Fashion Hierarchy

Paris Fashion Week: Dior A/W 15 

Haute Couture is the highest class of fashion grouping brands such as Dior, Chanel and Valentino. Haute couture was born in the 1870’s when Charles Fredrick Worth released his first collection.Each item is made from scratch for each customer; haute couture clothing typically requires three fittings. First for measurements of body, secondly twill in canvas, then the final fitting and final adjustments if needed. It usually takes from 100 to 400 hours to make one dress, costing from £16,000 to over £60,000. A tailored suit starts at £10,000 and an evening gown starts at £40,000. The book controls the sales of couture, only 5 or so sold worldwide, one for each region, they can not be seen at same event, therefore the design house must be careful who it is sold to.

Burberry 2014 Campaign: Cara and Kate

Luxury is under Couture, with its catwalk shows in September and February. Luxury fashion is usually worn by social class A, aged 20+, on £100,00 + a year. An example of a starting price for luxury is a Burberry t-shirts starting at £100. Luxury is well above high street.The top five luxury designers are; Louis Viton, Hermes, Gucci, Prada, and Burberry. Often luxury fashion houses will produce limited stock of an item as to make a waiting list to create a certain image, and make the piece more desirable. Louis Viton bags are burnt if not sold at the end of the year this is so there are no     
sales so that the value of the bag is not reduced. 

Ted Baker Spring/Summer 2014

Bridge Bands, is next, based at the top end of High street. They include brands such as Ted Baker, LKbennet, Cos, Karren Millen and Sandro. The prices start from £50 up. Bridge Brands first came about in the 70s sitting in the middle of high street and luxury. This particular level of fashion is popular with the middle class over 30’s.

Mui Mui Campaign 2014

Diffusion brands are relatively inexpensive, “champagne taste but beer money”. Diffusion Brands include See by Chloe, Mui Mui from Prada, Marc by Marc Jacobs, DKNY by DK with an entry price from £40-400. They allow the consumer to have a taste of Couture through the cheaper diffusion brand. A Chloe Jumper cost’s £1015, yet a See by Chloe Jumper costs £255. The Price range is still well above high street, but is often bought as a one off or gift, for those who usually shop at high-street level. The consumers of bridge brands are usually the young rich; they are targeted younger than the original couture. Create impression that they are doing this to benefit the consumer, but are done for money reasons, as the fashion house does not want high street to copy. Diffusion Brands can encourage brand loyalty from a young age, once the client grows older and can afford Luxury Brands; their loyalty is already set.

M&S 2014 Campaign

The Baronesses

High Street brands are often located in Department Stores with an entry prices from £9-£30. Brands such as Gap, Monsoon, Debenhams and M&S are classed as High Street Brands. They often form collaborations with higher end clothes to increase a certain ranges image and value.There is no exact market for high street brands as they are so popular as a level of fashion; each brand has its own target market. They are not always massively on trend. Trends run through collections but are not massively obvious.

Topshop 2014 campaign: Cara Delevingne

Economy/Fast Fashion is the fastest and cheapest form of fashion, including brands such as Zara, Topshop, Newlook, H&M and Primark. It is cheap and easy to sell; being mass produces it is very popular and is the most mainstream and popular fashion, especially amongst the younger generations. Fast fashion and High street can be seen to be blending together. Often fast fashion brands also have conglomerates, such as Zara’s Black tag, which is more upper class and extremely trend driven.