parking spot right in front of Robert’s cute little shop.
The beautiful bright colors of his clothes first caught my eye and then the beautiful designs made me fall in love with his style. I thought in the back of my mind, I want something from this great designer and I don’t care how much it is gonna cost me.
A couple of months later an elopement turned into a small wedding and now I had to get a wedding dress in two months. Robert’s shop came into mind but he’s only open on the weekend. In the meantime I looked at the other boutiques on Union and had a hard time finding a simple but elegant non-​wedding dress. To add to my frustration it was October and I was looking for a white dress. No luck.
Finally the weekend came around and my two gay boys from Vancouver were in town to help me find the non-​wedding dress. I picked the simple jersey Georgia O’Keefe inspired below the knee dress. Perfect for a Hawaii wedding. It took me 5 minutes and my boys nod of approval to decide on the dress. It was a little pricey at $ 650, but it was my non-​wedding wedding dress. I could splurge.
As I’m getting ready to pay I see the most gorgeous full length black and white dress. For fun the boys tell me to try and it on and I fell in love all over again. This was the dress and for a couple hundred dollards more $ 850, it would be mine.
Robert did a couple of alternations on it and I got so many compliments. It was a gorgeous dress and it made me feel gorgeous.
Go here if you want something very special. Robert is more than willing to help you out. He’s such a great guy and oh so gorgeous! What a hottie. I was a little afraid of going in — maybe it’s too expensive maybe it would be too frou frou. Robert is so down to earth — he is as wonderful as his designs.