Oct
9
Where the Law of Demand does not apply, Haute Couture
Posted by: admin | October 9, 2011 | Leave a Comment
While the world seems to be facing an economic downturn, the haute couture industry has not been affected since most of their buyers are Arab women from oil rich middle eastern nations such as Qatar, the world’s richest nation per capita. Arab women show off their social status by wearing designer dresses to social events such as weddings. They tend to purchase around 30 to 40 haute couture dresses each 
year since wearing the same dress twice or having the same dress as another person is a no-no.
“Very often, the race was on for the most expensive dress,” according to a Dior sales assistant (The Vancouver Sun). This came to me as a surprise since a few weeks ago during my economics lecture, my professor could not find an example where the Law of Demand (as price increase, quantity demanded decrease) did not apply. In the case for the haute couture market, the law does not apply since women are competing to buy the most expensive dress to show off their status even if the dress isn’t fashionable (as price increase, demand increases too).