'Don't ask me where the money comes from' It has long been claimed by those both in and outside of the upper echelons of the fashion elite that Couture is outdated and irrelevant in the rag trade's contemporary seasonal cycle . However, speaking earlier this week from the Paris Couture shows, Chanel chief Karl Lagerfeld revealed to press that the very opposite is true: "There's a new clientele. It's a new wealth. Don't ask me where the money comes from. As long as they spend it, everything is OK with me." A report in The Times claimed that Couture garments costing around £50,000 apiece are being bulk-bought mainly by Middle Eastern customers. The house of Chanel is not the only "maison" benefiting from a bulging market that is almost struggling to keep up with demand. At Dior, profits have increased seven-fold in recent years. Lagerfeld concluded, with justifiable smugness and a twinkle in his eye, "couture is not dead, it survives very well."