Let's Peek Inside 'The Secret World of Haute Couture'

Carrying on from my previous post, I was going to show part 3 (as chopped up for YouTube) of the fascinating BBC documentary The Secret World of Haute Couture. I hadn't seen it since it first ran last year, and wanted to show this particular segment that featured Daphne Guinness speaking - as modestly as one possibly could - about her couture collection. (I love how she describes the outfit she's wearing as 'normal' couture that's 'nothing special'. Ms. Guinness, I'll show you 'nothing special'. I'm wearing it right now.) You can't help but love her.

But there's more, so much more. In producer Margy Kinmonth's quest to crack the inner circle of the 'Club Members' and learn about this intriguing and mysterious world of couture making, buying, wearing and collecting, she also gets to sit down with Carol Petrie, a charming and ancient woman whose wedding dress was made by Christian Dior himself in the 40s. And - I love this - she employs an 'haute couture maid' to manage her collection. We also get a glimpse of Karl Lagerfeld getting down to business at the atelier (indicated by his red racing gloves - I had no idea there was a colour code but that actually doesn't surprise me).

And that's just a portion of that 10-minute segment of this 60-minute program. Going through the rest of it I realised I had to include it in its entirety, I'd forgotten what a treat it is to watch, it's so full of gems. See part three above to see what I just described if you want a teaser, but I highly recommend starting at the beginning (below). It's like Haute Couture 101, and besides getting an overview you will see Lagerfeld sketch his exquisite feather dress (while sipping his ever-present Diet Coke), an interview with John Galliano (which he doesn't often grant), and of course, lot and lots of haute couture clothes, which are are so beautiful it hurts. There's a cameo of our dearly departed Isabella Blow as she greets one of the Club Members at the Valentino show, and we have a laugh when Kinmonth asks the Director of Chanel PR which celebrities were invited to their show, to which she stumbles over the name 'Avril Lavigne' (she hasn't a clue who she is). That's funny for one, because Avril Lavigne at a couture show makes as much sense as Queen Elizabeth at the monster truck pulls. Oh, Karl. And two, it serves to support Chanel's posturing that they are not to be perceived as 'elitist'. With a barely literate, open-mouthed gum-chewer in the front row, they just might get away with what would otherwise be a ridiculous notion.