Most Overpriced Designer? #1

[aldn]

the sad part about balmain costing so much is that these items are only going to be relevant a few seasons

 

[mikeijames]

boy do i miss 2007...

anyone remember this tweed balenciaga jacket? it carried a $39,875 price tag two years ago.

(style.com);

how about this dolce number? it retailed at $61,000 (without the belt, even).

(vogue.co.uk);

or this lovely nina ricci number that sold for a crisp $27,990

(style.com);

back in this year: lovely chanel jacket on the racks right now for $7,200 (staggering when you consider they own most of the couture shops that make this stuff).

(harpersbazaar.com);

speaking of sequins, this alberta ferretti number goes for $9,420.

(outnet.com);

and what's funny about most of these other items is that they didn't actually sell at these prices -- at the peak of the market even -- where certain brands charge astronomical amounts -- in the great recession no less -- and sell out at bergdorf goodman. capitalism at work, i guess...

 

[KhaoticKharma]

Okay, as much as I adore Balmain, I must concede- those prices are obscene. I don't even know why they would need to be so expensive!

I feel like everything Olivier Thesykens touches is four figures or more...

 

[rip_ian curtis]

Okay I have to take part. In my opinion those photos posted by mikeijames do not belong in this thread. Sure, they are extremely high prices for clothes, but by looking at the photos, one can see where the price comes from, and it's understandable. Just like the burberry feather dresses a few pages back; rare expensive materials that are hard to sew and require different technology&artisans=high price. We should remember what are the factors of the price, and also how the prices get multiply in retail.

But, the photos and explanations posted by Alejandro are what this thread is about. Cheap materials(like lycra, no matter how good it is and how sequined it is) can never justify prices like that. I just dug out an old magazine where there's a picture of the black Balmain cocktail dress with metal fabric at the waist(one worn by Carine and Kate Hudson), and the price is $16,100. Now there's no way the production costs were that high for it! Of course there are many other overpriced labels, but I think people get fooled by Balmain also because the clothes aren't durable in terms of style, and because most of the garments don't require difficult pattern making etc.

 

[Deleted member 7575]

20,000 gets you A LOT more at Nina Ricci than it does at Balmain.

And are you sure about that Balenciaga jacket? A friend of mine picked one up and she paid less than $15,000. Maybe they had two versions?

 

[mikeijames]

^the price comes from the september issue of vogue (2007).

 

[mikeijames]

In my opinion those photos posted by mikeijames do not belong in this thread.

i appreciate your opinion....

i just don't think that most ready-to-wear houses "justify" their pricing solely based on the materials and production. the pieces i listed didn't come from a couture collection where they spent weeks working on one garment using the most expensive techniques/materials in the world. fashion is a business like any other that prices their stuff based on what the market will bear.

you will never convince me that the house of balenciaga put more thought into that one tweed jacket than chanel couture did. i don't believe that dolce and gabbana truly put more work nor expensive materials into that gown than houses like dior couture or elie saab couture. that's why i believe these pieces belong.

 

[softgrey]

anything that i want but cannot afford is overpriced in my opinion...


i'd like lanvin to be cheaper because i want all of it!!!...


but in general...
right now i would have to agree about balmain...
the cheap knockoffs are even cooler imo than the designer version...
it's not very rock and roll to spend that much money on that kind of stuff...
DIY is WAY more rock and roll imo...and much cooler...

B)

 

[Squizree]

^ Lol I agree about Lanvin, their menswear is flipping expesnive.

 

[Spike413]

i appreciate your opinion....

i just don't think that most ready-to-wear houses "justify" their pricing solely based on the materials and production. the pieces i listed didn't come from a couture collection where they spent weeks working on one garment using the most expensive techniques/materials in the world. fashion is a business like any other that prices their stuff based on what the market will bear.

you will never convince me that the house of balenciaga put more thought into that one tweed jacket than chanel couture did. i don't believe that dolce and gabbana truly put more work nor expensive materials into that gown than houses like dior couture or elie saab couture. that's why i believe these pieces belong.

