Monday Morning Inspiration

The Wall Street Journal puts out a wonderful magazine. Fortunately, my husband reads the Wall Street Journal so it's delivered right to my door step. In this recent edition of the magazine, they did a very interesting spread. Along with the description of each gown, they included the amount of hours that it took to construct each piece. We all enjoy looking at these beautiful creations and we can only imagine the amount of labor that went into them. Now we can have a much better idea.

Givenchy Haute Couture by Riccardo Tisci
Thirty-eight yards of satin and 480 hours of construction time. Embroidered with pearls, crystals and finished with punk-tinged touch of metal zips.

Valentino Haute Couture
Five artisans and 1,200 hours of labor.
The first piece sold the morning after the show to a young Brazilian client.

Dior Haute Couture
The hours are not included for this gown. What's made note of though is the meticulous, perfect hand stitching that gives this sheer confection body.

The detail on the sleeve.

 The stitching detail on the collar.

The black embroidery stands out on this gown. The hand stitching, the true work, fades away.

Armani Prive
The jacket is a completely covered in Swarovki crystal paillettes and took nearly four weeks to complete. Two hundred and fifty hours were spent on the construction of the bias-cut gown.

Giambattista Valli Haute Couture
The fluid beauty of this poet-sleeve gown lies in the three layers of ivory fabric, two of mousseline and one of crepe georgette, totaling 39 yards. The gown conceals a bustier.

Atelier Versace
Four tailors and one head seamstress collaborated for 150 hours to create this gown. It's embroidered with tiny, diamond-shaped Swarovski crystals.

Gaultier Paris
A deconstructed shantung trench coat and lace and organza gown, which the designer gave the fanciful name "Lyrics." It took two artisans 100 hours to create this gown.

Elie Saab Haute Couture
The intricate embroidery of sequins, beads and rhinestones on this tulle and crepe georgette gown is the work of eight artisans: the construction required three seamstresses, totalling 250 hours.

The gown is a part of this collection.
So there you have it. Beauty takes time, lots of it!
Have a wonderful week.
Rhonda