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Designer clothing came about after the advent of Charles Frederick Worth in Paris in the late Victorian era. Until then, clothing had been crafted locally or at home by hand. Fashion designers now dictated the clothing of the public through magazines and word-of-mouth. At first restricted to the upper class, the advent of manufacturing and synthetic textiles facilitated mass production of fashionable garments.
Now, designer clothing is a multi-billion dollar industry, with runway shows every season in Paris, Milan, New York, London and Japan. Technology has advanced commerce to the point of making designer garments instantly available to practically anyone, regardless of money. -
2007 Alain Bachellier / Creative CommonsThe two main types of designer clothing are ready-to-wear (RTW) and haute couture. Ready-to-wear includes what most people see at their shopping mall or during the runway shows. Prices and quality range from $20 to thousands of dollars for a garment. Ready-to-wear is produced by machine and distributed through sales channels to retail outlets worldwide. These clothes are created based on one pattern that is resized or "graded" for production. Ready-to-wear garments are not made to custom size.
Haute couture is produced on a smaller scale by select couturiers. There are only a handful of true couturiers in the world, and all are selected by the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in Paris, France. These houses deliver a level of detail and skill that cannot be copied in a mass-produced garment. Specially trained seamsters assemble custom-measured pieces to create a garment, and all trim is hand-finished. A simple suit, for instance, can cost $15,000, while a couture gown easily costs $30,000 or more. - Designer clothing is usually better crafted than lower-tier garments. Usually, a designer garment will have branding of some sort, whether it be a patch, tag or customized buttons. Often, designer garments are sized slightly larger than clothing carried by a mass producer such as Wal-Mart due to a phenomenon known as "vanity sizing." Designer clothes are also made in smaller production runs, making them less available for purchase and therefore more desirable.
- Designer clothing has a big influence on status. Many parents encounter this firsthand with teenagers who demand expensive jeans rather than settling for a comparable pair from a no-name brand. Designer names infer that the wearer can afford such clothing, and that they are distinct from others. Older people, meanwhile, can find themselves judged by their clothing choices. Certain jobs or positions now demand a designer wardrobe, just to keep up appearances. Designer clothing has helped to create a culture of consumers who are exhorted to live up to the designer's vision of beauty.
- As manufacturing becomes even cheaper, designer clothing is losing its footing. Now, many people are starting to favor one-of-a-kind fashions, rather than expensive garments. Many high-end designers now create cheaper lines to sell through mass retailers like Target in an effort to make fashion a more level playing field. Meanwhile, luxury clothing lines struggle to survive amid a national economic downturn that has restricted credit and dried up discretionary spending. Designer clothing won't ever die, but it will become more of an extra and less of a necessity.
