This ^^ is a man named Patirck Couderc. He is the managing director of Herve Leger London. Within this post, I’m also including some photos of famous ladies wearing variations on the Herve Leger bandage dress, to mixed results. Once you’ve seen a Herve Leger bandage dress, you can never un-see it. The dresses were extremely popular about six years ago, where every starlet, famewhore and wannabe walked endless red carpets in dresses that seemed like some sort of experiment with athletic tape gone wrong. Well, Couderc has some thoughts on the popularity of the bandage dress and how it’s not really for everyone.
The bandage dress is only for certain body types: Patrick Couderc has urged ‘voluptuous’ women and those with ‘very prominent hips and a very flat chest’ to steer clear of the £1,300 creations.
The downmarket appeal of the bandage dress: Mr Couderc told the MoS that he refuses to give free dresses to celebrities if they are judged to lack sufficient class.
Lesbians have no fashion sense? ‘If you’re a committed lesbian and you are wearing trousers all your life, you won’t want to buy a Leger dress. Lesbians would want to be rather butch and leisurely.’
On the D-list reality stars wearing the dress: ‘You can be a victim of your success.’
No fatties or oldies: ‘You women have a lot of problems. You will lose the plot. You will come and you will put a dress on and you’ll be in front of the mirror, like, “Argh, I’m so fat.” Yes, you have a 12th of an inch around your stomach, it’s not really a disaster, and what you’re not noticing is that your cleavage is about two inches too low because you are 55 and it’s time that you should not display everything like you’re 23.’ Although the bandage dress, he said, could provide useful support in this case.
He hates VPLs: He went on to warn women not to wear underwear that was too small, because ‘the knicker line cuts through the flesh and goes through the other side of the dress,’ creating an unattractive ‘visible panty line’.
Pantyhose denotes class: ‘I have an expression which I attach to girls: I never go out to dinner if she’s not wearing tights. I think hosiery is something which is very magical in my world and I’m veering off into complete poetry now. But it’s a social statement because in the 1980s, the difference between someone who was wearing tights and someone who was not was very significant. Whoever was wearing tights was working in a private office in a bank in St James’s and whoever was not wearing tights was coming to work as a shampooist in a High Street hairdresser, commuting from Croydon. We were living in a time where the distinction between the two social strata was much more significant than today.’
I have strong feelings about pantyhose as well, but I don’t think it’s quite like this. If you’re going to meet the president or you’re appearing in court for some reason, yes, you need to wear pantyhose. But if you’re just out in the world, your lack of pantyhose does not mean you are somehow less classy or less worthy of womanhood. As for the rest of the interview… God, he sounds so stupid. He must be so mad that “bandage dress” has become synonymous with “desperate famewhore.”
Photos courtesy of WENN, Twitter.
Sexist douchbag.
I am still trying to figure out if this interview is serious.
Yes, but he is an old rich man, so this is allowed. The fact that he took the time to pick us women apart , to take a moment to notice us, should warrant a simple and lady like than you!
I thought this was The Onion.
He’s an out of touch, grumpy old bastard, isn’t he?
I loved the comment about pantyhose, he admits he lives in the 80s. How chic.
Are we sure he is talking about the 1980s and not 1880s?
I have heard many people from fashion world having sharp critique , male or female. Nothing really unusual coming from people like them.
You can give fashion critiques without making idiotic comments about people who aren’t young, skinny, heterosexual, elegant ‘high society’ ladies though.
“Desperate famewhore” then a photo of Leann Rimes comes up. LOL
Is it too big? Or just ill fitting?
Never thought these dresses were flattering or classy on anyone…
“Rather butch and leisurely”? Hey, I’m not gay, but that sounds like my style in a nutshell.
Why are so many men associated with the fashion industry such raging misogynists?
If he likes tights so much, he can feel free to wear them. Otherwise STFU.
I was thinking the same thing about the misogyny. These men seem to love us and hate us at the same time.
They don´t love you … They love your Money or what can you do for them ( status quo , conections, networking)
I have a theory about this, since I work with a lot of designers. Generally when working as a designer in the fashion world, you design a collection around a ‘muse’. The train of thought is that this woman embodies the attitude and lifestyle you want your collection to convey.
So imagine that your muse is Vanessa Paradis, she’s well traveled, elegant, glamourous, but at the same time mysterious, intelligent, with that special je ne sais qoi. You design a collection around her, imagining that she’s wearing your bandage dress design to a museum opening. Wearing it to a date, ect. ect. Then, you get Leanne Rimes. Your collection is snubed by your ‘muses’ and worn by Brandi Glanville.
