首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Making a Loss Is the Height of Fashion Given that a good year in the haute couture(高级定制女装)business is one where you lose eve
Making a Loss Is the Height of Fashion Given that a good year in the haute couture(高级定制女装)business is one where you lose eve
admin
2013-08-24
48
问题
Making a Loss Is the Height of Fashion
Given that a good year in the haute couture(高级定制女装)business is one where you lose even more money than usual, the prevailing mood in Paris last week was sensational. The big-name designers were falling over themselves to boast of how many outfits they had sold at below cost price, and how this proved that the fashion business was healthier than ever. Jean-Paul Gaultier reported record sales. "but we don’t make any money out of it, " the designer assured journalists backstage. "No matter how successful you are, you can’t make a profit from couture, " explained Jean—Jacques Picart, a veteran fashion PR man, and co-founder of the now-bankrupt Lacroix house.
Almost 20 years have passed since the unusual economics of the couture business were first exposed. Outraged that he was losing money on evening dresses costing tens of thousands of pounds, the couturier Jean-Louis Scherrer published a detailed summary of his costs. One outfit he described curtained over half a mile of gold thread, 18, 000 sequins(亮片), and had required hundreds of hours of hand-stitching in an atelier(制作室). A fair price would have been £50, 000, but the couturier could only get £35, 000 for it. Rather than riding high on the foolishness of the super-rich, he and his team could barely feed their hungry families.
The result was an outcry and the first of a series of government-and industry—sponsored inquiries into the surreal(超现实的)world of ultimate fashion. The trade continues to insist that couture offers you more than you pay for, but it’s not as simple as that. When such a temple of old wealth starts talking about value for money, it isn’t to convince anyone that dresses costing as much as houses are a bargain. Rather, it is to preserve the peculiar mystique(神秘), lucrative(利润丰厚的)associations and threatened interests that couture represents.
Essentially, the arguments couldn’t be simpler. On one side are those who say that the business will die if it doesn’t change. On the other are those who say it will die if it does. What’s not in doubt is that haute couture—the term translates as "high sewing"—is highly dated. Huge in its costs, tiny in its clientele and questionable in its influence, it still remains one of the great themes of Parisian life. In his book, The Fashion Conspiracy, Nicholas Coleridge estimates that the entire couture industry rests on the whims(一时兴起)of less than 30 immensely wealthy women, and although the number may have grown in recent years with the new prosperity of Asia, the number of couture customers worldwide is no more than 4, 000.
To qualify as couture, a garment must be entirely handmade by one of the 11 Paris couture houses registered to the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. Each house must employ at least 20 people, and show a minimum of 75 new designs a year. So far, so traditional, but the Big Four operators— Chanel, Dior, Givenchy and Gaultier—increasingly use couture as a marketing device for their far more profitable ready-to-wear, fragrance and accessory lines.
The writer says in Paragraph 4 that there is disagreement over
选项
A、the future of haute couture.
B、the history of haute couture.
C、the real costs of haute couture.
D、the changes that need to be made in haute couture.
答案
D
解析
作者在第四段说“高级定制女装业是否需要改革”的问题上存在争议。短文第四段前三句话提到“有些争议再简单不过了,一面说如果这个行业不改变就会消失,另一面说,如果要消失。怎么挽救也是于事无补”,故选D。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/BgUd777K
本试题收录于:
职称英语综合类A级题库职称英语分类
0
职称英语综合类A级
职称英语
相关试题推荐
Thestarvingchildrenwereapatheticsight.
TVcanmakeabeggarworld-famousovernight.PrizesandmoneyforwinnersareusuallyprovidedbyTVstarsandlargecompanies
Thepolicemanwrotedownalltheparticularsoftheaccident.
Themajorityofpeoplearoundherearedecentpeople.
Thegamerequiresustofindouttwosimplebuteffectivewaystosolvethisproblem.
Thereasonfortheirunusualbehaviorremainsapuzzle.
Wemustgettotherootoftheproblem.
TheWorldTableTennisChampionshipsattractsthemostinterestinAsiancountries.ParticipationintheOlympicGamesislooke
Asalesman’scardinalruleistosatisfycustomers.
Thespeakerandherhusbandadoptedhome-schoolingfortheirdaughterCathybecausetheylivedonasailingboat.
随机试题
以厂要征收存款利息所得税的是()。
资产评估法对行业协会相关内容作出了明确规定,这些内容包括()。
在实践中,应用性政策研究组织多被称为
关于磁共振尿路成像技术的成像原理,正确的是
A、桂枝汤B、桑菊饮C、银翘散D、茵陈蒿汤合消风散E、普济消毒饮多形红斑风寒证,内治应首选
A.囊肿衬里上皮为一薄层复层鳞状上皮,无上皮钉突。基底细胞层界限清楚,棘层较薄B.瘤细胞呈交错排列的纤维结缔组织,内散在牙源性上皮团C.肿瘤组织内可见到淀粉样物质钙化,呈同心圆样沉积D.肿瘤内牙釉质、牙本质、牙骨质和牙髓排列如同正常牙E.巨细胞多分
行于脉内之气是
由于旅游团行程安排得很紧张,其中有位游客找到地陪,希望能去买些当地特色商品。地陪正确的处理方式是()。
3,7,15,(),43
Businessmemoisfrequentlyusedincompanies.Itiscalledanintra-companycommunicationbecauseitisusedbypeopleintheir
最新回复
(
0
)