So what Happens to those Haute Couture Creations?

[gruhche]

I was just wondering. It is a known fact that most of the pieces in the couture shows do not get sold. Financially speaking, couture shows do not bring any profits, whatsoever. They do, of course, keep the magic alive and the show running.

We know they don´t end up in consignment shops. I also am pretty certain they´re not given away as gifts, since even celebrities have to "borrow" them, and socialites often "rent" them.

So does anyone know what happens to all the gradiose dresses, suits etc?

 

[thefunkykitten]

good question!

oooooo, *imagines a warehouse full of them...............*

 

[verkeerd]

they go into the archives

 

[gruhche]

What do you mean by archives? Some of them of course end up in museums, but that´s a very small percentage. Just think of all the dresses that are produced every season..

 

[The.Rock.Inc.]

Only approximately 500 people in this world can afford and wear couture clothes, as reported in a newspaper.
Maybe half of that 500 are socialites and celebs?
And yes, FIVE HUNDRED.

 

[gruhche]

I´ve read statistics like that. And it used to be a much smaller number. Besides, who´s to say that the people that can afford it actually go and buy them. It´s one thing to afford them, quite another to have plentiful of opportunities to wear them.. Extreme wealth and a booked-up social calendar do not necessarily come hand in hand. Many of the excessively rich are extremely private and choose not to flaunt their fortunes.

 

[BettinaBuffe]

they go into archives.

each piece is archived and stored by the house for future reference.

 

[Vain & Vapid]

I heard that they are for sale at a 30% reduction on "The Secret World of HC" documentary and for anyone whose read "Fashion Babylon" by Imogen Jones, she talks about how some very rich wives of middle eastern oil tycoons who love HC but whose countries don't allow them to dress that way buy the runway HC pieces just to own and for display since they can't wear them anyway. For anyone whose hasen't seen the documentary, I posted it here.

 

[miss_nyc]

According to WWD, sales are up.

There is a very long article in the Friday edition for those who have access called "No End to the Excess: Couture Houses Say The Party Plan Is On".

 

[TheElitist]

500 does come as a surprise, given that these days, you hear rich clients from Indonesia, Japan etc jetting to Paris to buy couture.

celebrities do not count most of the time as clothes are gifted to them as free advertisement.

but i do believe the number will rise quickly what with the nouveau rich multiplying like rabbits and the new expansion of ultra-wealthy markets like Russia and China. the Russians especially, tend to be so rich that they simply snap up entire collections at one swoop.

not to forget, Dior just released couture figures and profits were up by 35% in 2007. couture truly is making a big comeback, and i love it.

 

[softgrey]

According to WWD, sales are up.

There is a very long article in the Friday edition for those who have access called "No End to the Excess: Couture Houses Say The Party Plan Is On".

maybe you could post some excerpts?...
thanks!

 

[~Audrey~]

like said before around 500 ppl can afford couture clothes...very small percentage of them are celebs ... at least 0 %. Those are the really really really rich ppl of the world, not earning their money with making films or being famous. those are very private ppl, buying around 3-5 peaces a year. the rest is going into archives, kept for showing an designer's creativity, his art maybe his life.
the rest ... couture is made for keeping fahsion alive, maybe also to sell it and to make some marketing ...

 

[gruhche]

I heard that they are for sale at a 30% reduction on "The Secret World of HC" documentary and for anyone whose read "Fashion Babylon" by Imogen Jones, she talks about how some very rich wives of middle eastern oil tycoons who love HC but whose countries don't allow them to dress that way buy the runway HC pieces just to own and for display since they can't wear them anyway. For anyone whose hasen't seen the documentary, I posted it here.

Thank you for the link, this documentary was a pleasure to watch.

 

[gruhche]

i guess to answer my own questions, it doesn´t really matter where they store the unsold pieces. The only way to have even a remote access to clothes like this is to actually be able to afford them. It would be such a great thing, to do within a lifetime, having the pleasure of feeling the impeccable fit and the superb fabric on your skin.

 

[Ghost]

i still feel that haute couture is overly exaggerated....

 

[liberty33r1b]

i just hope that as many pieces as possible find their way into museums for everyone to view! that would be only fair...

 

[~Audrey~]

@ghost

haute couture is imo the last bit of real fahsion you can find, and the last fashion which wasn't made - at least since 2004 or smth like this - commercial. now even haute couture becomes more unspectacular. but some years ago it was still a way to make fashion art, and that's what fashion really is.
too bad more and more designers are forced to design more commercial just because ppl like us are saying "uff, you coudln't wear this anywhere" ... so they make it the way you could where it everywhere and that's make the fashion which ones was art to normal fashion.

 

[Sam Clemens]

My professor did the archiving for Calvin Klein for years after she graduated FIT. She said what doesn't get stored is usually purchased, lent out, gifted, or sold (sometimes with some sample sales etc.) It really depends on the piece itself I think.

Haute Couture may seem overrated but I also believe that it is truly the birthing ground for new ideas in fashion, true it doesn't make money enough to support itself but thats what ready to wear lines, perfume, and bags come in. Even if you can't afford to wear it or there just isn't an appropriate place to wear it period, that's why it's art. It's not about functionality or affordability, it's about creation.

 

[ilaughead]

^The problem is that there aren't very many new ideas injected into fashion via haute couture. Everything new and exciting is RTW now, for the most part.

 

[gruhche]

^The problem is that there aren't very many new ideas injected into fashion via haute couture. Everything new and exciting is RTW now, for the most part.

In a way this is true, not many of today´s visionaires have the means to throw a show worth half a million (in whichever currency) so they try and translate their ideas on a budget, thus why what´s truly different is often to be found in the collections of up and coming designers.

However, MOST designer, do not try to be that innovative. MOST designers, try to follow their passion, flourish in their chosen field AND be able to pay the bills. So most of them play the game, they commercialize and try to sell the industrial dream - hence the famous Miranda Priesley "spyral" speach I would not need to quote, since we are all quite familiar with it.

And then of course, there is the other thing.. that everything worth wearing has already been invented. That for the last forty or so years and for all to come, it will be a question of RE-invention. And that everything that is, in deed, invented, is rather a "forced push" that does not come off as something natural, thus has absolutely no chance to persevere and remain.