In some ways, I can sympathize. But he’s not excused from making idiotic remarks.
I get what you’re saying, seeing your creation, your art, degraded by useless attention seekers would suck. But if someone is going to be such a turd about it, and make such far flung statements, they get no sympathy from me.
Many of the misogynistic men in the industry treat fashion as art, not as so etching part of daily life. That’s why many of their clothes are unwearable in real life.
Most guys I know would rather chase a girl in a cute tshirt and jeans than a ridiculous bandage dress.
I didn’t get from this interview that he hates old or fat people. He just sounds like your average out-of-touch fashion representative who’s used to being surrounded by pliant 20-year-olds and wealthy 55-year-olds who are willing to spend thousands to look a certain way and believe he (and his peers) are gods.
But come on, he’s right — the bandage dress really ISN’T for every body type.
I didn’t either. I think he has strong opinions is all.
Same here. Let’s face it, he’s right–bandage dresses aren’t for everyone. Same is true for lots of fashions. Wear what flatters your body type, not what’s “in”. Did you hear that, Kim Kardashian????
I agree with you. Just because you can wear something doesn’t mean it will flatter your figure.
Agreed. I actually felt a bit sorry for him.
Agree with all above. People should face facts that just because you like an item of clothing and it comes in your size does NOT mean it suits you or your body type.
+1
“But come on, he’s right — the bandage dress really ISN’T for every body type.”
“Same here. Let’s face it, he’s right–bandage dresses aren’t for everyone. Same is true for lots of fashions”.
“People should face facts that just because you like an item of clothing and it comes in your size does NOT mean it suits you or your body type.”
Her Body. Her life. Her choice. Her money
Don´t like it . Don´t watch it. Your personal bias is that your personal bias.
I agree.
Of COURSE it’s not for every body type. But why is it that designers always design for the same damn no-hips, perfect boobs, no stomach woman? Their reluctance to make clothes for other body types shows a certain cowardice and definitely a sore lack of skill. If you look at some older Hollywood movies from the 30s and 40s, there were nice tailored clothes for older women, and while nobody was misled about them being curvy ingenues, they looked quite nice. If women had more options, they wouldn’t go for these designs that make no sense for their bodies. [Rant completed]
Here’s an idea – why don’t you tell your designers to stop designing the same stupid looking dress year after year after year? You’re boring me, and I’m 59. Imagine how much you’re boring the young women you want as your customers. Excuse me, I just tripped over my breasts and broke my fat ass bone. I better put on some pantyhose and go to the hospital.
I heart you GNAT ❤️
I reckon we should organise a Celebitchy party in deepest, darkest Croydon tonight, with UV light so my pasty, tightless legs can glow in the dark while we mop up the damage afterwards with these so-called ‘bandage’ dresses.
We should all put on his dresses and creep around his bed when he’s asleep, then just be staring at him when he wakes up. Like 15 of us. We could tell him he had died and gone to hell.
GoodNames, I’m totally with you. I’m gonna put on that bandage dress, NO PANTYHOSE (I was unaware people still wore hose), and let my salt and pepper hair down and creep into his room…lock the door behind me. He’s going to have a stroke.
@ Goodnames, that just made me guffaw – very loudly 🙂
GNAT, you made me laugh so loud, I scared my dog!
(Long time lurker, first time poster.)
Oh, and be sure you don’t shave your pantyhose-less legs! After all, we are supposed to be butch in our leisureliness. What an a$$wipe!
GoodNames, I love you lots!!
I’ll bring the L’eggs eggs and we’ll pelt him with them
Love you back! And love the idea of pelting him with L’eggs eggs! Lol
I heart GNAT so much. She’s on fire today.
GNAT: you are awesome.
Everyone, Croydon facelifts and bare legs today! It’s CROWDERP DAY!
(Oh, did I spell that wrong, Monsieur? Sorry, I was distracted by your visible wrist line, and the too-snug cheap pull of the fabric on your lazy left leg. At your age, you should probably skip the skinny suits intended for men in their 20s, and look into classic cuts)
GNAT, you really are.
What a dick this man is.
Gah! Liberty, I wish somebody would say that to his face!
Why would they do that? It SELLS. Alas, it’s a hard life for a grumpy old misogynist, so many women running around being old and fat, with too small knickers and no hosiery on, yet spending money on their products. Yes, alas.
Well, when you put like that, I suppose he is to be pitied…
@Wren — lmao 😉
OK, GNAT. I could go with you to the hospital, just in case. Just stuffing my boobs in my pantyhose and I’m on my way.
