Who Buys Haute Couture? A Look at A Few of Fashion’s Most Noteworthy Clients
Marie Antoinette to Mouna Ayoub, it’s only a select few who can join this exclusive club
Hundreds of hours of work, multiple fittings and confidential prices – it’s hardly surprising that only those with the deepest pockets can dip their toes into the world of couture. Think heiresses, royalty, socialites and only the most successful of businesswomen, these are the clients who want only the crème de la crème when it comes to their wardrobes, like dresses crafted exclusively for them from Dhs785-per-metre silk and adorned with hundreds of crystals and statement embellishments. Yet with couture clients, thought to number just 4,000 internationally and only about 200 who buy in substantial volume, it begs the question – just who are these women buying fashion’s most coveted pieces?
It all dates back to Marie Antoinette, who is often described as the very first consumer of haute couture. Snapping up French fashion merchant Rose Bertin as her Minister of Fashion, no other queen has inspired such a style revolution since, and she was often spotted sporting one-of-a-kind costumes for her numerous court appearances.
Her obsession with haute couture – apparently she bought around 300 gowns a year – however, did her no favours during times of financial hardship, earning her the reputation as Madame Deficit and resulting in the French public scapegoating her for all of the country’s economic problems.
Fast forward to the 1950s and the likes of Grace Kelly, American magazine editor Babe Paley and New York socialite Nan Kempner were three of couture’s biggest clients, the latter said to have missed only one round of runway shows in the space of 55 years. Today, however, it is believed women from the region are some of the most prominent members of the fold favouring the likes of Dior and Chanel, as well as Lebanese designers like Elie Saab and Zuhair Murad.
Queen Rania of Jordan is perhaps Arab royalty’s most avid collector – she is particularly fond of Elie Saab, who she wears to everything from family celebrations to charity events – while Sheikha Moza bint Nasser Al-Missned of Qatar is staunch in her support of Jean Paul Gaultier, Dior and Valentino couture.
The proud owner of more than 2,700 pieces, each valued at Dhs36,730 ($10,000) to Dhs1,101,900 ($300,000), it is real estate entrepreneur Mouna Ayoub who is thought to own the world’s largest collection of haute couture.
A passion ignited in the 1970s, the French socialite of Lebanese origin amassed an impressive collection. In 2023 she was able to put 252 Chanel couture pieces, designed by the late Karl Lagerfeld dating from the early 1990s to 2014, up for auction in Paris. Many had never been worn. Fashion aficionados were able to bid on the likes of a ‘ribbon’ dress with sequins from the S/S 1991 collection that took 150 hours to make plus another 250 hours to embroider, a silk crepe dress with chains from 1992 that is identical to one worn by Penélope Cruz in the Pedro Almodóvar film Broken Embraces, and an evening coat embroidered over the course of 800 hours to be reminiscent of Coromandel lacquered screens. Several were first modelled by the original supermodels, including Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer and Christy Turlington.
According to experts, the percentage of younger people investing in couture is quickly rising too, with philanthropist Wendy Yu, who had accumulated a significant collection by the time she hit 30, at the forefront of a new wave of millennial clients. Said to have the ateliers of Christian Dior and Giambattista Valli on speed dial, the founder of Shanghai-based investment firm Yu Holdings and daughter of China’s largest manufacturer of wooden doors, she became an official haute couture client in 2015 when she purchased a version of Jennifer Lawrence’s 2013 Dior Oscars gown for her wedding. Rumour has it she buys couture because she plans to open a fashion museum in China one day.
From Marie Antoinette’s extravagant spending to modern-day fashion icons like Queen Rania and Wendy Yu, these clients prove that couture is more than just clothing—it’s a legacy, a statement and a piece of art all at the same time.
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Lead image credits: Schiaparelli Haute Couture S/S 2024
