Having heard news that there were chances of thunderstorm in Las Vegas, I was prepared to spend my stay in dreary rainy weather. But no. What kind of meteorologist says that it’ll rain…in the desert. Take no heed to anyone who says it’ll rain in Las Vegas. Today I baked and toasted under the hot desert heat like an omelette on a grill.

I arrived yesterday to our modest but rather very large hotel 15 mins off the strip at South Point Hotel Casino & Spa. The rooms are large and comfortable, very clean, huge plasma screen and a great view over the hotel’s pool.

But enough about hotel and comfort talk, let’s talk fashion and shopping in Las Vegas.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Las Vegas is building CityCenter on the Vegas Strip right next to the Bellagio Hotel. It’s slated to open in 2009 and construction has already been underway and had progressed much faster than I had anticipated. This patch of land already has the infrastructure to a near completion, a few of the buildings are already halfway through putting on the glistening silvery windows. CityCenter will definitely stand out in the Strip as I noticed many other buildings may be flashy with lights, but many are covered in gold mirror like windows. CityCenter will be all silver mirrored.

Caesar’s Palace : The Forum Shops

Not exactly knowing why Caesar’s Palace was deemed la creme de la creme of shopping areas, I understood the moment I set foot in The Forum Shops. A gargantuan maze of marble floors, winding escalators at the entrance, fountain center pieces galore with painted sky domed ceilings, and well over 100 high end brand names including Emilio Pucci, Christian Lacroix, St-John, Roberto Cavalli, Tourneau (a luxury watch store) and even a huge Trojan horse at FAO Schwartz. Tourists crowd the Italy flavored hallways as they are mesmerized by the beautiful sculptures and captivating lighting. The luxury stores were scarcely empty except for the venerable Louis Vuitton store. However, it isn’t to say that they weren’t making any money. I’ve seen dozens of tourist carry shopping bags from Gucci and Dior.

In general the atmosphere was completely commercial, enticing shoppers to spend their precious money at every stop. It was very hard to resist even for someone like me to simply pass by.

Fashion Show Mall

This huge mall is more catered to the general public but remained less crowded than The Forum Shops. The main concept for this mall is that there is a huge center runway in the middle of the mall, with a control room on the 2nd floor which controls the lights above it. From what I saw on the screens, there are regular fashion shows at the mall and models strut down the runway. I call it the Vegas Panache. They always have to add a lil form of entertainment value.

Here you’ll find many generic mainstream brands like Abercrombie & Fitch, Steve Madden, etc. There were also the high end department stores like Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue, as well as the lower end like Macy’s and Dillard’s. There were a couple of stores that caught my eye, mainly a store I fancy called White House & Black Market. I especially liked their strapless bubble skirt dresses, and the quality looked satisfactory. My main problem with this store is the fit, just a tad too big even as a size 0. A shame, it’s a really lovely store.

Style? What style?

There’s not much to speak of in terms of fashion style in Las Vegas. Everyone’s wearing board shorts, thonged sandals and tshirts. Only at night can you see the few who bother to dress up for a night out on the town, but there’s nothing really relevant to say about American style dressing (sorry). From my experience so far, most American cities are not quite into fashion eventhough they have a huge spending purse for luxury goods. But like many affluent shoppers who love to buy luxury items, they can’t dress themselves to save their lives (I am being biased of course, but if you want a city with style I would say Montreal, Tokyo and New York are the most fashionable I’ve seen so far). I am hopeful that I’ll see more interesting styles in Los Angeles and San Francisco though.

I’m on current a mission to find toy slot machines, the kind that acts like a bank and also serves as an entertaining slot machine. Anyone happen to know where I can find one? It’s for a friend since she couldn’t make it to Vegas with me.

I’ll also be attending a Cirque du Soleil show called “Ka” at the MGM Grand. Originally I had wanted to see “O” at the Bellagio, but unfortunately they don’t play Mondays and Tuesdays. Oh well, at least just one show will be enough.

Now, people often ask “What’s the difference between Haute Couture and Pret-a-porter?”

Well, quite a lot. Namely, Haute Couture is not catered to the mass audience but rather an exclusive and very rich clientele. The very rich are very few and in between, even celebrities only cover a fraction of the truly rich people in the world. Haute Couture involves custom-made tailoring and only uses fabrics of the highest quality. More often, they are less publicized in commercial fashion as the price range of their pieces is not made for the average household income.

In the world of luxury however, the houses recognized as Haute Couture by the Federation Francaise De La Couture in Paris are very few, 11 to be exact. They would be Christian Dior, Chanel, Adeline Andre, Christian Lacroix, , Givenchy, Dominique Sirop, Emanuel Ungaro (read more about Ungaro’s newly appointed young head designer at the Business of Fashion Blog), Franck Sorbier, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Maurizio Galante, Anne Valerie Nash. This is the current list as of 2007, among the former members include Balenciaga and Lanvin. If some of those names don’t seem familiar to you, it’s because you and I are not part of the social elite and the ultra rich to have heard about them. There are strict protocols to become a real Haute Couture House. But you’ll find much more information about why Haute Couture has become what it is today at Fashion-Era.com.

These houses are the only exception to their low-profile colleagues as Haute Couture shows in Paris are one of the most coveted media events next to Fashion Week.

10yrs of Dior Couture by John Galliano Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.
Image from Style.com

I find these shows to be a designer’s fantastical carousel of art pieces more so than realistic wear. John Galliano in particular for his fantastical theatrical shows, especially his Spring 2007 collection. I think for Haute Couture you’d have to really see the collection with an open mind.