The New York Times’ Style section on Sunday ran a story by chief style writer Cathy Horyn where she interviewed designer Karl Lagerfeld about last week’s Chanel couture show, which featured textured pinks, silver metallics and pink, silver and grey stripes — plus A-line gown skirt shapes.
Lagerfeld greeted the Times writer in the Chanel studio by saying, rather surprisingly, “It’s not a red-carpet opportunity.”
“We’ve had clients cancel an order after seeing their dress on a celebrity,” Lagerfeld said.
What that means is this: Couture dresses are made for private — wealthy — clients, are only one of a kind and tend to run around $50,000 apiece. Actresses, when they wear them on red carpets, do not pay for these gowns: They either return them, get to keep them or donate them to charities.
So if customers aren’t happy when actresses are wearing the gowns they’ve ordered — how many Chanel coutures are we going to see on actresses? Chanel couture has never been worn by too many actresses outside of Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Audrey Tatou and Sarah Jessica Parker — but this could be the beginning of major couture houses starting to turn their backs on dressing celebrities.
Not all designers will feel this way; Versace seems to be aided by celebs wearing their couture. But it could just be the beginning of a backlash of sorts. Something to keep a red carpet watchful eyeful trained eye on.
