High End Routine Wardrobe : Ready To Wear

Ready to wear or in French Prêt-à-Porter, informally known as “off the rack” are pieces of high-end clothes that are feasible to acquire at store front boutiques, high-end department stores and online boutiques. Designers produce this segment, predetermined to be worn without significant revampment because clothing made to typical sizes fits most people. Numerous designers such as Dior and Chanel wich are known for their couture pieces also offer a Ready to wear line of regalia. Haute couture houses are obligated to present their collection in shows every 6 months at half a year in advance, as opposed to this Prêt-à-Porter, these shows are accustomed to present their collection once a year in advance. For instance The Spring 2018 collection was bestowed in 2017.


History of Ready to Wear
Paris Prêt-à-Porter fashion week as we know today, was kicked-off in late 50s under the aegis of Balenciaga model named Emmanuelle Khanh. In 1957 Emmanuelle and Christiane Bailly met while modeling in leading top haute couture houses. Craving to outfox the other models and dress in most innovative and chic gear, Emmanuelle had a designer forge a low cut cotton culotte dress that caused an uproar on the Faubourg St. Honore. With the assistance of Boussac, the French cotton fabric king, Emmanuelle and Christiane cited their first collection in 1959. They presented modern sportswear; culottes, long droopy collars on tops; shorter, easy bias skirts; and by using men’s textiles for women such as Harris tweed, they made soft dresses and jackets with a state of the art early sixties front. Fashion in the late fifties was rigid and boxy. This new creation of delicate, retentive, easy to sew fashion became major success amongst budding post-war Parisiennes.

Need for expensive Ready To Wear
Ready to wear in price range is 3-5 times the mass market, the collection is still very posh and high end but not so much as the Couture. While at couture you’ll be splurging $20,000 on a piece robe in “off the rack” you’ll be spending like $4000-5000. Since they are industrialized, meaning made using machines and not fastened from hand they are not unique pieces. Even though they aren’t rare garb, there’s a substantial amount of artistry and made from a range of quite superior quality of fabrics. And most of the times they are “Made in Itlay” or Made in France” . This is the segment where designer expresses themselves and tries to bring a revolution.


Speaking of bringing a revolution Creative Director of Dior, Maria Grazia Chirui recently in Dior Cruise Collection 2019 reorient factual male-dominated house as a citadel of feminist values and icons. She’s searched in history—most recently the protesting ladies of 1968—and catered sloganwear to the Instagram era. The director herself said in the interview with Vogue “I took great inspiration from the work of a number of artists, including Loïe Fuller, Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham and Pina Bausch, who used dance as a way of breaking free”. She also said ”The aim is to reaffirm the importance of their poetry in the construction of modern dance."

Evolution of ready to wear
Let’s see the evolution of RTW in case of Chanel

House's debut ready-to-wear label launched in, 1979.

Karl’s (Current Creative Director of Chanel)’s First prêt-a-porter line, 1984

 

 

A few years later 1989 it evolved in

 

 

In early 2000s it looked like

 

 

Just a decagon earlier from today

In Present day it glimpses like this


Last Updated: 29 September 2022