Article DetailsA guide to the world of haute couture |
| Date Added: January 03, 2010 06:48:13 PM |
| Author: Theodore |
| Category: Shopping: Clothing |
| FASHION is an art that reflects life. Now and then we hear the names of Christian Lacroix, Pierre Cardin, Lanvin, Giorgio Armani etc. There designers influence our hair styles, how we dress up, the way we put on makeup and even our habits. Every season designers determine our choices of clothing. There are several very significant events in the fashion calendar called fashion weeks. Fashion weeks are organized each season for fashion designers to demonstrate their latest collections in runway shows and for customers to take a look at the latest fashions. Most importantly, they display the fashion industry what is in fashion and what is out of fashion for the season. The most impressive fashion weeks are held in the fashion capitals, such as Milan, London, New York and Paris where luxury clothes (also known as haute couture) are demonstrated. Haute Couture is a French term for expensive and fashionable clothes. Couture stands for dressmaking, sewing, or needlework, whereas haute stands for elegant. Haute couture items are made for a specific customer from high-quality, expensive fabrics and sewn by hand often using time-consuming techniques. So, couture items are luxurious and chic. Depending on the haute couture fashion house and the garment, the price of a couture item ranges from $10, 000 for a blouse to $40, 000 and often beyond that amount. The cost is so high due to service, work, exclusivity and premium-class fabrics of the highest quality. In addition, every customer will get a garment to fit them well. It takes approximately 100-150 hours to make a handmade suit and up to 1000 hours for an evening dress adorned with thousands of beads sewed by hand. A couture house like Chanel, for instance, will have around 150 regular customers buying couture garments, and a couture house like Dior will make approximately 20 couture wedding dresses per year. Apart from clothes, renowned couture houses make exclusive luxurious accessories, such as hats, buttons, belts, gems, footwear, handbags. Those who can afford luxury items, pay for exclusivity and the privacy guaranteed by the system. |
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