In 2005, Giorgio Armani entered the rarified world of Haute Couture – with its tiny market for $100,000+ gowns – and industry insiders questioned the decision. "[Armani's] intuition seems to have been proved correct from the interest and growth that Privé has seen,” Robert Triefus, Armani’s executive VP of PR recently told WWD, pointing out that their roster of European and British clients are now ordering an impressive average of three Armani Privé ensembles each season. At Christian Dior Couture, sales doubled with the recent January collection, and similarly at Chanel Couture, sales doubled in 2006 and they now employ 120 workers in three ateliers. "Last year was up about 25 to 30 percent and this year, so far, is running slightly higher,” agrees Nicolas Topiol, president of Christian Lacroix. "Couture is very vibrant."
NEW WEALTH & THE COUTURE RENAISSANCE
From dressing entire wedding parties (Dior), to outfitting the new European wave of female business power brokers (Armani Privé) to flying their personnel to the client for in-person fittings, where a five-dress-per-season order is considered the minimum to qualify for such elite customer service (at Valentino Couture…which has one client who orders a mindboggling 25 to 30 new dresses each season) – the Couture is enjoying a Renaissance. Impulse purchases aren’t unheard of at events like the recent recreation of the Lacroix show at the home of a Houston socialite or the Paris runway shows – where requests for tickets are on the rise. “The demand for handmade, exclusive, personalized fashion designs for a small but important number of women is significant and growing,” notes Armani’s Triefus.
Press coverage of the Couture collections is also intensifying. When Cameron Diaz and Kirsten Dunst sport rarified frocks on the red carpet, well-heeled clotheshorses pay attention…such as the 24 year old Chanel Couture client, a new record for the house. However, the primary factor driving Couture sales is vast new wealth, especially in emerging markets like India and Eastern Europe, as well as Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and Cairo. "Lately, the Middle East has been a significant market that has grown very quickly," says Marco Gobbetti, CEO of Givenchy. "There is such a new wealth in the world in countries you didn't expect to explode so much. These people are dressing almost all the time in Couture, so they're able to order huge amounts of clothes,” agrees Giancarlo Giammetti of Valentino.
A MUST-HAVE FOR NEW-MONEY FASHIONISTAS
And when your life is a cocoon of fine art, custom private jets, luxury real estate, and baubles with a seven-figure price tag, you want to dress the part. "They’re not going to put a $2 million piece of jewelry on a Zara dress,” notes Sidney Toledano, president of Christian Dior. "Very wealthy clients are growing in many markets, so the desire to distinguish themselves, and to have a very special service, is strong. It's another type of very high luxury,” says Gobbetti of Givenchy, referring to the fact that so much luxury is attainable at the mass level, the rich now need more exclusive ways to indulge. “My feeling is that the pendulum is swinging back to Couture,” says Jean Paul Gaultier president, Christophe Caillaud. “Rich clients are willing to have exclusive and exceptional products: made-to-measure and personalized. They want to have goods adapted to their specific needs and this includes, or course, Couture.”
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