What royals & nobles are in the ever discreet Haute Couture Club?

CasiraghiTrio · Jan 26, 2008

Some members & I were discussing this new concept (for some of us like me) called the Haute Couture Club, or "the club," the subject of a BBC4 documentary which is on youtube. Only members of "the club" can buy haute couture. Celebrities & socialites who borrow it for red carpet events are never allowed in the club and, therefore, never can buy it. This club is very exclusive, discreet, and the main requirement to be a member seems to be the ability to appreciate haute couture as its art form and to have the means to acquire it. Money is not enough. "Status" is not enough. Although those things will help you, you need something else......... the "something else" is what makes this topic so fascinating, in my opinion.

BBC4 presents The Secret World of Haute Couture (6 parts)
Part 1
YouTube - "The Secret World of Haute Couture" Part 1 0f 6

Part 2
YouTube - "The Secret World of Haute Couture" Part 2 of 6

Part 3
YouTube - "The Secret World of Haute Couture" Part 3 of 6

Part 4
YouTube - "The Secret World of Haute Couture" Part 4 of 6

Part 5
YouTube - "The Secret World of Haute Couture" Part 5 of 6

Part 6
YouTube - "The Secret World of Haute Couture" Part 6 of 6

GlitteringTiaras · Jan 26, 2008

I saw that documentary several months ago, and it was pretty good. Unfortunately the Youtube videos are not working properly, so in order to watch this documentary go over to Youtube and type in The Secret World of Haute Couture and it will take you to the links.

There are many more members who buy Haute Couture, but they don't advertise nor flaunt their membership or status. Young members can be seen at the Le Bal Haute Couture wearing couture; many of the gowns are bought while one or two are borrowed.

zembla · Jan 26, 2008

And here's a look at 08's newest members on the scene for latest season...

Published: Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Class of '08
By WWD Staff
PARIS — Couture week may be thin on major celebrities, but the front rows are packed with clients at heady times for high fashion. In addition to plenty of Europeans and regulars from America like Suzanne Saperstein and Becca Cason Thrash, there are a host of fresh faces — some in their 20s and 30s — from emerging high-fashion markets like Russia, the Middle East and Asia.

rest of article: WWD.com

a montage of clients:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2275/2214928499_4b5ae82c9f.jpg?v=0

How Exclusive is this Club?

With the term Haute Couture being tossed around casually these days on fashion magazine headlines and onto the labels of expensive ready-to-wear, one would be forgiven for describing a pair of jeans as couture, even if you did pay $2000 for them. Haute couture, on the other hand, is made by hand, in Paris, to the exact measurements of those who can afford it....

rest of article: The Polyglot: How Exclusive is this Club?

sgl · Jan 26, 2008

There was a documentary that aired on PBS in the United States several months ago about couture. I cannot remember what it was called, but the documentarians followed a few different women while they purchased couture in Paris, and went to shows. They also showed a very elderly American woman who had an entire closet full of couture. Did anyone else see this documentary? It was really interesting.

psychoduck · Jan 26, 2008

i remember seeing a documentary a year or two ago about the debutantes ball which takes place at The crillon every year...it was great..but at that time, i had no idea that HC club was such a low key club....
what strikes me the most wasn't the gowns (even if some of them were gorgeous, but like everywhere some people really don't have a clue about how to choose their gown "properly", or in the right way (don't know how to tell it), seems like they doesn't look their bodyshape....

, whatever) yess..what strikes me the most was the mothers...the girls didn't seem to be so interested in it... some find it old-fashioned....i remember that russian woman (a self-made woman whose daughter is in boarding school in usa....) the woman was just obsessed with that "enter the world" ball, she was ecstatic...while her daughter really didn't care that much...she seemed so blasé...for goodness sake, how can one be blasé by HC gowns and fabulous jewellery....??

zembla · Jan 26, 2008

Old Money vs New Money in couture....

