Who wears Designer Ready to Wear?

[Anonymous]

What exactly is “ready to wear”? I’ve seen it used before but as opposed to…clothes you can’t wear?

[Anonymous]

I am going to completely botch this statistic, but I read recently (within the past year) that around 20 percent of a designer's customer base buys 80 percent of the goods. I think the point was that most customers buy one piece as a splurge (like a luxury handbag), and a small chunk of customers buy almost everything else. It's the same group of ultra- wealthy people buying everything, as alluded to upthread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm French. In Paris, women who buy their entire seasonal wardrobe exclusively at the haute couture designers like Dior and Chanel are often the wives and mistresses of Middle Eastern sheiks and magnates, the wives and girlfriends of Russian oligarchs, and the wives and mistresses of Asian billionaires. They wear them in their daily life, when having friends over, or getting-together with equally wealthy friends. It is a level of sartorial focus that a lot of billionaires of American and western European extraction just aren't interested in, even if they have the same level of wealth.

I assume it has something to do with patriarchal societies and how women in these locales perceive each other. They have higher beauty standards to maintain and must look their best at all times: their best also meaning a certain attention to cosmetic modifications, and runway and cultural trends. For the men, it manifests itself more in collecting the latest vehicles and electronic gadgets.

I have been in these circles and agree completely.

But that doesn't answer who is buying them in Northern Virginia.

I agree with the OP - i am fascinated by stores like these existing in areas like DC that don't really have that same vibe as Paris.

To the people saying "oh if your DH makes $1m as an exec, then that's who".

Because i'm a woman who makes well over $1m. And my husband makes another $1m. And I couldn't bring myself to buy stuff at that price point, and i'm not cheap. And i'm not going to events or even know of events in DC where stuff like this would make sense to own.

Agree. The only guy I know who makes over $2.5 million shops at Marshalls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm French. In Paris, women who buy their entire seasonal wardrobe exclusively at the haute couture designers like Dior and Chanel are often the wives and mistresses of Middle Eastern sheiks and magnates, the wives and girlfriends of Russian oligarchs, and the wives and mistresses of Asian billionaires. They wear them in their daily life, when having friends over, or getting-together with equally wealthy friends. It is a level of sartorial focus that a lot of billionaires of American and western European extraction just aren't interested in, even if they have the same level of wealth.

I assume it has something to do with patriarchal societies and how women in these locales perceive each other. They have higher beauty standards to maintain and must look their best at all times: their best also meaning a certain attention to cosmetic modifications, and runway and cultural trends. For the men, it manifests itself more in collecting the latest vehicles and electronic gadgets.

I have been in these circles and agree completely.

But that doesn't answer who is buying them in Northern Virginia.

I agree with the OP - i am fascinated by stores like these existing in areas like DC that don't really have that same vibe as Paris.

To the people saying "oh if your DH makes $1m as an exec, then that's who".

Because i'm a woman who makes well over $1m. And my husband makes another $1m. And I couldn't bring myself to buy stuff at that price point, and i'm not cheap. And i'm not going to events or even know of events in DC where stuff like this would make sense to own.

This really gave me a chuckle OP. We don't earn this much but DH and I are both former biglaw so we know a lot of people at that income level and yes it would be absurd to see the (either gender, partners, spouses) in that level of couture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm French. In Paris, women who buy their entire seasonal wardrobe exclusively at the haute couture designers like Dior and Chanel are often the wives and mistresses of Middle Eastern sheiks and magnates, the wives and girlfriends of Russian oligarchs, and the wives and mistresses of Asian billionaires. They wear them in their daily life, when having friends over, or getting-together with equally wealthy friends. It is a level of sartorial focus that a lot of billionaires of American and western European extraction just aren't interested in, even if they have the same level of wealth.

I assume it has something to do with patriarchal societies and how women in these locales perceive each other. They have higher beauty standards to maintain and must look their best at all times: their best also meaning a certain attention to cosmetic modifications, and runway and cultural trends. For the men, it manifests itself more in collecting the latest vehicles and electronic gadgets.

I have been in these circles and agree completely.

But that doesn't answer who is buying them in Northern Virginia.

I agree with the OP - i am fascinated by stores like these existing in areas like DC that don't really have that same vibe as Paris.