Thanks, greenmonster! Pantyhose come in very handy, don’t they?
OMG–Leann Rimes in that dress is just as shocking as his comments. She looks positively horrid there and it looks as if her boobs are running away from each other!
And she fits his skeleton thin definition of beauty! Guess her boob wrangler was on holiday.
BOOB WRANGLER….AWESOME
From all the pictures I ever see of her they are always so far apart you could drive a semi through them.
If he hates them that much they need to stop making them.
I walk by the Hervé Leger shop all the time, and the window display always has those stupid dresses. Get some creativity and make something new, dumba**
he needs to shut up & sit down
So this dude is ‘old’ himself and yet has managed to design essentially ONE garment in his entire, illustrious career in fashion?
BTW, the décor in that first photo is the very definition of downmarket and tacky. A lilac, bedazzled velveteen cut-out winged armchair? Classy.
I think she’s angry because real talented designers are laughing at the man that designed a fancy Frederick of Hollywood dress for famewhores.
He’s a laughing stock and cockold of the fashion world.
THIS!
he doesn’t even design then, he’s the managing director. The business side.
And the relaunched Herve Leger line isn’t even designed by Herve Leger himself, who understood how clothes work on the body. It’s a hackneyed one-note line by Max Azria, whose dresses ended up on D-list celebs for the most part because the fashion crowd was bored of tight short dresses by then.
I actually really like Max Azria as a designer, but you are right. A label can’t keep putting out the same dress year after year and not expect its customers to become bored.
Mr. Couderc didn’t design the bandage dress. He’s just the director and should never be the spokesperson for the company.
The real Hervé Leger (born Hervé Peugnet) created the original design sometime in the 90s and the dress was intended for, and worn by, models. Unfortunately, the designer lost the rights to the Leger name. Ever since, those dresses have been overused by every thirsty starlet and reality show housewife, many of whom don’t have the right bodies to make it work.
ETA: teacakes wrote something similar, before I posted my comment.
many of whom don’t have the right bodies to make it work.
Every body is the right body, every body is making work it
If you don´t like… Don´t watch.
Oh please. You’re at Celebitchy, a gossip site, where we snark on celebs day in, day out.
I can watch and I can post my opinion. Or, to copy your “advice”: if you don’t like…don’t reply.
My comment was pretty mild, since I didn’t even get into detail about what body types wouldn’t be flattered by such a dress. And bandage dresses don’t work for everyone.
Spare me the sanctimonious lecture.
Having grown up in the Croydon he is referring to, I now have a severe dislike of this man 😋 and yes I hate tights cos I’m tall and they’re never long enough!
Better not tell him that Torrid was selling bandage dresses. He might poop himself.
“*So* not surprised,” she said, as she sipped coffee, dressed in a pair of lightweight Eddie Bauer pants and a sample cotton denim-weave T-shirt, then set off to find out the latest on the famewhore formerly known as an Affleck/Garner nanny.
He’s just pissed because no one cares about those dresses anymore except women who want to look like real housewives rejects.
Haha I guess that is one way to get people to talk about your brand again. I would have gone with creative new design but this works too.
Wow, that dress Leann has on in that photo is TERRIBLE.
Classist, sexist bore who is the MD of the design house making by far the world’s fugliest dresses. Can’t say I inderstand the need to wear pantyhose when going to court or to meet the president though, they’re stupid, uncomfortable, wasteful, useless items of clothing (excluding warm opaque tights which extends skirt/dress comfort into winter – at least where I live).
Agreed. Pantyhose are somewhat sexist and the expectation that women should wear them in certain situations is insane. Pantyhose are suppose to hide imperfections of a woman’s legs. What is wrong with showing my imperfect legs?
I dare him to spend one summer in the south wearing pantyhose all day.
He looks like Uncle Terry. Anyway, Azzedine Alaia > Herve Leger.
Those pesky women, foiling men’s plans again and again by wearing what they want to!
This fool reminds me of Lagerfeld. I mean, okay he is surrounded by models. But the WORLD is full of NON-MODELS, and the world pays you, you preposterous, arrogant Frippery Merchant. Who in the hell rants about hose and the fact that they define class?! And that remark about lesbians? Jaysus, help me!! I would like to put him in some Spanx and then drop him off in ..oh, say …New Orleans in August and see how he does.
Eh, the dresses look better on women with curves. He can sit down now.
