MAYBE it's not that the Europeans and Saudi Arabians no longer have use for French haute couture and would rather spend their money on other things. And maybe there is no supporting the belief, widely spread by some fashion critics, that it is a remnant of the past.
More likely, it's simply that the stars of couture - Christian Lacroix, Emanuel Ungaro, Christian Dior - want to spread their wings a little, to explore uncharted waters.
So the big boys are heading East, where there is still high-powered spending, where there are plenty of parties and where the inaccessible world of haute couture can still be reached by the chosen few.
After months of awkward planning and tactful negotiations - no delicate designer egos to be bruised, please - some of France's most idolised couturiers will be showing their creations in Hong Kong for the first time. In true local style, the Haute Couture Francaise 1995 Fashion Gala Dinner Show is a charity event. And, no surprise at all, it's a sell-out.
The August 19 show, at the Grand Hyatt, will be the first opportunity many Hong Kong women have of seeing the real thing: hand-made suits, dresses and gowns personally created by France's legendary designers, intricately woven and embroidered over hundreds of hours in the fashion houses' Paris ateliers.
The Federation Francaise de la Couture, based in Paris, regards the show as 'a great opportunity for people in Hong Kong to understand what haute couture is', said federation spokesman Denise Dubois.
Of the 20 couture houses in France, 11 will be showing in Hong Kong: the others declined because of constraints of money or time. But the territory will still be able to view the newest couture creations of Dior, Lacroix, Ungaro, Givenchy, Guy Laroche, Hanae Mori, Jean-Louis Scherrer, Nina Ricci, Paco Rabanne, Ted Lapidus and Torrente.
