DALLAS, Aug 7, 2006/ FW/ --- ‘Denim in Chanel’ screamed headlines during the Paris Haute Couture season last month, as Karl Lagerfeld legitimized the lowly denim as a luxury product while bringing haute couture to a brave new world of youthful enthusiasm.

Reviews were mixed, as fashion pundits were surprised with the appearance of denim on the Chanel catwalk, of all places. Chanel, the quintessential French luxury house, purveyor of sophistication and elegance is now embracing the denim, the ‘uniform’ of the young, the working class, and middle income neighborhoods.

‘What happened? What’s going on?’ editors and fashion writers were asking. Some in a voice loud enough to be heard; others in a whisper, afraid that if they gave the collection a bad review, they would not be invited again.

What happened – Times are changing. For years, the same fashion pundits who were saying ‘haute couture is dying’ are now baffled by Karl Lagerfeld’s move on putting denim on the haute couture catwalk.

Well, if haute couture is ‘really dying,’ then, for it to survive it has to appeal to the next generation of fashionistas. The baby boomers, the current clientele are getting older and the leading edge of the group is now senior citizens. With Gen X and the echo boomers as the new consumers and new market force, their love for denim has to be catered to.

After all, they are now paying over $1,000 for a pair of denim jeans by Evisu and 7 For All Mankind. Why not shift that spending to haute couture, with haute couture prices. They will be getting made-to-measure and artisan quality embroidery and beading.

On an unrelated news, but relevant to Chanel’s denim craze this season, Business Week ranked the French fashion house #61 on its 100 Best Global Brands, with an 8% increase in brand valuation from last year.

According to Business Week, brand values were calculated as the net present value of the earnings that the brand is expected to generate and secure in the future for the time frame from July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006.

And, in order to be included in the top global brands list, a brand must have a minimum brand value of $2.7 billion, achieve about one third of their earnings outside of their home country, have publicly available marketing and financial data, and have a wider public profile beyond their direct customer base.

With Karl Lagerfeld breaking new grounds with the introduction of denim on the haute couture catwalk, Chanel just made itself very attractive to the young people, which in turn also added value to the Chanel brand based on this phrase, ‘have a wider public profile beyond their direct customer base.’

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Chanel

Chanel

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