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Fashion without function: the dress that weighs over 100 pounds

Haute couture has nothing to do with practicality. The hand-made, over-the-top creations rarely make it beyond the runway or editorial spreads. They celebrate fashion, but rarely demand to be worn.

One dress in Stephane Rolland’s latest couture collection captured our attention, but just the thought of wearing it makes shoulders ache in anticipation of its heaviness.

It weighs 110 pounds.

Former supermodel Yasmin Le Bon turned heads — and made headlines — when she slowly sashayed down the runway wearing Rolland’s “monumental” 45-metre-long red dress. Two assistants helped her navigate the catwalk with the burdensome train.

Watch Le Bon’s walk at 4:08 below.

Made with nearly 150 yards of fabric, the red silk jersey gown, adorned with “assorted lacquered metal panels on the bustier and down the front of the skirt,” was the show-stopping piece in Rolland’s “highly-sculptural” Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2012 show in Paris.

And I thought Melania Trump’s 50-pound wedding gown was intimidating in its weight.

Some critics are asking, what’s the point of a dress like this? I’m not sure that it needs one.

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