KEY POINTS:
If the designers, chief executives and customers at the recent Paris couture shows were feeling sheepish about the extravagance during a recession, they weren't showing it. Equally, if they were worried about the effect of the economic downturn on this rarefied industry, they were hiding it well -
after all, this is a world where appearance is critical.
Firstly, this could be because couture, whether to own or just appreciate, is a love affair that's hard to break. The first dress of the week seems like an irrelevant extravagance, but after that it's difficult not to be seduced by this deliciously perfumed world of fairytale dresses and calligraphic invitations.
Secondly, people have been predicting the demise of couture for years - taking 800 hours to make a dress, then selling it for somewhere in the region of 20,000 ($56,000), to the exact specifications of one of a handful of customers, isn't exactly a cutting-edge business model - but it hasn't happened yet.
Last year, at least, people were still buying couture, with double-digit growth at Chanel and Christian Dior, and an increase in revenue at Givenchy of 80 per cent. Part of the growth is due to new clients from China, Russia and the Middle East. Bruno Pavlovsky, president of fashion at Chanel, said, "There has been strong growth in the last five years, and maybe the growth will be less strong this year, but we have loyal customers and I'm not worried. Couture is something quite special and outstanding."
Sales of garments are only part of the couture story. It also enables designers to experiment, and fashion houses to preserve the crafts and jobs of the specialist workshops. Most importantly, "the objective is to keep our customers dreaming", says Pavlovsky.
However, while one client shrugged off the question of whether the economic downturn would put her off with the kind of smile and suppressed chuckle that means, "What recession? My considerable fortune is in gold", that's not to say that there wasn't some sort of aesthetic response from the couturiers to the recession, however indirect.
Flamboyant designers such as John Galliano and Christian Lacroix were never going to start showing plain, sombre shift dresses, but some designers did show slightly quieter designs, or went back to the foundations of their fashion houses - an established response to hard times.
At Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld looked back to Coco Chanel's love of white - in 1933, she showed an all-white collection, and often wore the colour herself - with a softer, more wistful collection than last season. There were sophisticated skirt suits in ivory tweed, jackets with cape shoulders, and sweet white silk dresses embellished with sequins arranged in floral designs. A dress in white percaline embroidered with pearls and sequins, and trimmed with hand-cut leaves and flowers, took 800 hours to make, but the effect was of fresh, romantic elegance, rather than excess.
The Christian Dior show was as sumptuous and dramatic as ever, with wide skirts, fitted, waisted jackets, full sleeves and Delft-pattern ball gowns inspired by artists such as Vermeer and Van Dyck, as well as original Dior shapes. Billed as "more Dior than Dior", Galliano's decision to return to some of the house's historic cuts and structures - their USP, if you will - reflected a classic response to hard times.
"What interested me this season was the new daywear couture," says Russian Vogue editor Aliona Doletskaya. "It's a fresh take. There has always been daywear, but this time the pieces really belong to daywear, and are so beautiful." Not every couture client is after a ball gown - at Givenchy, where Riccardo Tisci showed a modern take on Gothic romance, with fitted bandage dresses and lace hooded gowns, the actress Lou Doillon rhapsodised not over a fabulous dress, but a pair of her own Givenchy couture leather trousers that fit her "like a second skin".
The general perception of couture is that it is an investment, in contrast to the more transitory nature of ready-to-wear and high-street trends, but Doillon has a different perspective: that couture can be ephemeral. "The clothes are finished moments before we arrive," she explains, "and then, half an hour later, they begin the process of being broken down and remade according to the specifications and shapes of the clients who buy them. The Givenchy show was a glimpse of Riccardo Tisci's vision, and after that it's interpreted and lived through other people."
Made to measure: The key looks
The waist Nipped-in and "New Look" style at Christian Dior, boldly accentuated at Gaultier.
Shoulders Sharp and businesslike at Gaultier, structured or peaked like a pagoda at Armani. Swollen and folded at Givenchy.
Black and white Black. White. And black and white. Lagerfeld paid homage to Coco Chanel's love of white, while Lacroix balanced Provencale colour with monochrome.
Corsetry and bodices Theatrical at Dior, downright sexy at Gaultier.
Nudes/ dirty pastels The models were "palely loitering" at Givenchy and Elie Saab in parchment, faded parma violet and buttermilk.
- INDEPENDENT