Haute couture goes cold as recession lingers

PARIS — During a recession, how do you hawk a dress that costs more than many cars?

That's the dilemma facing the handful of luxury labels that still craft haute couture — the collections of sumptuous, wildly expensive garments made-to-measure for an elite cadre of the world's ultra-rich.

During the bull market, labels considered couture lines and their showcases — lavish, media-saturated catwalk displays that started this week in Paris — to be headline-grabbing investments that helped bolster sales of more accessible ready-to-wear collections and accessories, perfume and cosmetics lines.

But with the luxury industry reeling from the global financial crisis, the future of haute couture — and its euro20,000 — plus (US$28,000) dresses — looks anything but certain.

In May, couturier Christian Lacroix launched insolvency proceedings, raising the specter that the label, whose dazzling cocktail dresses in eye-popping colors have come to epitomize — almost define — couture, could close up shop.

The words "haute couture" are often tossed around casually, but in France there are formal, legal guidelines that define the practice, dictating a minimum number of original designs as well as a baseline number of technical workers.

There are currently only 11 full-fledged members of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. With its correspondents and guests there are two dozen designers on this week's official schedule of catwalk shows.

Designer Ralph Rucci, an American invited to Paris as a guest in the early 2000s, has since returned to the New York catwalks, mostly for financial reasons. Rucci said he believes couture is still viable, but added that Lacroix erred by failing to balance it with ready-to-wear.

"He never fully had the opportunity to expand into ready-to-wear in the way that he should have," he said.

A Paris commercial court has placed Lacroix in receivership, setting a six-month observation period to see whether the label — which has never in its 22-year-long history made a profit — can turn itself around. Lacroix slashed costs for his normally over-the-top runway show on Tuesday, inviting only a fraction of the usual number of guests.

"For us, the crisis is like an earthquake, and some houses are going to fall," said designer Stephane Rolland, who launched his eponymous haute couture line about 2 1/2 years ago. "It would be too sad if Lacroix were among those houses because what he does is pure art. I simply cannot believe he'll be permitted to fall."