Random fashion thoughts - Part II (A New Hope)

[dieworkwear]



According to NYT Hedi must approve of the customer before they can buy a couture item, so there must be enough exclusivity/demand for it. 

[COLOR=333333]"Mr. Slimane moved the design studio to Los Angeles from Paris; raised eyebrows and hackles in fashion’s insular world by renaming the house’s ready-to-wear “Saint Laurent” (in print, “Saint Laurent by Hedi Slimane”) and redesigning its logo; and reinstated its couture line, though he declined to show it during the couture fashion week and made it available only to those he deemed worthy."[/COLOR]

From the quote, that sounds less about managing high-demand and more about making sure the right people wear it (i.e. the right musicians, actresses, etc). I guess now that I think about it, it probably would do something for the brand if the right people are seen wearing SLP couture. Less Justin Bieber; more whoever would be the women's version of Kanye West right now.

Funny enough, this feels less about bringing "low brow ideas to couture" and more about bringing a "high brow halo to a low brow brand."

 

[Ragechester]

this kind of stuff makes me not want to wear clothing ever again

 

[ManofKent]



this kind of stuff makes me not want to wear clothing ever again

I'm not sure StyleForum is ready for naked protests

 

[cyc wid it]

On a semi-related note, a pretty meh Versace atelier dress runs about $120k pre-tax.

 

[conceptual 4est]

Out of curiosity, what handling (or atelier) experience do you have to qualify it as a pretty meh? I don't mean this is a personal dig, I'm just asking in case you do have that experience

 

[cyc wid it]

Hardly any. I know a ton of labor hours went into it, but I guess I just didn't see the point. Complication for the sake of complication I guess? Maybe it had more to with that particular dress.

 

[dieworkwear]



Hardly any. I know a ton of labor hours went into it, but I guess I just didn't see the point. Complication for the sake of complication I guess? Maybe it had more to with that particular dress.

It's more craft for the sake of craft. Not that different from why people pursue high-end bespoke tailoring.

The BBC has a nice documentary on haute couture. The recent Dior & I documentary also has some nice footage of Dior couture.


[VIDEO][/VIDEO]

[VIDEO][/VIDEO]

 

[cyc wid it]

Yeah I guess the "meh" phrasing was poor. I'm not knocking the work that goes into it - I just think it's a case of the sum of the parts being less impressive than the processes/labor?

 

[dieworkwear]



Yeah I guess the "meh" phrasing was poor. I'm not knocking the work that goes into it - I just think it's a case of the sum of the parts being less impressive than the processes/labor?

I think this just gets back to how people can value fashion.

If you value fashion for its practical value, you'll focus on whether something makes you look good. If you value fashion for its "artisinal" value, you'll focus on how something was made. And if you value fashion for its conceptual value, you'll focus on design, forms, and ideas.

Obviously, clothing hobbyists will value all these things to different degrees, but people tend to focus on one or two aspects more than the other(s). CM is very much about practical and artisinal; SWD is very much about practical and conceptual.

Same with brands. Some brands focus on some things more than others. Ralph Lauren is a very practical fashion brand. A Sailve Row tailoring house is about artisinal construction. Rei Kawakubo is about concepts.

Haute couture is mostly about construction and concepts. If you value how something was made, the process and labor are part of the sum -- you can't extricate them from what you're looking at.

To the degree that fashion can be art though, haute couture is probably it.

 

[Fuuma]



Yeah I guess the "meh" phrasing was poor. I'm not knocking the work that goes into it - I just think it's a case of the sum of the parts being less impressive than the processes/labor?

HC dresses are often works of technical mastery: a work about its own process. You can see the equivalent in classical music with some super hard to play compositions.

 

[iamacyborg]



It's been funny since at least 1980.

His mum's been funnier for a few decades more than that.

 

[qubit]

Saw 4 separate instances of this in the space of 20 minutes while walking to work this morning in east London. Could someone enlighten me? I feel the frequency has been increasing, but maybe I'm just dialed in now....

 

[Ragechester]

http://jeansandsheux.tumblr.com

 

[zissou]

I keep staring at this Frank Leder jacket on NMWA, forgetting that it's fairly redundant with my other Leder jacket...

 

[Find Finn]

Kanye x Ikea coming soon to an Ebay site near you.

I can't wait to see people standing in line outside of IKEA trying to flip flatpack furniture.


Hey girl, wanna go back to my place and check out my mentalsjukhus dresser?