Following Balenciaga’s F/W 21-22 Couture collection, I had a lot of questions. What? Why? Spoiler: I did not enjoy it.
After talking to a friend about haute couture, I realized there are a lot of interesting questions surrounding this surrealist art form. Mainly, how sustainable is it? Doesn’t it seem like a waste to spend all of the time and money on a garment that you’ll only wear once?
I did some digging and came up with some fascinating answers.
What happens to couture after it walks the runway?
Couture looks are photographed and put into a lookbook. For the 4000 couture clients around the world – only 200 of which are regular buyers – they simply select their choices from the lookbook and begin the fitting process.
“I’ll take a Dior #3, please.”
The pieces will likely do a roadshow and appear in editorial, on the red carpet, maybe even a museum, before going into the brand’s archive.
Any couture looks that aren’t purchased will never be made again. This is strictly a one-of-a-kind art form.
How much does it cost and who buys it?
Compared to 1950 when the world had roughly 20,000 buyers, the couture market has drastically shrunk. The 4000 or so socialities, princesses and other royalty who wear it spend between $30,000 and $350,000 per garment. Some dresses take up to 60,000 hours to make (all by hand!) and cost as much as $1 million.
Interestingly, there is a much larger percentage of young couture buyers than I anticipated. The varies from brand to brand, but Chanel and Dior reportedly sell almost 40% of their couture collections to women under 40.
Is couture really sustainable?
Yes and no. For some brands, like Elie Saab, almost half of their total sales come from couture. I tried to find data on what percentage of couture looks go unsold but was unsuccessful. So as a business model, some brands clearly depend on this revenue.
From an eco-perspective, couture is clearly something you will never get rid of. It won’t end up in a landfill. The fabrics used to create couture garments are of the highest quality, and although in some cases a lot of said fabric is needed, only what is needed is used. Brands will keep small amounts of fabric for archival purposes, but this is not a situation where you have a warehouse full of unused textiles.
Finally, the idea of owning well-made garments tailored to fit your body is timeless. The world used to be a place of “less is more” but in today’s world of trend after trend, what’s new and fresh has taken priority.
Perhaps if we took a note from the made-to-last couture model, we could turn fast fashion ship.
Image via IMAXTREE.
Data sourced from The Fashion Law.