I don’t gush about Lady Amanda Harlech as much as I do Daphne Guinness, but to be honest, they both espouse similar philosophies about fashion. They’re both very particular about their fashion and can speak intelligently about the craft and designers they both support. Frankly, both women are style icons of mine. 

Lady Amanda Harlech is one of Kaiser Karl’s right hand people. Her role with Chanel is to be a sober-second eye of sorts. To really critique either one aspect, and/or the collection as a whole so that everything is cohesive, makes sense and really projects what the designer intended. 

Almost always impeccably dressed, she isn’t necessarily over the top in the way often Guinness is thought to be. While both *can* dress up, look “other-worldly”, and exhibit the transformative ability of fashion, for the most part, their day-to-day wear is sensible. However, it is simple to see that their clothes are extremely well made and tailored exquisitely. 

Another similarity between both women, is that both have championed designers from their humble beginnings. Harlech, as noted in the article, was an early champion of John Galliano. The quote below sounds a lot like how Guinness felt after she finally met McQueen: 

“Suddenly it was someone who was talking, speaking the same language as me. And my feelings were: ‘I don’t want to let him go, I can’t possibly exist without him,’ because he electrified everything that I had felt. Here was the stuff that I dreamt of.” 

This kind of kinship doesn’t happen strictly in the fashion world, but it happens often whenever like minded people come together. However, the way in which she describes the meeting and the following relationship is eerily similar to that of Guinness and McQueen. I guess that’s what happens when genius meets muse. 

The other thing that stuck out in the article for me, was Harlech’s description about couture and why it stands head and shoulders above RTW:

“Couture has a power that ready-to-wear can never have; the attention of les petites mains as they sew, all that love and belief goes into the cloth. That’s what you feel when you wear it,” she explains. Her eyes shine as she says this, but it’s not the acquisitive glisten of the fickle fashion fraternity, but a true love.

I would die to see the process of couture in person. I recently watched Suzanne Rogers Presents: Marchesa, and the detailing, craftsmanship and fine editing that goes into making one of their gowns is astounding. You see all the hand-sewn work behind the beadwork and when Keren Craig says there are 10,000 crystals and 100,000 sequins in a dress, I can’t even fathom how many hours of work have gone into one gown. It is this type of fine artistry that gets poured into haute-couture which, as Harlech rightly says, that RTW could never have. THIS is the reason why couture costs so much, and why people are so awestruck with that upper echelon of fashion. But at the same time, the same attention to detail gets put into luxury goods. It matters what type of leather, precious metal, or whatever textile is chosen. Fabrics and patterns are chosen for a reason why things are hand-crafted. The hands feel how threads are pulling and can make editions and adjustments in ways machines cannot. It also contributes to why there are less of these ‘luxury goods’ out on the market and why fakes never measure up even if they look aesthetically similar. It is always all about the quality.