The Frank Lloyd Wright thread (which I enjoyed the hell out of, being a land use planner/urban designer/landscape architect) got me thinking about aesthetics vs. functionality, which got me thinking about haute couture.
Does anyone ever really wear the majority of what is presented at haute couture fashion shows, or is it merely an art exhibit with models wearing the art? Some of the more staid clothes seem fairly practical and “wearable,” but some are so extravagant as seen useless as a piece of apparel.
It IS an art exhibit but with buyers as the sudience. The designer trots out his or her fall (spring, summer winter) designs about 6 months early and the buyers for clothing retailers have to figure out where fashion is going to be when fall actually arrives. Then they buy sufficient quantities of whatever styles they like and those are the ones which are put into production. Obviously, those fashion items which are not purchased are not produced.
Cyndi Lauper gets her clothes from another source.
Each design house usually produces 2 collections, presented at 2 different shows. The Haute Couture shows are one-of-a-kind and made-to-order pieces that will require fittings (and usually $10K - $30K) to walk away with. The cool thing is that the buyer can say, “I like that, but can I get it in red?”, and it will be made for that person in red. Bitchin! Some of these shows are packed with unwearable, unrealistic, even ridiculous clothes and mostly the super-rich and functionally useless pursue the actual deliverables from these shows.
The Pret-a-Porter (ready-to-wear, get it?) show has less crazy and more wearable designs. You can go to the design house’s boutique and buy these designs off the rack in several sizes. Sometimes they are not exactly as shown on the runway, for instance a top that’s shown totally sheer on the runway may be sold with a lining in the shop.