Those pieces you displayed may not be couture in the strict Chambre Syndicale definition of the word, but what you seem to be forgetting or ignoring is that those pieces (save for the Ferretti, I can't speak for that one) are made using couture handwork. I'm almost certain that those Dolce dresses were embroidered by the same ateliers that work on the couture (Lesage most likely since they did those multicolor dresses from S/S 07). That Nina Ricci gown was probably made mostly, if not entirely, by hand in house. Let's not forget that Theyskens helped invent the concept of demi-couture, using couture workmanship on RTW.

I mean, to say that those prices are so high simply because the designers can mark them up and someone in the world would be foolish enough to pay it is insane, especially considering that the dresses, at least, were made to order.

 

[FashionPower]

The most expensive dress I've ever heard about is this Valentino couture FW05 dress,Valentino said during an interview that the dress is double layered and it took more than 3 months to made it...and the price was 250.000 euro!
I can understand this is haute couture but the price is just crazy!

style

 

[Human B]

Yes Designer product is expensive.....but did you ever try to produce these products? Do you guys know how much work, time and afford goes into developing them? its mostly hand crafted, the materials are of very high end, they usually produce smaller quantities and so on…. all the above leads to the prices being that high...also in reality the average person is not their costumer and in order for them to keep a certain prestige as a designer label they have to keep it this way, other wise they will become a mainstream label. The absurd about all that is that as a designer line you DO NOT make money out of these products especially not from clothing, most of these lines are loosing money or being sponsored but bigger companies or the designers has to hold a designer position in a bigger company to support their lines, and if they are making any money its from licensing deals for accessories and fragrances. Off course there always exceptional who take advantage of the situation and just make up their own prices but for the most part they do not last.

 

[KarlBear]

I think even if something is very expensive, it doesn't mean it's overpriced.. for eg haute couture. But those balmain prices are ridicolous, and balmain is def overpriced...

 

[Chanelcouture09]

i totally understand HUMAN B's Point but at the same time it is insane

my list of designers would be . . . . : (as much as i love them)

Balmain

Balenciaga

Chanel

Burberry Prorsum (im thinking more of the dresses than coats ect ect)

and Dolce & Gabbana Main Line

after reading previous posts i didnt realized that some of it was priced so high and now im thinking what is it made from . . . diamonds lol
as much as we all drawl over our favorite designers the price's are still shocking

couture on the other hand i could totally justify the cost because its hand made and a one of a kind but ready to wear is easily buyable for any of us as long as we have the cash ofcourse , all anyone has to do is go down to chanel , dior , gucci ect ect and place an order and then its yours where as couture its a club for the mega rich and that look is yours and no one elses

if you look at what designers make in revenue most of their capital is made from cosmetics , cheaper lines (i.e. marc by marc jacobs , D&G , McQ by McQueen) and at a push Accessories because both cosmetics and accessories arent restricted with sizes
[edited] so why not make bigger sizes (but thats a whole other subject)

 

[mikeijames]

Those pieces you displayed may not be couture in the strict Chambre Syndicale definition of the word, but what you seem to be forgetting or ignoring is that those pieces (save for the Ferretti, I can't speak for that one) are made using couture handwork. I'm almost certain that those Dolce dresses were embroidered by the same ateliers that work on the couture (Lesage most likely since they did those multicolor dresses from S/S 07). That Nina Ricci gown was probably made mostly, if not entirely, by hand in house. Let's not forget that Theyskens helped invent the concept of demi-couture, using couture workmanship on RTW.