To the people saying "oh if your DH makes $1m as an exec, then that's who".

Because i'm a woman who makes well over $1m. And my husband makes another $1m. And I couldn't bring myself to buy stuff at that price point, and i'm not cheap. And i'm not going to events or even know of events in DC where stuff like this would make sense to own.

This really gave me a chuckle OP. We don't earn this much but DH and I are both former biglaw so we know a lot of people at that income level and yes it would be absurd to see the (either gender, partners, spouses) in that level of couture.

DC is a political, cerebral city. By definition clothes cannot take center stage in such an environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What exactly is “ready to wear”? I’ve seen it used before but as opposed to…clothes you can’t wear?

As opposed to couture which is presented more as an idea at the shows and then ordered and made to ensure for the actual customer. They aren't premaking the clothes in couture like they are in RTW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What exactly is “ready to wear”? I’ve seen it used before but as opposed to…clothes you can’t wear?

It's stuff that isn't made to order, basically. So it's the clothing that you see on display in the Chanel boutique or the Dior boutique. You can buy it there when you walk into the store. They may do alterations for you, but for the most part, it is ready to buy and to wear.

The gowns that the celebrities wear to the Oscars would be an example of items that aren't ready to wear. Those are typically couture and are actually made only when it's ordered for them.

[Anonymous]

Probably a combination of billionaire class / oil money and it’s not necessarily profitable…it’s an advertisement (or gain leader) meant to get working class people to spend their money on Dior lipstick and plastic Chanel flip flops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of rich middle eastern people in NOVA, even visitors will go shopping and buy some branded stuff. A friend of mine had a wealthy visitor from the middle east and she went out and bought absurdly expensive stuff and felt she got a steal because it would be even more expensive or hard to find in the middle east.

I was going to say this. Foreign tourists are who is buying this stuff-not Americans. Even in nyc and Vegas, the big buyers are foreign tourists.

That’s why if you interview to work at these stores, it is a huge plus if you speak Mandarin, Arabic or Russian. I worked in luxury retail and I speak two of these languages (not native fluency but well enough to hold a conversation and sell you a coat), and it was a huge plus to both my employer and customers.

OP here - Please tell us more.

PP here. The shopping is super seasonal. There are huge rushes before Lunar New Year and before Ramadan, but those two demographics are obviously different so the stores will get different merchandise for each rush.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm French. In Paris, women who buy their entire seasonal wardrobe exclusively at the haute couture designers like Dior and Chanel are often the wives and mistresses of Middle Eastern sheiks and magnates, the wives and girlfriends of Russian oligarchs, and the wives and mistresses of Asian billionaires. They wear them in their daily life, when having friends over, or getting-together with equally wealthy friends. It is a level of sartorial focus that a lot of billionaires of American and western European extraction just aren't interested in, even if they have the same level of wealth.
+1
Our hhi is a few million but I would never buy rtw designer clothing. I do buy bags but keep them for years. Occasionally, I’ll grab shoes on the sale rack at Neiman or Saks, but that’s rare. At our private k-12, the moms I see wearing this are either the incredibly wealthy ones from UAE or elsewhere in the Middle East, a few Asian families (mostly ones where the mom and kids live here for school and dad stays in china) and then a few tech billionaire spouses or locals who have had huge ipos. Otherwise even the dual law partner or dual surgeons or wherever would never. That said, these women are just as likely to then be at the next event in work out clothes or whatever. They def don’t always wear this.

I assume it has something to do with patriarchal societies and how women in these locales perceive each other. They have higher beauty standards to maintain and must look their best at all times: their best also meaning a certain attention to cosmetic modifications, and runway and cultural trends. For the men, it manifests itself more in collecting the latest vehicles and electronic gadgets.

I have been in these circles and agree completely.

But that doesn't answer who is buying them in Northern Virginia.

I agree with the OP - i am fascinated by stores like these existing in areas like DC that don't really have that same vibe as Paris.

To the people saying "oh if your DH makes $1m as an exec, then that's who".

Because i'm a woman who makes well over $1m. And my husband makes another $1m. And I couldn't bring myself to buy stuff at that price point, and i'm not cheap. And i'm not going to events or even know of events in DC where stuff like this would make sense to own.

[Anonymous]

I have a few friends who do. But they are new money. It shows.