Kill Couture?

So apparently nobody showed up to the Paris Fall 2009 Couture shows.

Jean Paul Gaultier Couture Fall 2009- a notable celebrity whose name begins with Madonna isn't here.

We exaggerate, ever so slightly. The fact remains that celebrities in absentia and a general snubbing of extravagant spending tried to kill couture this past week; when both Anna Wintour and Alexandra Shulman fail to show up to one of fashion's most important events you know something has to be up.

Not only that, front-row fixtures Dita Von Teese and Madonna (see sbove) didn't even swoop in. Is this really a sign that couture is a dying art? Have we, the fashion industry, become so freakishly, mouth-foamingly obsessed with selling ourselves out that we are together all too willing to marginalize this creaky yet definitive tradition?

Clear your week, dear readers. We'll be calling upon you to mobilize any second now.