The Polyglot: New Money vs. Old Money…& Then Came the Lean Times

New clients:

But the most telling sign of a couture revival occurred back stage after the Dior show, where staff were overjoyed as yet another couture client - the 17-year-old daughter of a Russian millionaire - ordered seven bespoke Dior outfits. With an estimated 25 billionaires, along with a healthy number of 88,000 millionaires, the Russians have become couture’s newest customers, assuming the swagger and style of the oil sheikhs of the 1970’s in their spending habits.

The Polyglot: Couture’s New Clients…

Gwyneth's Valentino she was supposed to wear to the Golden Globes...valued at $280,000...she is also said to be one of the few actresses with membership...

Gwyneth Paltrow Golden Globe dress under consideration

psychoduck · Jan 26, 2008

280 000 dollars??

what about delphine arnault? do you guys think that she is a couture client or does she get them for free?

GlitteringTiaras · Jan 26, 2008

sgl said:
There was a documentary that aired on PBS in the United States several months ago about couture. I cannot remember what it was called, but the documentarians followed a few different women while they purchased couture in Paris, and went to shows. They also showed a very elderly American woman who had an entire closet full of couture. Did anyone else see this documentary? It was really interesting.

That's the documentary that can be seen on Youtube and orginally posted by CT.

CasiraghiTrio · Jan 26, 2008

psychoduck said:
280 000 dollars??

what about delphine arnault? do you guys think that she is a couture client or does she get them for free?

That's a good question. I guess she is much like Caroline & Charlotte, in having all the freebies she wants to have, at least from the LVMH companies, but also the means & prestige & discretion (& probably the right attitude about the art & all that) to be in the club. Delphine was included in that montage Zembla posted, so probably she is in the club.

As for the Crillon Haute Couture ball, I have some comments. Many of the debutantes borrow the gowns, I know it. I never thought of any of them buying the gowns, figuring the publicity around the event would induce the designers to loan all of them. But certainly, I am not surprised to learn that some of them are from "club families", as we might say.

CasiraghiTrio · Jan 26, 2008

Haute Couture Houses
*Chanel
*Christian Dior
*Armani Prive (correspondent/foreign member)
*Christian Lacroix
*Jean-Paul Gaultier
*Versace Atelier
*Givenchy
*Valentino (correspondent/foreign member)
*Emanuel Ungaro
*Ralph Rucci (correspondent/foreign member)
*Elie Saab (correspondent/foreign member)
*Adeline André
*Dominique Sirop
*Franck Sorbier
*Jean-Louis Scherrer

Deceased clients
*Coco Chanel (hailed as "club saint")
*Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis
*Princess Grace of Monaco
*The Duchess of Windsor

Living Clients
*Daphne Guinness Niarchos
*Eugenie Niarchos
*Deeda Blair (Mrs. William McCormick Blair)
*Princess Pavlos of Greece (Marie-Chantal Miller)
*Marissa Berenson
*Ivana Trump (probably Ivanka her daughter too)
*Baroness Helene de Ludinghausen
*Susan Gutfreund
*Becca Cason Thrash
*Carroll Petrie
*Judith Corrente
*Betsy Bloomingdale
*Delphine Arnault (no surprise, right? since daddy is the LVMH king)
*Princess Caroline, The Princess of Hannover
*Charlotte Casiraghi
*Suzanne Saperstein
*Gwyneth Paltrow
*Queen Rania of Jordan
*Princess Lalla Soukaïnka (Lalla Salma) of Morocco
*Nada Kirdar
*Rena Sindi
*Veronica Hearst
*Fabiola Beracasa
*Anh Duong
*Rosario Nadal (Spanish beauty married to Bulgaria's Prince Kyril since 1999)
*Catherine Deneuve
*Anne Bass
*Helen Lee Schifter
__________________________________
Further Reading
*Secret World of Haute Couture
*The Cult Of Couture - Forbes.com
*Ready To Wear | Independent, The (London) | Find Articles at BNET.com
*FASHION REVIEW; Couture, the Game for Pure Players - New York Times
*Le Bal de la Haute Couture

zembla · Jan 26, 2008

Here's a name list of all the women I posted in that montage...

