Wynn Las Vegas Magazine by MODERN LUXURY

Wynn - 2014 - Issue 2 - Fall

Wynn Magazine - Las Vegas

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Toujours Couture There is fashion, and there is the high art of the couturier. For couture buyers staying at Wynn and Encore, these fashion houses make personal visits . By Erin Geiger Smith O n a cold Paris day in February 1947, Christian Dior sent such full skirts down the runway that the swish of the models' turns were said to knock the ashtrays off the tables of the presentation's attendees. The col- lection, with its "Tailleur Bar" ensemble—a cinched-waist jacket and voluminous pleated skirt—so redefined global fashion that to this day it is known as "The New Look." It was the moment, says Valerie Steele, chief curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, when a single fashion trend conquered the world. Those yards and yards of billowing skirts spelled true luxury to a post–World War II public that had endured years of every kind of shortage—including fabric. But more than simple abundance, Steele notes, couture, which involves making clothing precisely to measure for its wearer, involves "the most technically complex, most labor-intensive aspects of fashion. In a way, it's the ultimate expression of what a designer can do." Like the highly-regulated Champagne business, "couture" is a French word frequently tossed about to lend an air of sophisti- cation to fashion-speak. But an authentic haute couture garment can come only from Paris, from a couture designer designated and approved annually by the French Ministry of Industry. Only those houses granted membership to the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture may legally use the "haute couture" label. Within its 160-year history, there have been about 40 haute couture houses; fewer than 15 operate today. And while couture customers head to Paris to view pieces and start their fittings, Wynn guests who are interested in purchasing couture from Las Vegas have the advantage of being able to visit three top fashion houses with couture divisions—Dior, Givenchy, and Chanel. Prior to the April opening of Givenchy's flagship US store on the Wynn Wynn 63 WyNN LUxUry Pale pink silk dress from Dior's Haute Couture 2014–15 collection.

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