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Paris Couture: Brandishing Both Confidence and Confusion

Just a few years ago, couture was facing what many pundits called an “identity crisis’. Before that, it seemed that the entire world was predicting its imminent extinction and the ultimate demise of the expertise personified by the “petits mains’ who make couture garments so extraordinary.

But in the past couple of seasons, a new consensus has emerged. Many of those same experts and industry insiders are now facing the uncomfortable reality of having to eat their words. Couture, they decree, is not only relevant again but it also appears to be thriving thanks to the triumvirate of new markets, new clients and, some say, even a new collective vision for the industry.

The handful of major maisons still operating made-to-measure services for a separate couture collection have tightened the reins on pure fantasy and settled instead for a more rational interpretation of luxury “” though certainly not without the requisite extravagance. “ Many industry insiders are now having to eat their words. Couture is not only relevant again but it also appears to be thriving. ”

Armani Prive, Chanel, Bouchra Jarrar

The fall/winter 2011-12 season that concluded on Thursday was a case in point. Hence, the romantic opulence that enveloped the shows of Givenchy, Valentino and Elie Saab and the savage beauty which framed collections by Jean Paul Gaultier, Giambattista Valli and Alexis Mabille. Or the discreet daywear favoured by the likes of Armani Prive, Chanel and Bouchra Jarrar.

The houses of Azzedine Ala¯a and Christian Dior sat on either end of the spectrum, representing two extremes of couture’s evolving identity. Or, as a few of the more blunt critics have suggested, they embodied the best and the worst that contemporary couture has to offer.