Love Affairs in Melbourne-Chapter 239 - 236 Haute Couture Fashion House

The full name for Haute Couture is "Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture."

The concept of Haute Couture in France began to take shape in the seventeenth century and was officially born in 1858.

Since the 1980s, the term Haute Couture has been abused worldwide.

Nowadays, there are many relatively junior designer brands in China that frequently claim to offer Haute Couture and often host so-called Haute Couture fashion shows.

However, true "aristocratic" Haute Couture, as things stand, is something no brand in China has yet achieved.

It takes more than just a bit of hype and selling clothes at a higher price to become Haute Couture.

The conditions for obtaining Haute Couture certification are quite stringent:

1. You must have a studio in Paris with at least 15 full-time employees.

2. You must participate in the Haute Couture fashion week held in Paris every January and July, presenting at least thirty-five original pieces each season, including day and evening wear.

3. Tailoring is only for a very small number of private clients; each bespoke piece must undergo at least one fitting with the client and be adjusted according to the client’s actual situation (usually requiring 3 to 5 fittings in Paris).

4. Each workshop must employ at least 3 full-time models and more than 20 full-time craftsmen all year round, responsible for the manual sewing, embroidery, and other processes of Haute Couture.

Only after meeting all the conditions listed here, and passing the audit by France’s Ministry for Industry, can one officially be named "Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture."

Globally, very few brands can afford the expense of a Parisian Haute Couture studio.

Many well-known international luxury brands, either have never offered Haute Couture, or after trying for a few years, couldn’t continue.

.........

Allegro asked Yan Yan which Haute Couture fashion house her outfit was from, but for Yan Yan, who had never been to Europe before, the concept of a real Haute Couture Maison was just that—a concept.

"It must be Maison Yan II," Yan Yan replied to Allegro with a smile.

The II after Yan II is the Roman numeral 2, and should be read as "The Second."

"The Second" is commonly understood to mean "number two," but it is also used to denote generations in aristocratic lineage.

For example, Victor Emmanuel II, the King of Italy connected to Allegro’s family origins, is pronounced in this way.

Yan Yan, with two Yans in her name, YanYan=Yan 2=Yan II.

Yan Yan spontaneously decided to humorously refer to YanYan as "Yan the Second" (Yan II), as a lighthearted way of saying she hadn’t seen much of the world, and to inform Allegro in a humorous tone that the dress she was wearing was her own creation.

Allegro, a frequent Haute Couture client, knew that the Haute Couture fashion house Yan Yan referred to didn’t exist, and it was easy to tell from Yan Yan’s expression that she was joking.

After realizing this, Allegro suggested that if Yan Yan was particularly attentive to the silhouette and craftsmanship of her clothing, she should consider studying hand-sewing and three-dimensional cutting at the Chambre Syndicale (Paris High Fashion Guild College, the school directly affiliated with the guild that organizes the Haute Couture fashion week).

Allegro also joked that if Yan Yan ever made her own Haute Couture, she would surely become Yan Yan’s first customer.

Since it was a joke, it ended there.

.........

But what defies common sense is that most of the ideas from geniuses in this world are born from crazy ones.

After Allegro finished speaking, Yan Yan, a complete newbie and outsider, actually went to research Haute Couture.

After discovering the high barriers to entry for Haute Couture, Yan Yan also learned a fact that left her utterly disheartened.

Apart from Chanel, which has nearly two hundred regular female clients and can turn a profit every season, most other Haute Couture workshops operate at a loss.

Many people consider Haute Couture synonymous with astronomical prices, often hearing about dresses costing several million or even tens of millions.

Such pricing isn’t impossible—for instance, in 2001, a Chanel Haute Couture salon at No. 31, Compo Street, Paris took an order for a 7.1 million euro haute couture gown that took a total of sixty thousand man-hours to deliver by 2006.

A dress costing tens of millions, but these are exceptions.

The normal selling price for a piece of Haute Couture ranges from 300,000 to 400,000 euros (about 2 to 3 million RMB). freeweɓnøvel.com

Daywear is cheaper, followed by evening wear, with Haute Couture wedding gowns being the most expensive.

Haute Couture is usually quite lavish, and Chanel, being relatively simple and elegant, ends up being the most expensive.

Chanel’s position in the field of Haute Couture is unshakable, and only Chanel’s head Haute Couture tailor can make the fabric fit the client’s body without any pulling.

So why do Haute Couture clothes, sold at such high prices, still result in losses?

Why was Lamborghini, also selling at high prices, acquired by Volkswagen?

The reasons are the same.

Top-tier luxury goods are always for the few.

Haute Couture is an even more exaggerated luxury than a Lamborghini; most of those who can afford a Lamborghini can’t actually afford true Haute Couture.

Those knowledgeable about cars might say that a Lamborghini in China can easily sell for over three million and that it’s nonsensical for someone who can afford a Lamborghini to be unable to afford Haute Couture.

But this kind of comparison doesn’t really make sense.

How long can you drive a car? And how long can you wear a piece of clothing?

Haute Couture unveils two collections a year, with new items each season; if you’re wearing Haute Couture, there’s no such thing as wearing the same outfit season after season.

Over three million in a flash—that’s Lamborghini’s selling price in China, which is much lower in Europe and America, less than half the price.

Even if we go by the domestic prices, would someone who spends three million on a car spend the same amount on a dress?

Most people, of course, would not.

Admittedly, 3 million per piece is on the expensive side for Haute Couture, with the norm being in the hundreds of thousands.

But when it comes to women buying clothes, who only gets one piece per season?

You need to rotate through daywear and evening wear, and the total cost for a season’s Haute Couture can easily add up to 3 million.

Those who can regularly and sustainably purchase such clothing are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

The women who regularly buy Haute Couture are in the same league as men wealthy enough to change several Lamborghinis, Aston Martins, or Bugattis every year.

Such people can’t simply be found by advertising.