business as usual.

[www.nytimes.com ]
alexis mabille


christian lacroix


givenchy


dior


... asked if the economy was having an effect on the spring couture season, karl lagerfeld of chanel said, “only on the conversation.”

yea, chanel laid off 200 temp staff (only one percent of its 16,000 workforce, but many families) and there're fewer shows (meaning small-fry designers feel the pinch more), and the goodie bags won't be so stuffed.

but i was still slightly more interested in the clothes, and the dreams and aspirations (inspirations?) they still promise to hold.

cos while the real value of haute couture seems hard to grasp (what? these long trains and multiple pearls and diamonds during times of hunger and crisis?!), it still represents the old trades of the various needle crafts, at its exquisite and refined best.

that is the real value of haute couture, not it's marketing value to sell, and endorse, other odds and ends of commercial luxury.

like, as says this comment from the NY Mag:
...Perhaps New York's Fashion Weeks can mature, leave the models gone wild atmosphere for a world of elegance & class, leave behind the world where fashion editors elbow each other to get to their seats.


chanel (more)