Essay Research - Couture has a new market

I have been thinking about my essay and how it will map out.

I created a mind map of areas it could cover so that I could gain direction.

I then remembered a quote from Colin McDowell
McDowell, C (2013). Colin’s Column | Is Haute Couture Poised for Reinvention or Irrelevance? Available at: http://www.businessoffashion.com/2013/01/colins-column-is-haute-couture-poised-for-reinvention-or-irrelevance-3.html (Accessed: 25 January 2013)
he writes:


I then remembered a quote from Colin McDowell,  McDowell writes ‘new markets, especially in Asia and the Middle East, began to develop and they craved the traditional excess of Parisian haute couture’ and in addition ‘especially China, has a longing for couture’ (McDowell, 2013).

This got me thinking, and I had a conversation with my husband, discussing the possibilities of a new couture in China. He lead me to research this area more thoroughly  as China is buying skills and knowledge within the sports industry and he explained how they are buying european trained players and coaches, in order to teach their own players the skills needed to get to the top of their field in no time at all. He suggested it was not beyond the realms of possibility that they do the same with Haute Couture. How long would China be buying and showing an interest in Haute Couture before they have taken the items to pieces, worked out how they are constructed and create their own versions?

I also thought about how high street fashion has incorporated designer fashions with collaborations and how this seems to be leading high street fashion with celebrities wearing high street and designers using high street shops, perhaps this is where the money in fashion lies.

Two areas to research further