Haute couture... sort of

[Sulis]

One of my characters is an aspiring fashion designer, and her career is about to get a huge boost when she designs a gown for one of the local upper crust. However, I need to figure out how much she charges for the gown in question. The gown is of course, custom designed, made of navy blue velvet with lace accents and lots of hand-applied beading. Any ideas how much it should be? In US$, preferably, but I can convert currencies if necessary.

[melydia]

Many dresses that celebrities wear cost tens of thousands of dollars. I just looked up the price of one of Halle Berry's Oscar dresses and it was $30,000. Those are usually one-of-a-kind by top-name designers, though. I don't know if you're looking for something a little less, uh, Hollywood extreme, but it's a starting point.

[Sulis]

The designer in question will eventually become one of those Hollywood-type designers, but right now, she's just getting started. The dress in question is right now one of a kind, and she's not planning to make more of them at this time. It is indeed a starting point, but I'm just not sure where, between $30,000 designer gown and an $800 prom dress the price should fall.

[melydia]

I'd say make it $10k then. If you price it too cheaply Miss Fancypants consumer won't want it.

[Thren]

I would actually say to make it slightly more expensive than that - haute couture is *very* desirable and does not come cheap at all. Even if she is starting out, she doesn't want to price it too cheaply or the fashion set won't want it - reverse logic I know, but in the fashion world, limited runs and excessively priced items (see Louis Vuitton/Hermes Bags as an example) are THE most desireable thing. I would say that anywhere from about $17000 - $25000 would do. If you're worried that people will go "who does this designer think she is?", they won't - they'll kill themselves to get one of her creations as she's "new" and upcoming - and therefore other people won't have her stuff ;)

[Sulis]

Ooh, good point, Thren. I know she's making a substantial portion of her living at this, but she's supposed to be filling in the gaps in her income working at a local coffeeshop. If I say $10K, it's a substantial enough amount that she scould make most of her money that way, but not enough to be able to live off of it alone, if she's doing all the sewing and design work herself, since she would only be able to complete a limited number of dresses a year.

Thanks so much, everybody!