If the Kardashian/Jenners wouldn’t be on his trashy ass dress jock from day one the stock would have plummeted, instead of acting like he is too good for D List he should know that his bread and butter are the Pantyhose dress people/ the D Lists/The Kardasholes/The Instagram Honeys etc
A bit confused- thought that the designer who made these tape dresses big was Alais A something- too lazy to find out spelling. It’s no news that most high end designers cut clothes with a very slim figure in mind. Will that stop Real Housewives/both current and former-from wearing them and looking like sausages? No.
No, Alaia’s clothes are actually cut to be very flattering to women with some curves in the boob and butt area – I tried some on last week, and the fabrics, fit etc were a dream.
The man understands construction and how clothes should look on the body, even a not-so-thin body.
But…..pantyhose? REALLY? Do people still wear pantyhose? Nope. I just cannot. I can’t. If you think its too cold to go bare legged, wear opaque tights. Pantyhose makes you look INSTANTLY dated. If this guy’s head wasn’t so firmly up his own arse, he would recognise that as his own diagnosis. Being dated, that is. Just like those bandage dresses. Completely unsophisticated.
What the devil is the difference between pantyhose and tights?? In my neck of the woods, there are only tights. Or stockings. Whenever I heard Americans going on about “hose” I thought they were tights…! Americans, help a foreigner out 😀
@Lurker – generally in the US pantyhose/hose/nylons refers to the primarily nude/flesh-colored (although also available in black and sometimes white) sheer or almost sheer stockings. The term “tights” is reserved for opaque, thicker stockings that come in a wide variety of colors and thicknesses and materials (nylon, Lycra, cotton, wool or a combo) worn solely in cooler temps.
The man is a slack-jawed troglodyte. I’ve nothing more to say. He’s rendered me gobsmacked.
I love it when men suggest that women wear pantyhose. If they love it so much, they should wear them. Especially in summer. That’s a swell time to stuff yourself into some polyester sausage casings.
Ugh, I can’t even with him.
When you read his full quote about lesbians not wanting to wear the dress, it is way less controversial than just that snippet. I read most of what he said in another article and the headline of that article (and this one) seems to try to make what he said sound really bad. What he said – in its entirety – honestly didn’t sound mean or degrading to me. The pantyhose thing kind of made me laugh. I would love for them to really come back – most women with less than perfect legs (like me!!) would prefer wearing them! Ha ha!!
So french. #ellenexplains
u don’t get your own hashtag here missy.
I do not understand the french or the gallicism …
Definitively , I do not see any shades of Simone Beauvoir here…
:/
Well, that’s a stunning lack of self-awareness. The reality of the market is that if you want the newest crop of fashion it girls wearing your designs, you need to keep them fresh and original. FKA twigs and Gigi Hadid and whoever people will be talking about next year don’t want to wear bandage dresses for the most part. They’re a trend, not a classic, and the trend has already crested.
If you do want to keep making variations of the same style for years on end, then you need to tweak it so that women of a variety of ages and body types who tend to be fashion followers can wear it.
The alternate route is to be a classic and to create looks that can suit women of many types, can be updated to reflect current trends, and have a quality that appeals to women who are too old to be it girls but have more substance than the typical Real Housewife. For that, you need to start with better material than a bandage dress. But of course, not everyone can be Oscar de la Renta.
Azzedine Alaia >>>>>>>> current Herve Leger.
CSM student-era Christopher Kane (whose debut show is the reason these hacks brought the line back in the first place)>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> current Herve Leger.
hell, original Herve Leger >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> current Herve Leger (which is designed by Max Azria and has eff-all to do with HL).
I don’t really understand what he was talking about. Also, LeAnne Rimes styling is bad.
LOVED the bitchiness of saying a 55yo cleavage is too low …. then he lost me when he started moping about class distinction via pant hose … for gawd’s sake.
he’s wrong about lesbians, but the rest is true. fat or sagging women will look like crap in these dresses.
growup says:
August 17, 2015 at 1:05 pm
he’s wrong about lesbians, but the rest is true. fat or sagging women will look like crap in these dresses.
Maybe your feel like crap using those type of dresses… Don´t project your feelings in the others.
Any single woman have the Right to dress what they like . Her body. Her choice.
Taylor Swift looks beautiful there, and I think bandage dresses look good. I didn’t know people still cared about stockings or ‘pantyhose’ at all. The only modern living person I’ve ever heard of talking about the importance of pantyhose is my 76-year-old paternal grandmother.
I say women should ignore him and wear what they like. It would be cool if after he said this, a whole bunch of women who don’t fit his ‘young thin heterosexual Audrey Hepburn/ society princess” ideal started wearing bandage dresses just to offend his outdated manbaby snob sensitivities.
