Haute couture
Haute couture (French for "high sewing" or "high dressmaking"; IPA: [ˌoːt kuˈtyʁ]) refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted fashions. It originally referred to Englishman Charles Frederick Worth's work, produced in Paris in the mid-nineteenth century. In modern France, haute couture is a "protected name" that can be used only by firms that meet certain well-defined standards. However, the term is also used loosely to describe all high-fashion custom-fitted clothing, whether it is produced in Paris or in other fashion capitals such as London, New York, Tokyo and Milan.
Haute couture is made to order for a specific customer, and it is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finish, often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques.
The term can refer to:
- the fashion houses or fashion designers that create exclusive and often trend-setting fashions
- the fashions created
Legal status
In France, the term haute couture is protected by law and is defined by the Chambre de commerce et d'industrie de Paris based in Paris, France. Their rules state that only "those companies mentioned on the list drawn up each year by a commission domiciled at the Ministry for Industry are entitled to avail themselves" of the label haute couture. The criteria for haute couture were established in 1945 and updated in 1992.
To earn the right to call itself a couture house and to use the term haute couture in its advertising and any other way, members of the Chambre Syndicale must follow these rules:
- Design made-to-order for private clients, with one or more fittings.
- Have a workshop (atelier) in Paris that employs at least fifteen people full-time.
- Each season, present a collection to the Paris press, comprising at least thirty-five runs with outfits for both daytime wear and evening wear.
However, the term haute couture has been misused by successive ready-to-wear brands and high street labels since the late 1980s so that its true meaning has become blurred with that of prêt-à-porter (the French term for ready-to-wear fashion) in the public perception. Every haute couture house also markets prêt-à-porter collections, which typically deliver a higher return on investment than their custom clothing. In fact, much of the haute couture displayed at fashion shows today is rarely sold; it is created to enhance the prestige of the house. Falling revenues have forced a few couture houses to abandon their less profitable couture division and concentrate solely on the less prestigious prêt-à-porter. These houses, such as Italian designer Antonio Capucci, all of whom have their workshops in Italy, are no longer considered haute couture.
Many top designer fashion houses also use the word for some of their collections.
Official haute couture houses
There are many fashion houses who were once official haute couture members:
- Atelier Versace
- Balenciaga
- Elsa Schiaparelli
- Guy Laroche
- Jean Patou
- Lanvin
- Loris Azzaro
- Marcel Rochas
- Nina Ricci
- Paco Rabanne
- Pierre Cardin
- Torrente Julien Fournie being the house's last couturier
- Yves Saint Laurent
- Erik Tenorio
As of early 2007, there are ten official haute couture member houses: [1][2]
- Adeline André
- Chanel
- Christian Dior
- Christian Lacroix
- Dominique Sirop
- Emanuel Ungaro
- Franck Sorbier
- Givenchy
- Jean Paul Gaultier
- Jean-Louis Scherrer
As of early 2007, there are three correspondent (foreign) member houses: [3]
History
French leadership in European fashion may perhaps be dated from the 18th century, when the art, architecture, music, and fashions of the French court at Versailles were imitated across Europe. Visitors to Paris brought back clothing that was then copied by local dressmakers. Stylish women also ordered fashion dolls dressed in the latest Parisian fashion to serve as models.
As railroads and steamships made European travel easier, it was increasingly common for wealthy women to travel to Paris to shop for clothing and accessories. French fitters and seamstresses were commonly thought to be the best in Europe, and real Parisian garments were considered better than local imitations.
The couturier Charles Frederick Worth (October 13, 1826–March 10, 1895), is widely considered the father of haute couture as it is known today. Although born in Bourne, Lincolnshire, England, Worth made his mark in the French fashion industry. While he created one-of-a-kind designs to please some of his titled or wealthy customers, he is best known for preparing a portfolio of designs that were shown on live models at the House of Worth. Clients selected one model, specified colors and fabrics, and had a duplicate garment tailor-made in Worth's workshop. Worth combined individual tailoring with a standardization more characteristic of the ready-to-wear clothing industry, which was also developing during this period.
Following in Worth's footsteps were Callot Soeurs, Patou, Poiret, Vionnet, Fortuny, Lanvin, Chanel, Mainbocher, Schiaparelli, Balenciaga, and Dior. Some of these fashion houses still exist today, under the leadership of modern designers.
In the 1960s a group of young designers who had trained under men like Dior and Balenciaga left these established couture houses and opened their own establishments. The most successful of these young men were Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Cardin, André Courrèges, and Emanuel Ungaro. Japanese native and Paris-based Hanae Mori, a woman, was also successful in establishing her own line.
Lacroix is perhaps the most successful of the fashion houses to have been started in the last decade. Other new houses are Jean-Paul Gaultier and Thierry Mugler.
For all these fashion houses, custom clothing is no longer the main source of income, often costing much more than it earns through direct sales; it only adds the aura of fashion to their ventures in ready-to-wear clothing and related luxury products such as shoes and perfumes, and licensing ventures that earn greater returns for the company. Excessive commercialization and profit-making can be damaging, however. Cardin, for example, licensed with abandon in the 1980s and his name lost most of its fashionable cachet when anyone could buy Cardin luggage at a discount store.
The 1960s also featured a revolt against established fashion standards by mods, rockers, and hippies, as well as an increasing internationalization of the fashion scene. Jet travel had spawned a jet set that partied—and shopped—just as happily in New York as in Paris. Rich women no longer felt that a Paris dress was necessarily better than one sewn elsewhere. While Paris is still pre-eminent in the fashion world, it is no longer the sole arbiter of fashion.
See also
- Fashion designer
- Fashion Week
- Designer label
- Luxury brand
- List of grands couturiers
- Business cluster
External links
- "Haute Couture" from Label France, a magazine of the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs
- Haute Couture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Timeline of Art History
- "The Golden Age of Couture". Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 2007-09-13.