The Polyglot: Couture’s New Clients…Part II

Queen Rania is also a client...and Anne Bass

The Polyglot: How They Wear it: Queen Rania of Jordan
The Polyglot: How They Wear It: Anne Bass

More on Middle Eastern buyers...

The Polyglot: Behind the Scenes at the Paris Haute Couture: A glimpse into the private world of couture’s Middle Eastern clients…

CasiraghiTrio · Jan 26, 2008

zembla · Jan 26, 2008

I love these from the new Chanel HC collection this past week...

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s265/AIMS_014/MOre/00130m1362.jpg
http://www.elle.com/assets/image/2008/W4/012220081544218209.jpg
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/5046/capt146db282064f46d2b70pg0.jpg

CasiraghiTrio · Jan 26, 2008

^ zembla, the third one you posted is breathtaking. I can't think of another word to describe it.

Is this the "feather dress" (from Spring 2007 collection)??
http://www.style.com/slideshows/fashionshows/S2007CTR/CHANEL/RUNWAY/00580m.jpg

Princess Lalla Salma apparently prefers Chanel & Valentino above all.
The Polyglot: How They Wear it: Queen Lalla Salma of Morocco
It says she bought pieces from Valentino's Fall 2004 HC collection.
Fall 2004 Couture - Valentino Fall 2004 Couture Collection on Style.com: Complete Collection

Princess Caroline wore Haute Couture Chanel (spring 2007 season) to the Valentino events last summer (rude of her not to wear Valentino for his retirement parties but oh well!)

Caroline's dress (getty)
And the runway version: http://www.style.com/slideshows/fashionshows/S2007CTR/CHANEL/RUNWAY/00220m.jpg
Charlotte's dress was also Chanel but it was RTW.

acid_rain3075 · Jan 27, 2008

No Casiraghi Trio this is the feather dress from the show!!!! And it's actually from the "Chanel Paris Spring/Summer 2006 Haute Couture Show." (which is weird because i thought this was suppose to be for the 2007 collection).

psychoduck · Jan 27, 2008

hey casiraghi, in the pic you posted, it's not the feather dress.. i tried to find it on different site but i failed....but i'm pretty sure it's not the same dress....i should maybe try tfs....

if i find it, i'll post it

psychoduck · Jan 27, 2008

u got it acid...that's it.... :flowers:

CasiraghiTrio · Jan 27, 2008

acid_rain3075 said:
No Casiraghi Trio this is the feather dress from the show!!!! And it's actually from the "Chanel Paris Spring/Summer 2006 Haute Couture Show." (which is weird because i thought this was suppose to be for the 2007 collection).

Ahha! Yes, I knew something didn't look right. I was looking in this year too, didn't occur to me to check as far back. Thanks!
I wonder who got that dress, Karl of course would not divulge!

I wonder how much it costs.

acid_rain3075 · Jan 27, 2008

oh and for the Deceased clients list, didn't they mention the Mitford sisters? Which would be Nancy, Jessica, Deborah, Diana, Unity, and Pamela (?) Mitford (I mention them even though I kinda don't want too because some were communists and Nazis')

CasiraghiTrio · Jan 27, 2008

^ I imagine all the heiress/socialite crowd were clubs members in those days. I found it fascinating when Valentino was talking about the massive difference between then and now as far as haute couture goes. Because of the expense to make these dresses, the # of dresses a year has radically decreased from a time when something like 400 might have been made a year, whereas now maybe 14 might be made. The inflation of the prices also caused, naturally, the club to shrink dramatically.

At the beginning of part 1, the narrator said today the club has only about 200 members! :ohmy:

CasiraghiTrio · Jan 27, 2008

couture Valentino or not

In this picture of Charlotte Casiraghi & Charlotte Dellal Casiraghi is wearing RTW Chanel but I wonder if Dellal is wearing couture Valentino? It looks like this dress.

acid_rain3075 · Jan 27, 2008

that might actually be different! i don't know, the Valentino is strapless and the one Charlotte Dellal is wearing doesn't appear to be. but looking at it again though, it does look like it so you might be right after all!

