In the closeted world of satin and sequins that is Parisian haute couture, there is uncertainty about the future.
On Tuesday, Christian Lacroix, the incarnation of frivolity and joie de vivre in high fashion, will show a collection
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but only thanks to the benevolence of embroiderers, feather suppliers and christian louboutin makers working for free.
The house that reinvented the pouf skirt in the extravagant 1980s filed in May for protection from its creditors, similar to Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States. And on Friday the financial authorities announced that all but 12 of the 124 staff members would be laid off, unless one of three possible investors comes through. The designer could be left only with his name and a handful of licenses.
Even christian louboutin shoes Couture, part of the mighty LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton group, retreated Monday from a grand location to its own house for a show of closeted boudoir glamour
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although cutting back did not apply to the floral decoration of more than 4,000 roses.
Sidney Toledano, president and chief executive of christian shoes Couture, said that, far from being a cost-cutting exercise, it was just as expensive to show in house and that the change was made to express the spirit of couture rather than as a belt-tightening exercise.
Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive of LVMH, the parent company of both Dior and Givenchy, insisted that high fashion remained an imperative.
Givenchy also shows a couture collection.
”It is the heart of the house,” Mr. Arnault said of Dior. ”And it is good to come back home.”
Although haute couture is about delicate craftsmanship, its current purpose is to create an image as well as to dress clients.
What did the 120 women who are couture regulars make of the show? They may be happy to learn that the outfits will be offered with regular silk-lined skirts and jackets because John Galliano’s seductive collection was based on the fantasy of transparency: clothes so light that black stockings, garters and bared flesh made a shadowy appearance under a pleated orange skirt, and a curvy tailored jacket in bold fuchsia was worn over nothing but seamed stockings and silken panties. To garnish the succulent fashion menu, a corset might be molded on the outside of an outfit.
It was all a riff on the glory days of louboutin shoes, when a glimpse of stocking was something shocking and it incorporated the very Parisian lust for luxurious underpinnings as a male and female fantasy.
