Jan 26, 2008

Custom-made couture takes Parisian runways

Associated Press

PARIS - Luxury brands staged dazzling displays Tuesday to showcase their made-to-measure haute couture creations, a thriving French specialty that relies on a highly skilled and aging work force.

Clients decked out in floor-length furs and glistening jewels turned out in force for the shows by Christian Lacroix, Chanel and Givenchy, reflecting strong demand for the high-end creations despite fears of a U.S. recession, rising energy prices and a weak dollar.

Passers-by peered through the windows of the Pompidou modern art museum, where Lacroix showed evening gowns in draped chiffon and ruffled satin that were a tribute to the work of the "petites mains," as the seamstresses who work in couture workshops are known.

Models with large flowers pinned to their hair paraded in outfits including a leopard cardigan coat with puffy sleeves of dip-dyed ostrich feathers, or a ruffled tulle top paired with a billowing fuchsia pink skirt scattered with gold lace.

A custom-made couture outfit can take several hundred hours to make and costs upward of $10,000. Lacroix CEO Nicolas Topiol said the label was looking for new blood, but there was a shortage of young people willing to learn the trade.

"Maybe it seems a little old-fashioned to them - I'm not sure," he told The Associated Press. "But this is clearly something we are thinking about these days."

Chanel maestro Karl Lagerfeld drew inspiration from sea shells and creatures of the deep for his spring-summer collection, sending out evening gowns covered in thousands of silvery sequins like fish scales.

Frothy cocktail gowns made from tufts of blush pink tulle were as light as a ballerina's tutu, while skimpy skirts were draped into swirls or folded in a tulip hem at the front.
Meanwhile at Givenchy, Italian designer Riccardo Tisci gave the ballerina look his trademark Gothic twist.

A white cotton trench top flared out at the bust into a sweeping white tulle skirt, while a sparkling gold bustier dress was paired with pink sandals with knee-high crisscrossing satin straps.

Although the newly rich of eastern Europe or Asia appreciate the exclusivity that comes with custom-made clothes, not all of them have the patience for the three fittings normally required for each outfit, Topiol said.

Corset maker Hubert Barrere complained that younger designers also have unrealistic expectations about the time it takes to produce handmade clothes.

"Time is the real luxury," he said. "There are things that you simply can't command."