I mean, to say that those prices are so high simply because the designers can mark them up and someone in the world would be foolish enough to pay it is insane, especially considering that the dresses, at least, were made to order.

a couple of points: first, in the world of luxury, we do not deal with the typical rational consumer in the same way we would in other portions of the marketplace. for the conspicuous consumer -- which, let's be honest, comprises a large part of the fashion customer -- price indicates and triggers something aspirational in their mind. in harpers bazaar, they had an article some time back about these texas women who flew to new york twice a year to shop at carolina herrera: when the ladies picked up the dresses that cost a couple grand, they didn't bat an eye, when they looked at the price for a coordinating belt -- a mere $200 -- they thought something must be wrong with it and didn't buy it (i can concede that that behavior has modified itself with the recessionary pressures on the luxury market, but the point remains). further, the fashion industry, like any other, remains a very competitive field: one MUST take into account what others charge for similar items so that they don't leave money on the table with their customers.

with respect to the couture and demi-couture, we know that chanel owns many of these couture shops so the prices -- for the most part -- should display a modicum of stability. however,we all know prices vary wildly as we move from house to house often depending on whether they have a marquee designer or not.

let's take the other end of the market: this y-3 jacket hit the stores at $3865 (i could snap up a tom ford jacket for less) and these rick owens high-tops sell right now for $1300 (i mean, this gets into berluti pricing).

(sources: gilt.com and barneys.com)

 

[isa.b.elle.]

The vast majority are over priced. What we need is a thread that talks about designers that price their things decently.

..the problem is find them...

 

[Munz]

The first designer that came in mind when I read this thread is Balmain. In my eyes, the other designers are more or less the same.

 

[fashionista-ta]

Totally agree that Balmain's totally overpriced. I don't understand why?!

I have a theory (that I have kept quiet till now ) that there's a little gnome on either shoulder creating that tented effect. And gnomes do not come cheap

 

[fashionista-ta]

The vast majority are over priced. What we need is a thread that talks about designers that price their things decently.

I like that idea ... agree about Philip Lim (who btw is doing quite well right now with the pricing philosophy he's had all along), and I would add Dries to the list.

 

[Spike413]

a couple of points: first, in the world of luxury, we do not deal with the typical rational consumer in the same way we would in other portions of the marketplace. for the conspicuous consumer -- which, let's be honest, comprises a large part of the fashion customer -- price indicates and triggers something aspirational in their mind. in harpers bazaar, they had an article some time back about these texas women who flew to new york twice a year to shop at carolina herrera: when the ladies picked up the dresses that cost a couple grand, they didn't bat an eye, when they looked at the price for a coordinating belt -- a mere $200 -- they thought something must be wrong with it and didn't buy it (i can concede that that behavior has modified itself with the recessionary pressures on the luxury market, but the point remains). further, the fashion industry, like any other, remains a very competitive field: one MUST take into account what others charge for similar items so that they don't leave money on the table with their customers.

with respect to the couture and demi-couture, we know that chanel owns many of these couture shops so the prices -- for the most part -- should display a modicum of stability. however,we all know prices vary wildly as we move from house to house often depending on whether they have a marquee designer or not.

let's take the other end of the market: this y-3 jacket hit the stores at $3865 (i could snap up a tom ford jacket for less) and these rick owens high-tops sell right now for $1300 (i mean, this gets into berluti pricing).

(sources: gilt.com and barneys.com)

The images you chose to discuss were not standard ready to wear by any means. They're not a sequined party dress with shoulder pads or a pair of platform shoes. The implication that the prices for the garments you used as examples were so high simply because the designers could price them that high is completely unfair since all of those pieces, including the Ferretti, involved a good amount of painstaking and meticulous handwork. The Dolce, Nina Ricci, Chanel and Balenciaga all involve couture-level workmanship, whether it's on the surface or beneath it, and I just don't think it's correct to assume that those pieces cost as much as they did just because someone somewhere is rich enough to buy them without thinking twice about it. Something like that Nina Ricci gown is not the kind of thing that would appeal to someone interested in buying clothes that scream "look at how much I spent" because looking at it you would never guess that it cost as much as it did. That kind of piece wouldn't appeal to someone conspiculously trying to flaunt wealth through clothing, it would appeal to someone who has a real appreciation for and knowledge of fashion instead of "luxury".

To compare marking up a pair of shoes or a denim jacket to compete with other luxury brands with charging close to $30k for a hand sewn, likely hand dyed gown built with an intricate internal structure and made to order is ludicrous.