'Luxury', 'Bespoke', 'Couture': Say What You Mean And Mean What You Say.

Is 'bespoke' by any other name still 'bespoke'? According to the U.K. Advertising Standards Authority at least, it apparently still is. I for one beg to differ and in this respect my sympathies lie squarely with the group of aggrieved Savile Row tailors who lost their fight to stop the term 'bespoke' from being used by menswear retailers to sell suits which have not been made entirely by hand. At its origins, the term referred to tailored clothing made at a customer's behest and exactly to the customer's specification without use of a pre-existing pattern. (Source) In other words, a bespoke suit is literally constructed from scratch around a clients body. The process is a relatively time-consuming one in so far as a bespoke client will be measured and fitted repeatedly until the suit fits perfectly. The dispute arose because the term has been appropriated to designate mere made-to-measure suits which involve altering a standard-sized pattern to fit the customer. (Source) In my humble opinion, I believe this amounts to a misappropriation of the term and will likely leave consumers even more confused.

There is a parallel to be drawn with the terms 'luxury' and ' haute couture'. For instance, you need only type "luxury" in your preferred search engine to watch the thousands and thousands of hits generated by this one little word alone. With the explosion of brands purporting to offer 'luxury' services and products, the term has been somewhat diluted and leaves you wondering what precisely it designates. Similarly, I've frequently heard the term 'couture' used to designate a ready-to-wear garment that's heavily embellished or merely "fancy". I think part of the problem is that haute couture (like bespoke tailoring) is an industry too often misunderstood and the term itself too often misappropriated. The term actually has a very precise and technical definition that dates back to 1945. The term is also subject to a number of rules. For instance, to avail oneself of the label, one must first belong to a select club whose membership is tightly regulated by the Chambre syndicale de la haute couture. Design houses who belong to that elite club then earn the right to call a creation haute couture if and only if (1) the design is made-to-order for private clients and involve one or more fittings; (2) the design house has an atelier (workshop) in Paris that employs at least fifteen people full-time; and (3) it presents a collection to the Paris press twice a year comprising at least thirty-five runs with outfits for both daytime wear and evening wear. (Source) To better appreciate haute couture, I recommend Didier Grumbach's Histores de la mode (Regard, 2008) if you read French. If not, The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947-1957 (V&A) edited by Claire Wilcox is also excellent. Also, London's Victoria & Albert Museum has a useful interactive timeline of couture houses and designers on its website as well as other useful information about the history and the evolution of haute couture.

The confusion about what these terms actually designate is at least partly attributable to many of the so-called purveyors of luxury who don't seem to understand what 'luxury' actually is. The same is true of the term 'bespoke'. Case in point, upon learning of the Advertising Standards Authority's ruling, one of the menswear retailers who was on the winning side of the dispute was quoted as calling the decision "(...) a victory for 'affordable luxury'." (Source) With all due respect, that statement perfectly sums up the problem in a nutshell - bespoke, like haute couture, is true-blue luxury. Affordability has absolutely nothing to do with it. To associate the two is to reveal your own ignorance or worst yet, a willingness to profit from the confusion of your customers. Neither is particularly becoming in a brand.

Sincerely,

The Luxe Chronicles

Comments

[Helene]

Thank you all for your comments. I'm heartened to see that I'm not alone to care about this issue - I sometimes fear I may be turning into a fashion obsessive-compulsive. I also hesitated to post on this topic because I thought it might bore my readers. I (gladly) stand corrected!

Randall - please, please, please let me know if the U.K. Advertising Standards Authority ever does get back to you. I would love to know what they have to say on the subject.

Helene

[Randall]

Well said. When the story first broke in the Telegraph or Guardian (can't recall which) I registered my complaint with the U.K. Advertising Standards Authority. I received an automated response thanking me for submitting information and a promise of follow up. I'll post again if I do hear back from them.

[Ms. P&C]

Thank you for writing this! I hate when people mis-use these terms but sound like a clothes-snob if I start to educate on the differences. Personally, I'm happy being a fashion nerd...

Handcrafting like this should be protected as much as it can be; these dying arts are only going to become more and more rare, so the regulation does exactly what it should by preserving the craft. It's too bad that the bespoke tailors are not more organized or even "unionized" in a way so they can leverage their power for protection.

[Helene]

You're right about the need to be an educated consumer. I don't hold out much hope though as I've often heard the terms 'bespoke' and 'couture' misappropriated by industry professionals whom one would think would (or should) know the difference. How is a consumer supposed to make sense of the gibberish if industry professionals don't bother to get it right? This said, where haute couture is concerned, the Chambre syndicale de la couture actually does a fairly good job of protecting the trade and have adopted a strict regulatory code that governs their members. The body also wields enormous power within the French fashion industry. The bespoke industry in contrast is not very well organized from what I can tell and that is to the detriment of their trade. It leaves the field wide open to unscrupulous brands or merchants to exploit the term for marketing purposes.

Helene

[Dahlia]

I've only heard of the word "bespoke" when I first encountered a client of mine who does made-to-measure tailoring in Montreal (perhaps one of the only places in the city). As he handed me a few magazines on bespoke fashion, I began to understand the meaning of it and thus I have a high respect for the men's tailoring industry.

It is a shame that such a term should not be used lightly since it is the best thing a man could ask for. As with haute couture, there is not enough education out there for readers and shoppers to know the difference. But I think eventually the shoppers will come around (at least I hope) and will want to know more of what they're buying into.