| FASHION is an art that reflects life. Every now and again we hear the names of Nina Rici, Pierre Cardin, Givenchy, Versace etc. There fashion houses have a great impact on our hair styles, how we dress up, the way we put on make-up and even behave in this or that situation. Designers determine our choice of clothing every season.
There are several very important events in the fashion calendar known as fashion weeks. Fashion weeks are organized every season for fashion houses to demonstrate their latest collections in runway shows and for fashion conscious people to have a look at the latest trends. Most importantly, they exhibit the fashion industry what is in fashion and what is out of fashion for the season. The most significant fashion weeks are held in the fashion capitals, including Milan, London, New York and Paris where luxury clothes (also called haute couture) are displayed.
Haute Couture is a French word combination for expensive and fashionable clothes. Couture denotes dressmaking, sewing, or needlework, whereas haute denotes elegant. Haute couture garments are made for a specific client from high-quality, expensive fabrics and sewed by hand usually deploying time-consuming techniques. So, couture items are luxurious and chic.
Dependent on the haute couture fashion house and the garment, the cost of a couture item ranges from $10, 000 for a blouse to $40, 000 and often beyond that sum. The cost is so high due to service, work, an exclusive design and splendid materials of the highest quality.
Besides, every customer will receive a garment to fit them perfectly. It takes around 100-150 hours to make a handmade haute couture suit and up to 1000 hours for an embellished evening dress with thousands of beads sewn by hand. A couture house like Chanel, for instance, will have around 150 regular customers buying luxury garments, and a couture house like Dior will make approximately twenty couture wedding dresses per year.
Alongside clothes, well-renowned couture houses make exclusive luxurious accessories, including hats, buttons, belts, gems, shoes, handbags. Those who can afford luxury garments are glad to pay for exclusivity and the privacy offered by the system. |
