The Secret World of Haute Couture

I randomly caught this documentary on BBC Four last night called The Secret World Of Haute Couture. It essentially boiled down to the film maker travelling to Paris and New York to interview the actual women who buy haute couture on a regular basis in an effort to understand why they would spend £100,000 on an outfit. There were also some sadly brief interviews with the top designers like John Galliano and Karl Lagerfeld.
Although the film maker was slightly patronising in her approach, repeating the fact that the women being interviewed saw the clothes as wearable pieces of art in an attempt to validate her documentary, it was a fascinating look at a shrinking industry. As the advent of mass produced clothes opened up designer fashion lines to an even wider audience, haute couture seems to have a reached a point where the circle of women prepared to buy it keeps shrinking.
There was an important point made in the documentary that a designer's haute couture show is seen as a loss leader, used to publicise the fashion label and promote other lines such as fragrance. Coverage of the haute couture shows create publicity and most people buy a fragrance as a way of tapping into the label's ethos without spending a large amount of money. Essentially, most women could never afford haute couture but it serves to illustrate the creativity and character of a fashion house which in turn informs a decision to buy into a smaller part of that image.
The interviews with the women who buy haute couture were filled with recognisable names such as Bloomingdale or Guinness. A throw back to the time when you needed a personal connection or introduction to even contemplate buying haute couture. What really came across though was that these women loved fashion, they almost worshipped their favourite designers and saw themselves as patrons of the arts. I completely agree with this idea, that fashion in all its creativity and inspiration can be seen as art. The way designers put colours together, clash or complement fabrics and patterns, debate the length of a hemline or cut of a shoulder, its an expression of their thoughts and ideas.
Seriously, I wanted to live in some of the wardrobes that were filmed. Chanel couture suits with the signature boxy jackets, red Valentino dresses, intricately beaded and embroidered Dior dresses.... Heaven! Every dress labelled when it was bought and from which designer, when it was worn and where to. Then when you decide it's time the clothes can be donated to a museum for others to admire. Although I would keep them in my own personal museum because in an imaginary world where I own a wardrobe - actually a ROOM full of couture clothes, I would also have the resources and time to establish my own museum of fashion.