Don't forget that every step in the aforementioned supply chain is not done by a machine, but a real person, and sometimes multiple petites mains work on a single look. That's several salaries, including the costs of the textiles themselves (which, depending on what you're using, can be rare or generic), and may include additional work — like dying or a novelty finessing technique — that needs to be outsourced to an expert. Though I'd heard an entire collection could be whipped up in a few weeks, a single look can take hundreds, if not thousands, of hours to make. But such exclusivity comes with its own exceptions, such as an optional additional fee a client can pay to have the piece to themselves, or, on very rare occasions, clients can customise a look seen on the runway. "Couture is a service," Edon says. "It's not just about selling. It's about how you welcome people and what you can offer them, too; how you can make the entire experience really their moment."