A Stitch In Time 28/11/07 15:12 Page 157
initially pitched at a lower price point, but rapidly established are handworked and highly individual but not made to
himself as a couture artiste and became both very serious and measure. These designers, says Didier Grumbach, president of
extremely “haute”. Ironically, the man once labelled the the Chambre Syndicale, “can get lost at the much more hectic
“Enfant Terrible” of fashion, is now regarded as the natural heir ready-to-wear shows… showing at couture raises their profile
to St Laurent’s loyal French couture clientele. and gives the week another dimension.”
Contrary to expectations, the show calendar is now fuller than Their designs are still expensive by ready-to-wear standards,
for many years. There are relatively small scale yet very serious, but not the tens of thousands of pounds that is the couture
highly talented designers such as Franck Sorbier and Adeline minimum. They include designs like Anne Valérie Hash’s
André, who have both graduated in recent years from plain eclectic mixes of tailoring, special prints and vintage lace
couture to haute couture, which means they are entitled to wear (sold at Dover Street Market in London) and the artisanal range
the traditional couturier’s white coat and must abide by strict his forte is the showstopper dress – and though his shapes are from reclusive Belgian designer Martin Margiela, which
rules, set out by the Chambre Syndicale. mainly quite simple, his embroidery, beading and glittery lace questions the conventions of beauty and has an eco-conscious
“We must produce a minimum of 25 outfits per collection and are a tour de force. This season’s collection in frosted pastels spin. Made by qualified couture seamstresses in their Paris
run a proper atelier in Paris,” says Sorbier. The quality of their like silver, misty greige, palest aqua and lavender has a new workroom, these are hand-constructed from recycled items,
design and craftwork is as good as that from the great houses, sophistication. Working in reverse to many designers, he has with just two or three examples of a new design for women and
but the difficulties of competing with shows that cost millions of just opened a big new Paris headquarters which includes a for men going into each Margiela store each month.
euros emphasises their dedication and commitment. “It is shop for his more recently developed ready-to-wear and This season’s range from utility blouson jackets made from
cheaper to do couture which is totally under my control than go accessories range and a salon for couture fittings. plastic-trimmed nylon travel bags to a wistful long dress made
into ready-to-wear with all its production costs,” he says. “I rely Traditionally, anywhere, a couture dress takes three months from pale woven strips of vintage silk scarves, and even – the
on sponsors each season – Cartier have been very good to me and a minimum of two fittings to deliver. Responding to star item – a structured shift dress (or a man’s gilet) made with
– and get my show shoes made by the André brand, which demand, many houses try to speed that up, although a month great skill from discarded oil painting canvases.
retail at about 100 euros. But that’s realistic, because women is minimum. But there are other ways to a near-unique outfit. The expansion of the couture definition has given British
nowadays mix couture with chainstore.” To keep couture crafts going, Chanel some years ago bought designers an entrée to this exclusive club. Adam Jones has
He is hoping to sign up a backer, enabling him to produce a five of the main supplying firms, including Lesage embroiderers, been designing haute knitwear in Paris for some years –
profile-raising ready-to-wear range, but agrees with Adeline Lemarie for feathers and Massaro for shoes. Each season they his mixes of the finest-spun lacy knits, silk crochet embroidery,
André, who says, “There are clients who can afford couture but make a small demi-couture range entitled Paris Monte Carlo to silk flowers and fur, in wispily smoky, barely-there shades,
they want something really different that is not recognisable as show off the crafts. This time it features crystal-trimmed bags are couture in spirit if not in made-to-measure form and are
a brand.” She works from a small studio in a quiet corner of the and shoes, bejewelled jackets and tops and the finest pleated some of the season’s prettiest clothes.
Marais and keeps show production costs down by using lace dresses – not made-to-order but supplied to Chanel stores In contrast, avant-garde British duo Boudicca took Paris by
elegant friends as models and showing in silence, but employs in strictly limited numbers. Some of the younger designers filling storm with a dramatic display of just a dozen outfits, shown in a
a manager to expand her ready-to-wear side and is planning the schedule are not strictly couture but artisanal – the clothes derelict private theatre that is now part of the Romanian
small accessories projects like bags and perfume. Embassy, and featuring brilliantly cut
To their loyal clientele – Sorbier’s includes Ivana Trump and
FRANCK SORBIER
precision tailoring and sinuous lace
Marie-Laure de Villepin (wife of French prime minister dresses with futuristic high shoulders
Dominique de Villepin) – these designers are brilliant and polished silver chokers and
secrets. André’s spare, modernist sensibility, featuring fine, FRANCK swags. Unlike most of the designers,
often shaded, layers of fabric, an original wrapover cut SORBIER who are invited to show by the
entailing three armholes and plays on volume and short organisers, Boudicca had no Paris
lengths, this summer in interestingly vivid, citric shades or contacts and relied on testimonials
pale neutrals, is both of the moment and perennially from top fashion professionals to gain
appealing to a rigorous, intellectual clientele. entry. But there was a huge ovation
Sorbier’s more period-influenced style has both for this private-order real couture,
lyrical charm and consummate skill – this season’s separate from their highly regarded
occult-inspired collection includes pieces that take over ready-to-wear collection, and set to
100 hours to make, from hourglass gowns in hand-sewn cost £5,000-10,000.
mosaic layers of lace to silk swing coats embroidered in If that seems a lot to pay for what
raffia, then hand-painted in gentle pastels, and beading may prove to be the couture
and embroidery worthy of Gaultier or Dior – heirlooms of the future, it is worth comparing with the current
vindication that these garments are the fashion world’s cost of vintage couture, which has never been more in
equivalent of fine art, and worthy of being treasured as demand. Kerry Taylor, who runs her own high-end fashion
collectors’ pieces.
FRANCK
auction house in London, finds that iconic pieces from famous
Sorbier says his biggest earners are wedding dresses, though
SORBIER
collections such as St Laurent’s Mondrian look fetch
he must envy the hundred a season produced by Elie Saab, £10,000-15,000 from museums or collectors.
the Lebanese designer who in seven seasons has established In Paris, vintage kingpin Didier Ludot says that classics like
himself as a hot red-carpet name – helped by the creation of a a 1947 Dior New Look suit would fetch even more, and the
beautiful sheer, beaded couture gown for actress Halle Berry, chances of finding such an item in a low-key sale or market
worn on the night she became the first black actress to collect are now virtually nil.
an Academy Award. With ateliers in Beirut, among all the Those prices are not so very far from today’s couture at a
political and practical problems that that entails, he is not a full smaller-scale house – and potential buyers should not worry
member of the couture fraternity, yet he now has a clientele far that the quality will not be what it was in the glory days.
wider than the Middle East base he had before his Paris shows
– and the Halle Berry dress that landed him in the spotlight.
C
The point of couture’s jealously guarded rules is that they
HRISTIAN
He is a new favourite of pop singer Beyoncé Knowles –
L
make it the best. In that, nothing has changed.
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