“Who wears this stuff?”
That’s the question when it comes to haute couture, a luxury fashion sector that creates hand-stitched, hundred-thousand-dollar (or more) dresses for special clients. (Translation: beyond wealthy and / or mega-famous.)
Enter Marjorie Harvey, a TV personality, style blogger, Instagram darling, and the mother of seven kids. She’s also the wife of Steve Harvey, the multi-hyphenate Hollywood mogul and recent Miss Universe host. As a designer client, fashion fan, and the auteur behind the website The Lady Loves Couture, Harvey has easy access to the industry’s most elite season, and shares a front-row perch with celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Anna Wintour.
We chatted with Lady Marjorie at her Paris hotel suite to talk about couture, Karl, and Walmart (really).
Yahoo Style: Let’s start with the basics. What makes a couture show so special, compared to a “normal” catwalk?
Marjorie Harvey: The thing about haute couture is the details. The amount of work that goes into each garment makes it a real work of art. It’s like viewing paintings in a gallery. You know the level of talent and discipline it took for the masterpiece to happen, and most of these garments are masterpieces. So to see what has taken months to create, first in the designer’s head, and then sketched on paper, and then to have dressmakers produce it, and then to present it on a runway with over-the-top, theatrical sets and music, and cinematic locations—it’s an incredible experience to see it firsthand.
As a couture client, your first step is to attend the fashion show. Let’s say you want to buy a dress. What happens next?
You go into the designer’s showroom. You touch the garments, and see the details. Then you speak with a designer—you can say, “Can I have it in this color?” Or “I have this event coming up—when do you think it might be ready?” In my case, I’m specifically wanting to see, up-close and personal, how a dress was constructed and how it feels. Sometimes the runway shows are so spectacular that you come away wondering, “what did I just see?”
What have you loved this couture season?
I loved Giambattista Valli. Dior was incredible. They did a fantastic job. They don’t have a “designer” right now, you know, and it was still incredible!… And of course Chanel! Karl Lagerfeld is a genius. The last look was a couture bomber jacket?! I was dying for that… He thinks so outside of the box and to see something from someone with a mind like that is incredible.
Are you and Karl Lagerfeld friends, at all?
No, Karl and I are not on speed dial. He’s not coming to have a coffee date with me and the girls. We’re not BFF. He’s incredible but it’s not like, “I need to be besties with these people.” I’m not a groupie, you know? I don’t get hung up on being best friends with the designers. Plus, most of my friends aren’t the age of my dad. Actually Karl is older than my dad! So we don’t really hang out.
Not even in fittings?
Ha! Just because it’s couture doesn’t mean you have to turn into a diva and say, “If I’m buying this dress, I won’t work with anyone but Karl!” You know? These people [in the couture atelier] are experts. I trust and respect them.
Source: Yahoo | Faran Krentcil
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