9 hours Ago By Daniel Rodgers
In 1968, Cristóbal Balenciaga shuttered his made-to-order operation on account of there being “ no one left to dress ”. The number of active haute couture clients has continued to plummet since – from a robust 200,000 in the 1950s to an estimated 4,000 in 2025 – despite the mass popularisation of fashion, which today sees millions of spectators tuning into the shows online. But rest assured the cloistered environs of couture are just as much a fantasia as they were in the past.
Today, the top two per cent of customers can account for approximately 40 per cent of luxury sales globally – and the brands indulge them accordingly. Drawing back the curtain on this most rarefied realm is Sabrina Harrison , a Texan entrepreneur and philanthropist who, in the space of just five short years, has amassed a private collection of haute couture that even she struggles to quantify. “I have a friend and stylist, Carlos Alonso-Parada, who does all the archiving for me,” she says, as she strolls through a lounge at Charles de Gaulle Airport.
“I see it like investing in one-of-a-kind pieces of art...
although I am scrutinised far more than people who spend millions of dollars on paintings for their walls.” This season, Harrison attended 11 couture presentations – among them Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Moda , Schiaparelli , Ludovic de Saint Sernin’s Jean Paul Gaultier collaboration and Alessandro Michele’s debut at Valentino – accompanied by an entourage that included a photographer, a videographer, a make-up artist, a hairstylist, a stylist and several personal assistants. “The thing is, I don’t want to do the same hair and make-up for all the shows,” she says.
“I like to switch up concepts and curate distinct, head-to-toe looks to fit each brand.” As an example, she wore an ultra-rare, spring/summer 1982 Paco Rabanne winged corset for a private lunch at the Louvre. British Vogue caught up with Sabrina between her Couture Week whirlwind and the 2025 Grammy Awards.
Here, Harrison spills the tea on the charmed life of fashion’s top spenders, and the rare sanctums they occupy. Hi Sabrina! Where does your love for fashion come from? Gosh, I have Latin roots, so I’m just a born maximalist. I actually come from Laredo, Texas, a town that borders Mexico and the United States, and everyone there loves to over-accessorise, dressing up in big costume jewels even when there’s nowhere to go.
My husband and I own a dental business throughout the US – which requires a lot of work – but fashion has always been an outlet for me. I know the industry can sometimes feel superficial and materialistic, but when you get close to the people and families behind the houses, you realise how much it takes to bring their collections to life. Fashion has seen me travel the world, and the things I’ve learnt translate into all areas of my life – even the billboards I run at Mint Dentistry are infused with style inspiration.
After all, teeth are the greatest thing a person can wear and we do offer a lot of cosmetic work to help people feel confident. Fashion week is a research trip..
. Oh, yeah! I mean, couture week is my absolute favourite of them all. It’s so much more intimate, and I love having one-on-one time with designers and their teams.
It can be stressful, though, because you’re rushing between shows and then you have to make the re-sees and grab a bite to eat and some houses will even let you visit their archives. (I saw Jean Paul Gaultier’s yesterday afternoon.) Plus, I don’t like to wear the same hair and make-up at all the shows, I want to switch concepts and wear distinct, head-to-toe curated outfits to fit the brand.
When did you first start buying couture? I met the Dolce & Gabbana team through a girlfriend of mine when I bought a double-faced ivory cashmere coat. I thought it was an incredible piece of art, but I had no idea what I was getting into, and what would be on the other side. Summer came around and they invited me to their Alta Moda show in Venice, right after the pandemic, so everyone was there because nobody had been out in two years.
It was a week-long epic that introduced me to a fantasy world that I never knew existed. To me, now, it’s like summer camp. The brand invites my whole family and completely caters to us while we are there.
From that show, I became a member of the Vogue 100, which introduced me to Daniel Roseberry, who, funnily enough, was friends with my husband’s father when they were growing up in a little suburb in Texas. It’s just been so organic, and this [time] I landed invitations to Dolce & Gabbana, Schiaparelli, Germanier, Ludovic de Saint Sernin’s Jean Paul Gaultier, Valentino, Gaurav Gupta, Stéphane Rolland, Giambattista Valli, Charles De Vilmorin, Zuhair Murad and Ashi. How many couture pieces do you own now? I’m not sure.
