The Secret World of Haute Couture

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If haute couture is really a secret, why do we know about it? Well, some say that there are many things that fashion observers do not know. Many artefacts are brought to my attention through a documentary I watched. An elite fashion secret society has 200 members of only wealthy women from all over the world, who have proved the concept of fashion being a form of art. This is because they are willing to spend an average of $30,000- $40,000 on a couture that would be worn once or twice in their lifetime. 

Apparently, the money spent is worth it because, skilful seamstress spends an average of 150 hours on a couture, that is delicately hand stitched and embroidered on the finest piece of fabric money can buy. From this fact alone I can say that fashion houses are deliberately singling out middle- and lower-class people, who cannot afford the couture. This will be in the hope of making more money than selling to average people. I believe that this is wrong, and fashion should be used to unite one another. There is a contradictory when a woman said that "the people who buy couture are private established, it has nothing to do with status symbol it is more a habit". if that is so why do not wealthy women shop at highstreets shop? 

Buying a couture becomes addictive the moment you put it on and cannot refrain from wanting to buy more. It's like selling yourself to the devil that you cannot longer get out from the bondage.  This is the impression I got from the women as the idolise especially male fashion designers, as their God. They will go over and beyond to get their hands on a couture by flying couture from Paris to their destination along with seamstress to fit their custom-made couture. This will be a simpler and form fitting to their body shape. 

The women must re- evaluate their sizes every time because, the thinner they are the more likely they are to fit into the clothes that are made for the models, at a 30% discount. If your normal size the couture must be custom made at the full price. Another shocking revelation is that Karl Lagerfeld lost six stones, to fit into the fashion industry size standard. One woman in the documentary mentioned that "make one to forget dinner and lose ten pounds". This is a clear example of body shaming, as she is trying to say that being a plus size is not beautiful and only slim women are deemed to wear couture. 

Moreover, “couture is timeless on like other clothes”. This shows that couture does not go out of style, and the quality materials used to construct it does not get worn out. if this is so, then I will ask the women to  re-wear couture than donating it to the museums when they pass away.  The only way to justify the women obsession for couture is their love and passion for textiles and how they used to read magazines and get fascinated with the catwalk looks when they were younger. This motivated the women to acquire wealth from persistent hard work. 

Furthermore, some of the women don’t have children and have busy schedules organising charity events to help people, around the world. Some of the women inherited wealth from their husband and don’t have anything going on for themselves. It is not my place to judge people, but some would say that the women don’t have unconditional love and bond a mother and child share. These emotions are transferred to the love of couture, and it is like the women are trying to fill a gap in their lives.

In my opinion, I believe that the documentary communicates the importance of wealthy women, in a stereotypical form of buying clothes and not using their money for anything important, and indicates an occult way of living of complying with the rules and regulations of the elite fashion group, of dressing in couture for the rest of their wealthy lives. I believe this is very negative way of living, as you will remain stagnant in fashion and as a person. You will be more narrow minded as you will not accept new rules and beliefs of 21st century.

 

References:

The documentary

The secret World of Haute Couture(2019) BBC4, day March, 22:30.

The Images in blog entry

Design Scene, DS. (2017) Chanel Fall Winter 2017.18 Haute Couture Collection. Available at: https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=L1XK4m%2fj&id=DDF4CC333D9E774A6AB883CB696958A87630BE9E&thid=OIP.L1XK4m_jP69uWL1BsORncgHaK7&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2fth.bing.com%2fth%2fid%2fR2f55cae26fe33faf6e58bd41b0e46772%3frik%3dnr4wdqhYaWnLgw%26riu%3dhttp%253a%252f%252fwww.designscene.net%252fwp-content%252fuploads%252f2017%252f07%252fChanel-Haute-Couture-FW17-61-620x915.jpg%26ehk%3dXNemip70x9AhmE3B8O581wI9OumFmEzTml07mwsOfi4%253d%26risl%3d%26pid%3dImgRaw&exph=915&expw=620&q=chanel+couture&simid=608017093194941054&ck=35C5D5ECEFA805E6899EF4FF621DD740&selectedIndex=19&FORM=IRPRST&ajaxhist=0 (Accessed: 9th March 2021).

Numero.com, N. (2017) Chanel Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2017. Available at: https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=spRGcaEA&id=8C3C6627E67E70FED8F818729DDE0226F873FAE1&thid=OIP.spRGcaEAljAFIu-MhVMQUwHaK7&mediaurl=https%3A%2F%2Fth.bing.com%2Fth%2Fid%2FRb2944671a10096300522ef8c85531053%3Frik%3D4fpz%252bCYC3p1yGA%26riu%3Dhttp%253a%252f%252fwww.numero.com%252fsites%252fdefault%252ffiles%252fimages%252farticle_new%252fslides%252fchanel_couture_printemps_2017_grand_palais_66.jpg%26ehk%3DSDMWENW%252f4%252f6FuGkSYS66EohaIbzsYQMZ7s0PiMdVnVk%253d%26risl%3D%26pid%3DImgRaw&exph=3022&expw=2048&q=chanel+couture&simid=608031425591837502&ck=CE95D65F7F79FC2535CF7E906D3E698C&selectedindex=11&form=IRPRST&ajaxhist=0&vt=0&sim=11 (Accessed: 9th March 2021).

Daily Front Row, D (2018) Dior Debuts Pink and Red Couture Capsule Collection in Shanghai. Available at: https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=dlHYF1c7&id=EABD48FF57D88A8B218CB4A74EC6D3566E98959E&thid=OIP.dlHYF1c7S2L7Y7j_Phli3AHaLH&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2ffashionweekdaily.com%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2018%2f03%2fDIOR_HAUTE-COUTURE_SPRING-SUMMER-2018_SHANGHAI_LOOK_73.jpg&exph=2100&expw=1400&q=dior+couture&simid=608055704974985936&ck=12F78F3CCE6694BAF220DF1633C43876&selectedIndex=0&FORM=IRPRST&ajaxhist=0 (Accessed: 9th March 2021).

Tom & Lorenzo, T. (2018) Christian Dior Spring 2018 Couture Collection[ Tom + Lorenzo. Available at:https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=0GRp7Dl4&id=604AB59ABB42F9E81697E97E9C6B730263782A50&thid=OIP.0GRp7Dl4aez76WXIdJcb3QHaLH&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2ftomandlorenzo.com%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2018%2f01%2fChristian-Dior-Spring-2018-Couture-Collection-Paris-Fashion-Week-Tom-Lorenzo-Site-8.jpg&exph=975&expw=650&q=dior+couture&simid=608026524995095348&ck=7A4ECA4DD2E5B29651B3650306582957&selectedIndex=11&FORM=IRPRST&ajaxhist=0  (Accessed: 9th March 2021).

 

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