The Rise of Demi-Couture

This is an article from vogue.co.uk. Quite honestly, I only learned the word "demi-couture" after being obsessed with Mary Kartantzou. Basically, a lot of fashion journals and bloggers term her works as "demi-couture" or "ready-to-wear couture."

Here is the article. Credit goes to vogue.co.uk

SALES of highly-priced, highly-decorative items created by ready-to-wear designers have increased exponentially over the past two seasons, but what is the reason behind it?
"I think there is great demand from women to buy something unique that is made with great craftmanship," Mary Kartantzou told us. "They buy into something that is collectable and that they can keep for years to come instead of buying into dispensable fashion. It has changed the way we build a collection. When I started out I thought these pieces would just be for show and would be great for press but now they have become the backbone to the collection, and we always create a commercial counterpart that buyers buy in greater volume. I think it's a new way of buying into a couture-like garment without having the level of bespoke that couture offers, but still buying into a piece that is made with great attention to detail and that is really special."
"Pieces over $5,000 now account for 6 per cent of our business," Matthew Williamson president Joseph Velosa said. "To put that into context, two years ago we sold nothing at that price."
SEE THE WILLIAMSON COLLECTION
London-based designer Katrantzou has sold 18 units of her decorative and embellished Jewel Tree Dress, priced at £8,300, the Wall Street Journal reports today - meaning that the popularity of so-called "demi-couture" extends beyond the usual names ( Chanel, McQueen, Valentino) to young designers - but what is driving the consumer trend in what we are told is our bleakest financial hour?
"The customers who have the time to fly to Paris to sit through shows, lunch at Maxim's and visit designer ateliers for multiple fittings are few and far between these days," the Wall Street Journal argues. "In contrast, pieces like Mary Katrantzou's Jewel Tree Dress or Stella McCartney's damask lace and organza Pamela Dress [also priced at just under £8,000] don't require fittings - they can be bought with a few clicks at NET-A-PORTER.COM and delivered to your door the next day."
SEE THE MARY KATRANTZOU COLLECTION
London-based ecommerce site CoutureLab was established in 2006 by one of the founders of Net-A-Porter, Carmen Busquets ,  to offer exactly that: "seasonless" couture in a click. Designers including Alexis Mabille, Haider Ackermann, Nina Ricci, and Roberta Furlanetto already sell couture-quality pieces from the site, although - unlike traditional couture - each piece is conventionally sized rather than individually fitted.
Azzedine Alaïa's catwalk return in July with what he termed "semi-couture"; Karl Lagerfeld's pre-autumn/winter 2011-12 Chanel Metier D'Arts collection, utilising the skills of the couture atelier; as well as lush, ornate collections by designers including Christopher Kane, Prabal Gurung, Jason Wu, Rodarte and Proenza Schouler for autumn/winter, suggest the trend is far from over - and couture at the click of a mouse may be the next step.

Source: http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2011/10/26/couture-on-ready-to-wear-catwalks---instant-couture

Are you saving money for demi-couture? :)