Where Designers Love Taking Risks

Paris — In just two months, Donatella Versace has gone from touting $39 hot pants to five-figure gowns.

On the heels of a sold-out collection for retail chain H&M last November, the designer returned to the Paris haute couture catwalk this week after an eight-year absence. “After the success with the mass market, I wanted to say, ‘Don’t forget who we are!’” said Ms. Versace.

More than ever, high-end fashion houses are selling to the full spectrum of prices and customers. And, surprisingly, cheap-chic brands may be giving couture — astronomically expensive made-to-measure clothing — a new lease on life.

The more a brand peddles to the mass market, the greater the need to offset it on the high end. It’s the yin and yang of fashion. Couture is “one of the ways of keeping the balance in the middle, of maintaining the epicenter of the brand,” says luxury-goods consultant Armando Branchini.