beauty

Christian Dior, you've got to be joking.

Jourdan Dunn (left)

 

 

 

By NICKY CHAMP

British model, Jourdan Dunn, wears a 32A (an Australian 10A) yet fashion house Dior have deemed her chest too big and dropped her from walking on the runway for their Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2013-4 line.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Raf Simmons, the designer at the helm of the Dior house thinks a 10A chest and body is a little too curvaceous for his liking. Strangely enough, The Dior Couture show, which took place in Paris on July 1, had plenty of flesh on show with some models wearing entirely see-through mesh tops.

Twenty-two-year-old Dunn is considered one of the industry’s hottest models and has modelled for the likes of Burberry, Calvin Klein, Yves Saint Laurent, Victoria’s Secret, Topshop, Gap and H&M. There’s no doubt her ‘look’ has a universal appeal.

The average Australian bra size is 14C and 40 per cent of Australian women now buy bras with a cup size of DD or higher.

Dunn was seemingly in good spirits about the whole kerfuffle, tweeting:

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Followed immediately by this:

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Dropping models when they put on weight isn’t new; Filippa Hamilton, was allegedly fired from Ralph Lauren for gaining weight and Ananda Marchildon, a “Holland’s Next Top Model” winner was dropped from her agency when her hips got too big but being fired for having a large chest at 10A? Come. On. What do we even call this, boob-ism? Bust-ism? Ridiculous?

I get that Haute Couture is supposed to be creative, one of fantasy and not for every woman but if it is so irrelevant that even models can’t fit into the clothes then really what is the point? Surely the market for small-chested, thin women with thousands of dollars is pretty small?

In 2010, fashion editor, Kellie Hush reported that the starting price for haute couture is $30,000 and a gown taking 600 hours of handiwork or more can cost $100,000 and the jewellery? Millions.

Recently Bernard Arnault (who owns Dior and Givenchy) said to the Telegraph, “Haute couture is what gives our business its essential essence of luxury”.

“The cash it soaks up is largely irrelevant. Set against the money we lose has to be the value of the image couture gives us. Look at the attention the collections attract. It is where you get noticed. You have to be there. It’s where we set our ideas in motion.”

Even if those ideas make absolutely no sense.

If you’re not convinced about Haute Couture, may we present this gallery of recent designs. What you wouldn’t wear this?