COMPLETE IELTS 5-6,5 WB UNIT 8 READING

COMPLETE IELTS 5-6,5 WORBOOK - UNIT 8 READING

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VOCABULARY

Multiple Choice

What is the main topic of the first paragraph?

• A the difference between haute couture and other areas of the fashion industry

• B contrasting views on haute couture

• C the losses made on haute couture

• D the negative attitude towards haute couture of people in the fashion industry

The big-name designers were falling over themselves to boast of how many outfits they had sold at below cost price and how th 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 journalist backstage. No matter how successful you are, you can't make a profit from couture explained Jean-Jacques Pica, a veteran fashion PR man. and co-founder of the now-bankrupt Lacroix house.

PARAGRAPH 1

Multiple Choice

The writer says that Jean-Louis Scherrer

• A upset other couturiers.

• B was in a worse financial position than other couturiers.

• C was one of the best-known couturiers.

• D stopped producing haute couture dresses.

Almost 20 years have passed since the bizarre 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 - to howls of -treason' from his colleagues - published a detailed summary of his costs. One outfit he described contained over half a mile of gold thread. 18,000 sequins, and had required hundreds of hours of hand-stitching in an atelier. A fair price would have been £50.000.

PARAGRAPH 2

Multiple Choice

The writer says that the outfit Jean-Louis Scherrer described .............

• A was worth the price that was paid for it.

• B cost more to make than it should have.

• C was never sold to anyone.

• D should have cost more to buy than it did.

18,000 sequins, and had required hundreds of hours of hand-stitching in an atelier. A fair price would have been £50.000.

The couturier could only get £35.000 for it. Rather than riding high on the follies of the super-rich, he and his team could barely feed their hungry families.

PARAGRAPH 2 and 3

Multiple Choice

In the third paragraph the writer states that haute couture makers

• A think that the term 'value for money' has a particular meaning for them.

• B prefer to keep quiet about the financial aspects of the business.

• C have changed because of inquiries into how they operate.

• D want to expand their activities to attract new customers.

The result was an outcry and the first of a series of government- and industry•sponsored inquiries into the surreal world of ultimate fashion. The trade continues to insist that - relatively speaking - 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. lucrative associations and threatened interests that couture represents.

PARAGRAPH 4

Multiple Choice

The writer says in the fourth paragraph that there is disagreement over __________

• A the popularity of haute couture.

• B the future of haute couture.

• C the real costs of haute couture.

• D the changes that need to be made in haute couture.

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 a spectacular anachronism. Colossal 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 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.

PARAGRAPH 4

Multiple Choice

Only wealthy people are attracted by the idea of 'name association'.

• Yes

• No

• Not given

To qualify as couture, a garment must be entirely hand-made by one of the II Paris couture houses registered to the Chambre Syndicate 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.

Multiple Choice

The way that companies use haute couture as a marketing device is clear.

• Yes

• No

• Not given

The big idea being the one known in the trade as "name association" Couture outfits may be unaffordable, even unwearabte but the whiff of glamour and exclusivity is hard to resist. The time-starved modern woman who doesn't make enough in a year to afford a single piece of couture can still buy a share of the dream for the price of a Chanel lipstick or a Givenchy scarf.

Multiple Choice

Pierre Cardin is likely to return to producing haute couture.

• Yes

• No

• Not given

"Haute couture is a joke," scoffs Pierre Berg& the former head of Yves St Laurent - another house that no longer creates it "Anyone who tells you it still matters is fantasising. You can see it dropping dead all around you. Nobody buys it any more. The prices are ridiculous. The rules for making it are nonsensical. It belongs to another age. Where are today's couturiers? A real couturier is someone who founds and runs their own house. No one does that any more."

Multiple Choice

Some women who can afford haute couture clothes buy other clothes instead.

• Yes

• No

• Not given

Younger women even the seriously wealthy ones, find ready-to-wear clothes invariably more practical and usually more fun. Couture's market has dwindled.

Multiple Choice

It is hard to understand why some haute couture companies are doing well.

• Yes

• No

• Not given

Why then are the surviving couture houses smiling? Because they trade in fantasy. and. in these times, more people want to fantasise. "We've received so many orders we may not be able to deliver them all." says Sidney Toledano. head of Dior. So. the clothes are rolled out and the couture losses roll in. and everyone agrees that it's good business.

Fill in the Blanks

Open Ended

Make a mindmap to summarise the main ideas of the reading