The house of Gucci have hollered from the rooftops that they're launching a "haute couture" line. I say "haute couture" because it all smells a bit fishy really. Gucci Premiere will offer unique, one-of-a-kind gowns - so far, so couture sounding right? Wrong.

Apparently Gucci Premiere won't be bothering the Parisian couture catwalks anytime soon - this is strictly a celeb love-in affair. Creative Director, Frida Giannini, explained this rather anomalous decision;

"We don't have any kind of plan in this direction for the moment. It's more an intimate approach between the house of Gucci and the stars and the celebrities. I don't think, honestly, it's in the soul of Gucci to do a haute couture fashion show,"

So let me get this straight - they're calling it a couture line yet hold no desire to establish themselves alongside the grand masters in Paris?? Let's not kid ourselves here, it appears essentially a cynical celeb promotional cash-in in order to score a few red carpet namechecks. Following their recent Mark Ronson trainer line, Gucci really seem to be bumming celebs left-right-and-centre at the moment and it all seems somewhat desperate and grabbing.

Yes it's the workmanship and skill that earns the couture epithet, and Giannini has confirmed they will be working with Parisian seamstresses and embroiderers but witnessing Gucci Premiere's underwhelming debut outing on the back of Salma Hayek in Cannes I struggle to see what is so painstakingly couture-like about it. When the true masters like Christian Lacroix are teetering on the edge on bankruptcy and have no financial backing and Gucci roll up and just slap a 'couture' title on a range it's akin to Primark masquerading as a designer label.

Posted on May 14, 2010 at 10:29:22 by The Real Runway