Californian casual women’s wear label Juicy Couture will be launching its first couture line, appropriately named Couture Couture, in the spring of 2006. The line will consist of 20 designer pieces, which include a jewelled dress with organza underskirt and a strapless chantilly lace dress. Prices are decidedly higher, with the average retail price of $860 dollars (£480).
Juicy Couture co-founders and designers, Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor, shot to fame with their now iconic, candy-coloured velour and terrycloth tracksuits which embodied the Californian lifestyle. However, they now feel that it is the right time to take their label upscale.
“Most lines start at the top and go down,” Nash-Taylor told WWD, while Skaist-Levy added: “We did the opposite. Everyone wants to do casual, but we want to go dressier.” And dressier they will go with a silk pleated ballerina skirt and a linen and steel silver suit and trench, among other pieces.
The new couture collection will be sold at top specialty and department stores, in the US as well as in Europe and Asia. US stores being targeted include Barneys New York, Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s, Fred Segal and Jeffrey. In Asia, stores include Isetan in Japan and Lane Crawford in Hong Kong. European stores include Colette in Paris, Harvey Nichols, Browns and Selfridges in London and Luisa via Roma in Italy, and in the Middle East, Villa Moda.
“The feedback we’ve gotten is such that the perceived value of the collection is there,” Rebecca Blair, the company’s vice president and general manager of merchandise and sales, told WWD. “It’s for a more sophisticated and urban customer and it will hang with other designer collections. We see Couture Couture as a designer collection. The consumer will know it’s a different collection. It won’t be branded ‘Juicy’.” Blair sees the new collection hanging alongside labels like Chloe and Marni.
Skaist-Levy and Nash-Taylor wanted a brand that would reflect their new lifestyles and Couture Couture is the solution. “Gela and I go to so many events now and we love – and wear – other designers, but we wanted to wear our own collection,” Skaist-Levy. Meanwhile, Nash-Taylor believes the timing for the launch is perfect, saying that women are increasingly dressing up and are not saving their best clothes for special occasions alone.