He is right on all accounts.
There are some really stylish lesbian though. They may nor wear Leger, but few high quality women do after the Kardashian claim over those dresses.
Sorry., but I don´t understand this way of thinking. How is he ” right”? Because, in my personal point of view sounds a lot about personal bias.
🙂
He doesn´t want certain people to use his dresses, fine. His right if he want to lose Money. Just don´t sell them. Do not accept their cash or credit cards.
He doesn’t have that option. People will buy what they will buy.
He is not PC friendly, but he is voicing the opinions of every single high-end fashion designer out there. Trust me – I know what I’m talking about.
Those are athletic dresses. They are meant to be worn by sizes 0-6, just like every other high-end fashion brand’s offerings. It is what it is. He obviously hates the Kardashians, but will not voice it in print in so many words.
btw, who doesn’t hate them? You think Tom Ford is soooo happy that they buy hix clothes in multiple quantities and wear them to gain so legitimacy in fashion?
Let me tell you – he’s not.
Those are athletic dresses. They are meant to be worn by sizes o-6, just like every other high-end fashion brand’s offerings. It is what it is. He obviously hates the Kardashians, but will not voice it in print in so many words.
Your personal taste tells you to you “Those are athletic dresses”. Some other woman (sizes > 6) feels amazing using them and doesn´t care if you don´t like it. Simple, stop watching. Stop judging them
🙂
He doesn’t have that option. People will buy what they will buy. He is not PC friendly, but he is voicing the opinions of every single high-end fashion designer out there. Trust me – I know what I’m talking about.
YES! They have options. Stop selling them. Put a celebrity”black list” in your shops, ask your clients I.D. to check their ages and put weight scales if you want certain type of people buying your clothes. Accept the risk . Assume the consequences of your actions
People will buy what they will buy
So? People are free to buy whatever they want. It s a free society, democracy and free market. People are living their lives whatever the way they want to live
He obviously hates the Kardashians, but will not voice it in print in so many words
He can ask his shops to stop selling the clothes to people he doesn´t like.
Tom Ford is soooo happy that they buy hix clothes in multiple quantities and wear them to gain so legitimacy in fashion?
This is about Herve L. I never mentioned Tom Ford and this article it is not about Tom F. I don´t know if he is happy or not.
It´s business. You don´t want certain client, so assume the risk.
Lose the Money.
You don´t want to dress them . Fine That´s your prerrogative. No one owes you a job.
They ll take their business elsewhere
The client is always right.
The bandage dress was kind of brilliant, in its way. It gave real women with real bodies a chance to look as sleek and air-brushed as a magazine model. It was industrial-strength Spanx made shiny and fashion-adjacent. It squeezed your junk in until you looked like a streamlined version of yourself — same shape, but a perfect version of it.
Given how many (gorgeous! curvy/skinny/everything!) women are self-conscious about their bodies, it really filled a niche in the market.
I think it is still the fashion statement/look of the decade whether people like it or not. They say this decade has no discernible look. But there is one:
– Leger Bandage dress
– Overly long Hair extensions
– Nude peep-toe Louboutin platforms
– Hermes Birkin in some garish color
– Acrylic gelled nails
– Cartier Love bracelet
– Dental bleaching
…all worn together! That was the look!
Whenever I see his labels at TJ Maxx (which is often oooh burn!) I always assumed it was a fake label they used on close out Ralph Lauren stuff. Whoopsie
Ladies and gentlemen : Feel the love inside , love yourselves, and give this love to the world
Live what you like— It´s always the right choice
Dress what you like- Ít´s always the right clothes.If people tell you no., smile at them and ignore. You are amazing. Life is too short to waste time in minor issues.
Be tall, short, thin , chubbie, fat athletic– It´s always the right body
Smile -it´s always the right thing
Cry- It´s always the right moment
And last but not the least:
“Nolite te bastardes carborundorum”— quote from Margaret Atwood.
This interview actually made me laugh. I can’t take it seriously especially from an old dude who probably faints at the sight of sweatpants
What I can’t believe is he has all these issues about who shouldnt wear the bandage dress, and then he has an arm around Leann Rimes, who looks awful in that dress ! I mean, is that his idea of how one SHOULD look in a bandage dress ? He needs better glasses .
I have one (don’t laugh, it’s several years old and tasteful compared to some). It’s actually very flattering for curves/midsection but agree that it provides no support up top. Unless you have the breasts of a nulliparous A-B cup 20-something, you are going to sag. Which is why mine is retired.