From Haute Couture to Retail: the architecture of the new millennium

We all love runways. The creativity and detail of the best fashion houses are presented to the public in a few minutes, surrounded by glamor, exclusivity and luxury; collections of everyday art that hypnotize us with their beauty and charm. They present us objects of desire, attitude, pride... the idea to dress ourselves in one of those extravagant tailor made outfits made ​​by fashion artists, it's a dream, an aspiration that we seek to realize. 

From Haute Couture to displays, everything changes. A mannequin could never match an apparel model to introduce us not art but simply... clothes. Outfits that can adjust us according to the clothing pattern but that will never be really ours but of all, of everyone who purchases the same series product that have become so famous and internationally widespread. The Laggerfield dream in the Channel runway will never be the same as for H & M, from the unique product to retail that more than one share, bringing the dream to an incompletely and fugacious reality.

The architecture also wear us, the city becomes the runway and our dream, the space Haute Couture... those walls as we fantasized since childhood with materials, textures and colors that identify us, those spaces that inhabit us as we inhabit them and the view that makes them real and belongs to a site that is ours too. And despite the dream we crave, we settle for retail spaces; we change the custom home to repeated houses not only here but around the world, purchased by catalog as shoes or bags without the slightest touch of personality and charm. We have settled with a customized half as Laggerfield for H & M, buying a retail product that we can customize with colors and furniture but it is still not our but the crowd. 

Contrary to the idea that large developers have made us believe, change our spatial ideals of Haute Couture for retail houses is not expensive in architecture as it is in runways. When we purchase a finished property, all the people involved have a gain: the fractionator, the designer, the builder, the seller... and when distributing the sale price, possibly only the 50% of the investment is the real product cost; We have no control over the design, construction and process, we simply have a final product that we buy because "it looks nice" or "sets us" even when for a similar investment, we could obtain a customized product in which we could be involved in all its design and construction processes. The time? Surely achieve a dream home cannot be obtained by visiting a store, but as Eleanor Roosevelt said, "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." 

The real meaning of the custom home is lost and has become an attractive void; a house that is designed to be built more than once is not custom and become just a mold, it is no longer Haute Couture to become retail. Doesn’t matter the customization options that are presented to a client or the luxury possibilities, if a project is a preconceived idea for its construction rather than adapting to the client needs, desires and fantasies, definitely is not a custom home. Customization allows to follow architectural and urban codes or internal regulations in condos that looks toward a development common image through similar elements, textures, colors or shapes, allowing each owner to adapt the project to his own personality and needs. 

Acquire a Stella McCartney or a Versace at H & M is no different than buying clothes at Zara or Cortefiel, it is a retail product no matter who designed it, as buying a “brand” house that has adapted to different locations is not different from buying a house in Pulte Homes or D R Horton. The cost may be higher, as luxurious finishes and large spaces the project has, but it will never be a custom product. We invite you to know our work through our website www.jpvespacios.com and find the future of your dreams with us, where we provide the platform to achieve the handmade spaces you want.