High fashion is expecting booming demand from young customers

Millennials’ customers are increasingly showing their love for high-end fashion products from famous fashion houses in the world.

The luxurious haute couture outfits made with the hands of meticulously and talented skilled artisans are always considered the pinnacle of artistic beauty in the fashion industry. Not only does it represent creativity, sophistication, as well as harsh standards, but also a mirror that reflects the face of the times. Therefore, absolutely not everyone can get their hands on the haute couture design because of its original nature which was reserved for the aristocracy and the elite to exhibit luxury and class.

It is not easy to get your hands on high-end fashion designs no matter how much your customers are willing to pay. (Image: Philadelphia Style Magazine)

In the peak period after the New Look Collection in 1947, about 20,000 people around the world officially became customers of the high-end fashion line under the Dior brand. Today, that number drops to almost 4,000, but their purchasing power has doubled. Accordingly, the creative director Karl Lagerfeld of Chanel fashion house revealed that customers only spend money to own 5 luxury costumes while modern shoppers will pay for 20, or sometimes the number of costumes they buy can get to 40 haute couture designs.

However, a fact in modern society shows that Millennials (ages from 19 to 35) are also fascinated by luxurious haute couture designs and they are increasingly brave to spend on fashionable products. Accordingly, together with Gen Z, the total expenditure of the Millennials will account for 45% of the global luxury fashion market by 2025, according to a Bain & Company study.

(Image: Getty Images)

THE NATURE OF HAUTE COUTURE FASHION

Toledano – the Chairman of Haute Couture & Fashion Federation (The Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode – The Federation of Haute Couture & Fashion) said: “The principle of haute couture fashion lies in creative thinking with the skills sophisticated tailoring techniques, which both show the beauty of innovation and still retain the brand’s identity”.

(Image: Anne Combaz)

Currently, the list of official haute couture in Paris collapses to only 14 members including extremely familiar names in the international fashion industry such as Chanel, Christian Dior, Givenchy or Jean Paul Gaultier.

The Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry – Le Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture also recognizes other international members although not based in Paris such as Elie Saab, Giambattista Valli, Giorgio Armani (with the Amarni Privé line), Maison Margiela, Valentino, Versace. There are also guests from overseas who are also on the official calendar of haute couture fashion weeks such as Ulyana Sergeenko, Iris van Herpen and Maison Rabih Kayrouz.

The collections from foreign fashion houses such as Iris van Herpen bring modern spirit and youthful beats to the high fashion week. (Image: Yannis Vlamos / Indigital.tv)

To be certified as haute couture, fashion houses must meet the requirements of the Le Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture standards including: the ability to design special orders including costumes and accessories, owning a standard workshop in Paris with at least 20 skilled artisans and periodically releasing two collections of at least 50 designs annually.

Talented craftsmen always work hard in Chanel’s sewing factory in Paris. (Photo: Chanel)

The time to create a haute couture outfit from high-quality fabric and fine stone details, elaborate embroidery often takes several hundred hours, especially with more expensive products. There are some outfits that take about 6 thousand hours to make perfect by hundreds of artisans. And of course, the price of such a meticulously built product is not cheap, ranging from 9 thousand euros (about 243 million VND) to 1 million euros.

The technique of fabric dyeing, 3D embroidery, elegant beaded engagement requires meticulousness and precision in each needle thread of highly skilled artisans.

MILLENNIALS FASHION WAVE

Today, Millennials have really shown a strong influence on the high-end fashion industry with unique experiences and breaking the rules of the era. According to research from the Pew Research Center, there are an estimated 2 billion Millennials around the globe, making up the largest population in the world’s population. In the next two decades, they will likely become the most paying customers for fashion products, so retailers need to show their creativity and ability to embrace communication tools if you want to attract these potential shoppers on online shopping channels.

“We are currently working with a large number of Millennials. About 25% of our customers are between the ages of 20 and 30, with a total of 35% under the age of 40” said the representative of Maison Rabih Kayrouz – a brand founded by a designer who worked in the high-end sewing factory  of Chanel and Dior.

The young generation occupies the front row in famous fashion shows. (Photo: Fashion Magazine)

Toledano shared the reason why more and more young customers are spending on high-end fashion products because of the ability to access data from famous fashion houses in the world. Accordingly, to maintain its position in the fierce retail market, designers and brands must always explore creative ways to connect with customers. And websites in the modern era are supported by formats suitable for young people and gradually catching up with the videos of the process of finishing products or visiting garment factories in Paris.

These are all unprecedented things in the glamorous Haute Couture world, a place that used to follow traditional principles and is compared to a closed door to the outside world.

(Image: Getty Images)

But it should be noted that, although the younger generation expresses a love for high-end fashion, brands still need to master the standards of Haute Couture designs. They should not arbitrarily run after the profits but lose the inherent value of the fashion segment is considered a manifesto of class and contribute to the style orientation of the fashion industry in the world.

In addition, customers, especially the younger generation, should not pursue Haute Couture high-end fashion line just for the purpose of experience and enjoyment without caring about the essential elements hidden inside in every design.