I Loves Me Some Coocher

Stumbled on a great little programme on PBS last night, while channel-surfing. It was a BBC4 docu called The Secret World of Haute Couture. Very, very interesting stuff. The film-maker was primarily concerned with the women who support this dying trade. Not celebrity actress/model/whatevers, mind - those women are merely loaned the clothes for red-carpet events (with most donning whatever frocks their stylists tell them to wear, then gushing on cue about the genius of the designer). No, this programme focused on the tiny, exclusive club of stratospherically-wealthy society ladies who actually buy couture.

It's clear that these women class couture as an art form, which in turn justifies the expense. Several of them, while displaying pieces in their collections, noted that at some point in the future, they would probably donate them to the costume collections of museums (thus earning themselves a tidy tax write-off in the process). I'd agree that couture is undoubtedly an art; part of the programme was filmed in various ateliers in Paris, where seamstresses and other artisans take the designs and then construct these fantastical clothes by hand. The level and range of skill is awe-inspiring, all the more so as these are dying arts. How many women call on the services of milliners, embroiderers, corsetières, etc. these days? But the cost! Apparently, those who buy couture in Paris can normally expect to spend in the range of €20,000 for a suit and blouse, and €100,000+ for an embroidered evening gown.

Then again, people pay millions for artworks like Voice of Fire and rotting sharks in tanks, so maybe it's not all as decadent as it seems.