I have a friend and stylist, Carlos Alonso-Parada, who archives everything for me, because I also collect a lot of vintage. Oh my gosh, this week I made an out-of-hours visit to the Yourgarmentz store and picked up a fur coat and an asymmetrical shearling leather set from John Galliano’s era at Christian Dior, and a gold chain necklace from Tom Ford’s Gucci. I’m trying to remember what else I got.
.. some Valentino, I think, too.
How much do you think you spend on fashion? It just depends on what events I have: the Fashion Awards , the Grammys – because we have a record label – the philanthropic galas in Dallas, my “summer camps”, and I mean, I need to be thinking ahead if I’m fortunate enough to be invited to the Met Gala again. I found out I was attending eight weeks before last year’s event, and most designers will take four months to create a look extravagant enough for something like that. Luckily I worked with Law Roach and Chris Habana – who has designed for Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, so many celebrities – on a dress inspired by Dali’s melting clocks and a purse that played previous red-carpet footage, in line with the “The Garden of Time” theme.
I remember my husband saying, ‘Sabrina, celebrities will be taking up all the attention, so don’t be hurt if they don’t take photos of you. I was like, ‘I don’t care! I’m doing it for myself. I just want to wear something unique.
’ Anyway: I was on the best-dressed lists at Vogue , the Wall Street Journal , People , the New York Times , Hello! – all the media outlets. I had such a good time, and I was so proud of my team. Do you ever feel pressure to spend at the shows? Sometimes you need to spend in order to get access to a certain fashion house, but the designers I love build a relationship outside of the transactional – I know all their nieces and nephews and dogs.
The best brands will want their clients to feel like celebrities, although the difference, of course, is that we invest in their work. I see it like investing in one-of-a-kind pieces of art..
. although I am scrutinised far more than people who spend millions of dollars on paintings for their walls. I’ve met some of my closest friends through the fashion world and it might just be the nicest, most inclusive crowd I’ve met.
What’s your take on celebrities wearing couture on the red-carpet? There are brands that will forgo the one-off rule for a red-carpet moment...
I don’t mind. A lot of people want to be the only ones in possession of a piece, and I get that, but I think more people need to see how incredible these designs are. It’s not a bad thing for me, I love culture and it helps people to read fashion as an art form more than mere materialism.
Have you earmarked any of the pieces you’ve seen from this season? It’s a process. For example, I’ve put a deposit down on some Gaultier pieces, and we’ve since organised a fitting in New York where I can decide which ones I like the best. They’ll travel with them.
I loved the caviar-beaded full-length dress, which they said was inspired by a photo of Cindy Crawford lying on a black sand beach. Oh, and there was a tan Schiaparelli piece embellished with crystals with a big shawl that I fell in love with. But you have to be quick or you’ll be left with nothing! I had a re-see with Dolce & Gabbana at 11am the morning after its presentation, and when I got there, there was just one pair of earrings left.
I got them. Will the brands cover the cost of a client’s hotels and flights? Not flights, but sometimes hotels. This season I stayed at Hotel Costes.
The suites have been renovated and they’re really spacious, which is good for me, because I travel with a big team, including a photographer, a videographer, a make-up artist, a hairstylist, a fashion stylist, assistants, and my husband. I stayed there when I went to Vogue World: Paris , and it was in walking distance to lots of events that I needed to be at: the shows, of course, but also a breakfast at the Ritz and a lunch at Le Café Marly at the Louvre, which was amazing because no one else was there, just us. I wore a corseted Paco Rabanne showpiece with angel wings.
How much forward planning do you have to put into couture week? It’s rigorous, but I feel like I’ve nailed it at this point. I have a great team, who are all needed and important. I can show up in the most beautiful dress, but if I don’t have great hair and make-up, the vision doesn’t resonate.
We plan the looks well in advance with moodboards in the US, but I of course pick up a few bits while I’m in town and we’ll style it out here. Who is the best-dressed couture client? My friend Sylvia Mantella. She doesn’t go to a single show without wearing a one-of-a-kind piece.
She always looks amazing. Final question: what will you be wearing to the Grammys this weekend? None of the pieces I’ve enquired about this season will be ready until summer at the earliest, but if I do go, and I do have tickets, there is a beautiful Atelier Versace dress in my closet..
