Haute Couture Expo Coming to Quebec City
Evening dress, Pierre Balmain, 1950
Oui les amis! Quebec City will have the honor of hosting a special exhibition of Haute Couture, true Haute Couture that is. Titled the “Golden Age of Couture : Paris and London, 1947-1957″, the exhibit will feature more than 250 unique pieces from well-known French couture houses such as Dior, Givenchy, Balenciaga and Balmain (the original).
It will be held at the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Quebec from Feb 4 to April 25, 2010.
The website already has a lovely preview of some of the pieces. Simply divine! Now that’s what I call true couture fashion.
I feel fortunate that Montreal and Quebec are recipients for some of the loveliest couture exhibitions. First Repetto’s 60th anniversary, then YSL’s Retrospective Expo, and now this.
Vive la mode!
Image credit: MNBQ
Haute Couture For Men in Montreal
I admit that writing about Men’s Fashion isn’t one of my strong points since I know nothing about it. I sort of wished we had our own Sartorialist photographing fashionable men around the city!
However, I’m glad to know that there is a boutique for the high end man and that’s Pellegrino Castronovo. I’ve actually passed by this shop many times by car as it’s hard to miss from its beautifully spacious interior and large windows. Montreal.tv did a nice little reporting clip about the store and showcased what the shop could do for you. It looks like a very nice store, but only if you have the funds to show for it.
Pellegrino Castronovo Couture is located at 5025 Avenue Papineau, corner St-Joseph.
Image credit: Pellegrino Castronovo
Haute Couture Not For The Bourgeoisie
From January 21rst to January 24th, the Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2008 show will go on once more in Paris.
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.
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.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxanlY0EvY4&rel=1]
Covered in Chocolate
Well, I suppose I could’ve used a more elegant way of saying it. But this article has such a perfect headline, I couldn’t come up with a better title
Credit image: Reuters
Source: Reuters
Darling, you look good enough to eat…
NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - For hard-core chocoholics, it was the fashion show that quite literally took the biscuit.
Models in New York paraded outfits made of chocolate in the 2007 Haute Chocolate Couture Collection as the audience feasted their eyes on dresses and accessories made out of dark and white chocolate, chocolate squares, chocolate chips and little else.
Model Ashley Moss showed off a dress made from cookies.
“It’s actually amazing. It’s not everyday that you get to wear something like this so I’m really, really excited about it. It’s a first time experience to be wearing cookies,” she told Reuters Television.
The show was part of the 10th Annual International Chocolate Show held over the weekend.
All outfits were meticulously crafted by several designers, including Ortrud Muench Carstens who said the sun almost sabotaged her creation.
“You have to keep it at a very low temperature, not more than about 65 or 68 degrees (18-20 degrees Celsius),” said Carstens.
“The other day I opened the window while I was still working on the dress, and the sun was shining and it, if you come close to it, you see, it melted,” she said, pointing out an area of partially melted chocolate.
Seriously, is there anything designers can’t do?
Mmm….chocolate…
