"It's been a long time since I came around, been a long time but I am back in town..."
The fashion weeks around the world are on and it is time to talk a bit about collections and the different kinds of markets.
A
collection is a range of garments, accessories or products that have been designed and produced to be sold to retailers or directly to a client. This range of pieces may have been inspired by a trend, a theme or a cultural or social reflection. Usually they are designed for a specific season or occasion. A collection is the grouping of outfits or looks that are presented on the catwalk or even to web pages. Usually a collection includes a combination of colors, fabrics and figures with an emphasis according to the aesthetic of the designer. It includes 28 to 31 garments or 12 to 13 total looks.
There are
4 collections per year: Resort, Spring-Summer, PreFall and Autumn-Winter.
The show calendar for the northern hemisphere is the following
January : Haute Couture / Paris/ Spring-Summer
February- March: Ready-to-wear/ All/ Autumn- Winter
July: Haute Couture/ Paris/ Autumn- Winter
September- October: Ready-to-wear/ All/ Spring-Summer
There are fashion weeks going on all the around the world but the most important ones are
New York- London- Milan- Paris.
There are
3 different kinds of markets:
Haute Couture
Ready-to-wear
Mass Market/ Fast Fashion
Haute Couture:
The term describes the luxury, the detailed elaboration combined with unique and extravagant details. Born in the Parisian fashion houses in the 19th century Couture is the highest range of the spectrum of fashion. The term "made-to-measure" is used only by the designers that have the standards by the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture.
A very interesting video showing the complicated and elaborate work that is required to make an Haute Couture outfit by Chanel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nN3ZXPNPx0
Ready-to-wear:
Also known as Pret-a-porter it became the alternative to Haute Couture in the 60s where there was a variety of sizes and they could be bought directly from the boutique. Ready-to-wear crosses between Haute Couture and the Mass Market. It is presented twice a year and it is worked with a 12-month anticipation, investigating and developing the collection. The biggest ready-to-wear brands have also created their Bridge brands that are sold in a middle price for example Marc by Marc Jacobs, See by Chloe.
Mass Market/ Fast Fashion:
It is based on a logistics system that allows the design, the production and putting in the store in 2 weeks or less, the replacement of sold garments multiple times per week and linked to the daily registry of the sales of models, colors and sizes. The best example is Zara with its success in terms of sold volume.
Promise to be back soon with more about fast fashion!!!
