I took an entire class on this at university. I hope this info helps.
As people above have implied, people use the term "designer" to mean two different types of clothes - those you can find in stores, and those you cannot.
The most expensive would be the type you can not find in stores - haute couture - which either can be designed explicitly for you by the design house, or else you may have seen it in a runway show and ordered it for yourself - less likely, as most of the items shown in haute couture shows are one-offs, and I think of them as PR for the design house, rather than in relationship to any clothing you'll ever seen in real life.
Haute couture is custom cut, custom fitted, high quality fabrics, lots of hand-sewing. In terms of cost? Heh. Ha ha. Could cost a mint. It depends on the designer, the fabrics, the style, etc. Too many variables. I'd guess well over US$1000 for one man's shirt, if done in a reasonable fabric and style.
Most of the design houses that produce haute couture also produce a "ready to wear", AKA "pret a porter" line. This is what most people on the street call "designer clothes".
Regular "designer" clothing is available in stores. It's more-or-less based on the fashions that the design house showed during one of the "fashion weeks", like Fashion Week in NYC, but then adapted for a mass-market. Some houses create ready to wear lines that are mass-produced, while others offer lines that are produced in limited numbers and therefore much more exclusive.
Ready to wear "designer" clothing can be quite expensive, but really depends. And in general, men's clothing would be less costly than if a similar item were made for a woman.
Also know - if the person is a celebrity attending a major event, they probably didn't pay for the clothing. The designer would make the dress custom for them to wear at the event - and BTW, those items of clothing would be considered couture. The celeb might be able to keep the dress afterwards, or more likely it would revert to the designer's own collection. The jewelery would be borrowed from a designer or a high-end store, like Tiffany. The shoes - it depends. They might have been a gift or a loan from a clothing or shoe designer, or the person's own, depending. The underwear - unless it's something spectacular or something specially required by the outfit, then that's often the person's own.
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What is the occasion?
Date: 2006-03-06 05:14 pm (UTC)As people above have implied, people use the term "designer" to mean two different types of clothes - those you can find in stores, and those you cannot.
The most expensive would be the type you can not find in stores - haute couture - which either can be designed explicitly for you by the design house, or else you may have seen it in a runway show and ordered it for yourself - less likely, as most of the items shown in haute couture shows are one-offs, and I think of them as PR for the design house, rather than in relationship to any clothing you'll ever seen in real life.
Haute couture is custom cut, custom fitted, high quality fabrics, lots of hand-sewing. In terms of cost? Heh. Ha ha. Could cost a mint. It depends on the designer, the fabrics, the style, etc. Too many variables. I'd guess well over US$1000 for one man's shirt, if done in a reasonable fabric and style.
Most of the design houses that produce haute couture also produce a "ready to wear", AKA "pret a porter" line. This is what most people on the street call "designer clothes".
Regular "designer" clothing is available in stores. It's more-or-less based on the fashions that the design house showed during one of the "fashion weeks", like Fashion Week in NYC, but then adapted for a mass-market. Some houses create ready to wear lines that are mass-produced, while others offer lines that are produced in limited numbers and therefore much more exclusive.
Ready to wear "designer" clothing can be quite expensive, but really depends. And in general, men's clothing would be less costly than if a similar item were made for a woman.
Also know - if the person is a celebrity attending a major event, they probably didn't pay for the clothing. The designer would make the dress custom for them to wear at the event - and BTW, those items of clothing would be considered couture. The celeb might be able to keep the dress afterwards, or more likely it would revert to the designer's own collection. The jewelery would be borrowed from a designer or a high-end store, like Tiffany. The shoes - it depends. They might have been a gift or a loan from a clothing or shoe designer, or the person's own, depending. The underwear - unless it's something spectacular or something specially required by the outfit, then that's often the person's own.