Anyways, I know this thread is about the "club" and it's members but the Sundance Channel had this program a few years back called Signé Chanel. It's really awesome to see a couture dress from start to finish! I mean it really makes you appreciates how much time and effort goes into making one of those beautiful creations!

the Sundance Channel said:
Filmmaker Loïc Prigent’s fascinating, witty and infectiously joyous look within a leading fashion house focuses on the evolution of Chanel’s Fall/Winter 2004-2005 collection. From Karl Lagerfeld’s initial sketches and their first interpretation by veteran seamstresses to the climactic show as the models strut the catwalk, Signé Chanel presents a loving depiction of an enclosed, esoteric world.

It's going to be showing on Feb. 4th for those who have access to Sundance but someone put it on youtube, so if anyone else is interested heres the link. A must watch if I say so myself!

GlitteringTiaras · Jan 27, 2008

Funny you should mention that documentary, Signé Chanel. I posted the Youtube links several months ago in another topic. Sadly no one was interested except for Dazzling.

To watch more clips, not just Signé Chanel, click on Fashion989.

CasiraghiTrio · Jan 27, 2008

acid_rain3075 said:
that might actually be different! i don't know, the Valentino is strapless and the one Charlotte Dellal is wearing doesn't appear to be. but looking at it again though, it does look like it so you might be right after all!

On Char D's dress, there is one strap. On the runway dress, there is one strap. But, as I look again, I see the straps are different.

Anyways, I know this thread is about the "club" and it's members but the Sundance Channel had this program a few years back called Signé Chanel. It's really awesome to see a couture dress from start to finish! I mean it really makes you appreciates how much time and effort goes into making one of those beautiful creations!

It's going to be showing on Feb. 4th for those who have access to Sundance but someone put it on youtube, so if anyone else is interested heres the link. A must watch if I say so myself!

I have heard of it! Yes, that looks fantastic. I am very happy someone put it on youtube.

zembla · Jan 27, 2008

acid_rain3075 said:
oh and for the Deceased clients list, didn't they mention the Mitford sisters? Which would be Nancy, Jessica, Deborah, Diana, Unity, and Pamela (?) Mitford (I mention them even though I kinda don't want too because some were communists and Nazis')

I'm actually reading a book about The Mitford Sisters now...it features the letters they wrote back and forth to each other. I believe only 2 of them were involved in the Nazi party...one committed suicide after it's fall I think... :ermm:

It's very interesting...

CasiraghiTrio · Jan 27, 2008

GT, I hope it's ok to post the Signe Chanel episodes here also? I think it relates to the topic, and I enjoy it so much.

Signe Chanel: Episode 1: Anticipation (four parts)

YouTube - Signe Chanel: Episode 1 Anticipation Part 1 of 4

YouTube - Signe Chanel: Episode 1 Anticipation Part 2 of 4

YouTube - Signe Chanel: Episode 1 Anticipation Part 3 of 4

YouTube - Signe Chanel: Episode 1 Anticipation Part 4 of 4

GlitteringTiaras · Jan 27, 2008

Absolutely, CT. I was too lazy to do it myself

.

There are many Haute Couture shows floating around on Youtube as well as on TRF sister site, The Fashion Spot. Give me a minute and I will link the shows for everyone to view.

zembla · Jan 27, 2008

Oooh...thanks for the youtube clips!

I love when the women are arguing over the price...LOL...and how Karl forgets his bag and just stands there waving is his arms while some minion runs after the car...hahaha...

sometimes people in the fashion world are such cartoon characters.

CasiraghiTrio · Jan 27, 2008

The seamstresses are hilarious. God, when Karl forgot his bag, and that guy went running after the car!!!

But we never found out if he got his bag back? I guess we can assume so?

CasiraghiTrio · Jan 27, 2008

So far it seems that we have established that Princess Grace, the Duchess of Windsor, & Princess Caroline & Charlotte Casiraghi were/are club members. Oh and I forgot: Queen Rania, and Princess Lalla Salma, and Rosario Nadal as well.

Are there other royals?

Maybe some in the Liechtenstein family! They are soooo wealthy. I can see them affording HC easily.

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