Haute Couture Clients 2008

[nyc_art_style]

well it looks like her buying days are numbered....

[seanutbutter]

Originally Posted by cygnenoir

The couture section at Nordtrom is not couture Couture, if you know what I mean. It's high-end designer. $5000 Donna Karan Signature rather than French Haute Couture.

I've actually seen some Christian Dior couture pieces at that particular Nordstrom's, though not in recent months. Maybe they've stopped carrying couture, because I visited just this past week and didn't find any.

Sorry for being off topic; I just wanted to say that.

[kiddokiddo]

^Couture is absolute made-to-measure..I find that hard to believe that we could find it in any department store other than the house's private showroom...perhaps they were simplified versions or perhaps on loan for display purpose?

[MissMagAddict]

^thank you kiddokiddo

couture is most definitely not sold in department stores

[augustus]

Perhaps it was on display? I have seen Dior HC on display in a department store in Taiwan....

[borjacapella]

Originally Posted by nyc_art_style

well it looks like her buying days are numbered....

that is kind of mean! she is not even that old (70) however, as you can see in the picture, she claims she would rather wear nothing but couture, than undergo plastic surgery as other rich women would do.

[liashoes]

Here is an edited version of a NYT interview ( I cut out all the stuff which was not about couture clients or possible couture clients, but about couture itself). It's interesting how he speaks about working women raised on RTW who have made a lot of their own money and can "acquire appreciation for couture." I'm not sure that is true. You either like it or you don't, IMHO.

June 17, 2007, 1:08 pm Q & A: Alber Elbaz of Lanvin

By Cathy Horyn

Alber Elbaz in 2005. (Warren du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones for The New York Times)
Q: But do you think Chanel and Valentino need to have haute couture once Lagerfeld and Valentino decide to retire?
A: I’m going to contradict myself big time. I had lunch recently with the president of DeBeers and I asked him who his competitors were. He said, “Art.” When you have a million dollars in your bank account ready to be burned, you have a choice today to buy a diamond ring or a painting. I see also another thing happening in the world. I read these stories in financial newspapers that say a business was sold for $3 billion. Wow! Or someone’s salary is $75 million. Doing what? Reading some lines? [He laughed.] I’m dying here. We’re working our asses off, and we don’t even get close to one eighth of an eighth. So, I’m saying that maybe now with all this big money there’s going to be a new couture client.
Q: Yes, but people said that in the 90s with the high-tech explosion. But I don’t see folks from Microsoft or Google at couture. They’re into art, maybe.
A: Yes, but when they have the art in the house, next they want the dress. To go next to the swimming pool.
Q: Nan Kempner may have been ga-ga for couture, but she also appreciated the craft and fit. Can a generation raised in casual clothes suddenly acquire this appreciation?
A: I believe they will. They’re not dumb people. They’ve made a lot of money. These are also the kind of people who made their money themselves. And they’re new women with a new lifestyle. They’re working women. They’re something more pragmatic about their needs.

[liashoes]

Another Article I edited to only include info about clients or possible clients from the NYT . The photo is I believe the Haute Couture collector Diane Wolf mentioned in the article. (photo from Socialite.com.) I believe she just passed away January 10, 2008.
Review/Fashion; The Liberated Woman, Through the Prism of Couture


By GINIA BELLAFANTE
Published: January 29, 2002

Jean Paul Gaultier, who began turning out haute couture five years ago with 12 clients. ''I decided that instead of buying an apartment, I'd invest in couture,'' Mr. Gaultier said in his atelier a few days ago. It was a judicious decision. Some clients who for years spent considerable sums at Saint Laurent are now turning their attention to Mr. Gaultier. Diane Wolf, for example, a couture client for 25 years, said that she was struck by the beauty of Mr. Gaultier's latest clothes. ''I had to say to myself 'Diane, calm down,' '' Ms. Wolf said.

[LUXXX]

Is everything one of a kind in a couture collection...like can two people order the same dress...or is it only made for one women once she purchases it?

[liashoes]

^^^As I understand it, it is made for the buyer/wearer. If this person wants a piece she sees on the runway, she can then have it changed to fit her needs. Adding sleeves, dropping the waist---these are examples of changes this person can request be made.

[UNiQFashionista]

the dress i ordered from elie saab HC ended up being on alot of other ppl after me, including some celebs...which is wrong i think..
i think HC should be made to order- and as liashoes said, tailored to every person

[LUXXX]

Originally Posted by UNiQFashionista

the dress i ordered from elie saab HC ended up being on alot of other ppl after me, including some celebs...which is wrong i think..
i think HC should be made to order- and as liashoes said, tailored to every person

yeah that kind of cheapens it...if you're buying couture it should be something one of kind and special for YOU, not a lot of other people.

In that documentary on youtube it says that if a woman can fit the sample sizes off the runway they get the clothes for 30% off...but I'm guessing most women don't take the outfits off the runway as they appear...they make their own changes. So I guess some make changes to make it more unique and some just keep it the way it is.

[Caffeine]

Susan Gutfreund, wife of "King of Wall Street" John Gutfreund!!!! Man I'm so excited. John Gutfreund is legendary and gee I wish I could work under him...or become as successful one day.

[eternitygoddess]

^Well the problem with one-of-a-kind is, how are the designers going to decide which women gets the dress?

[Caffeine]

Originally Posted by LUXXX

yeah that kind of cheapens it...if you're buying couture it should be something one of kind and special for YOU, not a lot of other people.

In that documentary on youtube it says that if a woman can fit the sample sizes off the runway they get the clothes for 30% off...but I'm guessing most women don't take the outfits off the runway as they appear...they make their own changes. So I guess some make changes to make it more unique and some just keep it the way it is.

I was just joking to my husband that I should go because I can get 30% discount.