What is Haute Couture Clothing?

As little girls many of us saw pictures of celebrities walking the red carpets and day-dreamed of ourselves wearing the fancy hats with probably a classic red gown of some designer we can barely pronounce the name of- waving our hands and flipping our hair. Haute Couture is all of that- selling a dream.

‘Christian Dior Haute Couture - I don’t know what it means, but I had to say it.’ was Jennifer Lawrence’s response to the question ‘Who are you wearing?’ at the Golden Globes red carpet back in 2013. It is quite surprising how we’ve heard the term so many times yet many of us fail to understand the meaning of haute couture in essence. Haute Couture lies at the heart of fashion’s ecosystem. There is barely anything much fancier and grander than haute couture. It is extravagant, fanciful, and elaborate!

Source : pinterest.com

Many times, people misunderstand the phrase and use it just to sound all hoity-toity in French thereby losing on the actual meaning of it; while others also misinterpret it for handmade or made-to-order clothing. While this is not completely wrong, it leaves out many other factors.

Haute Couture clothing literally means high dressmaking. Couture in French stands for sewing, dressmaking or needlework.

Haute means high and elegant. Haute Couture is exclusively created; custom fitted, high quality clothing that is hand stitched from start to end and often uses unusual fabric.

To create an haute couture gown, the designers and sewers have to be the most experienced and capable for this is an art which requires the closest attention to details and putting in hard work for hours and hours before that one magnificent piece is created. Considering the time, efforts, hours and skill that goes in creating each completed piece, the sky's the limit to the price of haute couture.

The History of Haute Couture:

The term goes back to the 17th century when Rose Bertin designed couture for Queen Marie Antoinette. He is credited for bringing haute couture and fashion to the French culture. But it was the couturier Charles Frederick Worth who is considered as the Father of Haute Couture. Even though he was an Englishman he revolutionized the French dressmaking and fashion industry. He was one of the first to let his clients choose the fabric they wanted even the specific colors and hand stitched the garments to the exact fit of the clients. Worth had a long list of clients which were wealthy and royal.

Following his footsteps many others rose to the art of haute couture and Paris soon became the capital of Fashion. Some of the first fashion houses that created haute couture are Callot Soeurs, Poiret, Fortuny, Lanvin, Chanel, Schiaparelli, Balenciaga, and Dior. Many of these yet rule the fashion industry is very popular.

But haute couture cannot be termed to any brand that creates custom fitted clothing. A Parisian governing body called Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture was created by a number of couturiers who regulated the world of haute couture. It looked over the brands who created haute couture,counterfeiting of designs, questions in terms of law and taxes, the opening dates of a collection, number of models, etc. It was founded in 1868 and was the thought-child of Charles Frederick Word. In 1975, a separate sub division was created for the purpose of regulating haute couture and was known as the Fédération française de la couture, du prêt-à-porter des couturiers et des créateurs de mode or Fédération de la haute couture et de la mode.

In 1945, the federation came out with eligibility criteria regarding which fashion houses could be eligible for creating haute couture. Only those houses and companies that are approved each year by a commission run by the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture become eligible to be called couture brands.

The criteria to fulfill to be given the haute couture status is-

1. The members should create original custom fit designs. They should have an atelier in Paris with a full-time working staff of 15 and 20 full-time technical workers.

2. They have to present with a minimum of 50 original designs with more than one fit, including day and evening looks. These designs are presented in January and July in Paris.

Each year 16 members are selected who get to present in the January and July shows. Guest members are also invited each season and if a member is invited four times in a row, it then can become a member.

The member list of Summer-Spring show of 2020 included some of the famous names like Dior, Chanel, Schiaparelli, Givenchy, Fendi Couture, Giorgio Armani, Versace, Elie Saab, Valentino and Jean Paul Gaultier. After 50 years in the industry, Jean Paul Gaultier marked the end of its journey in couture with the last show in January 2020 and retired from the runway.

Purpose of Haute Couture:

Many times while we are scrolling through our Instagram feeds or reading fashion magazines, we come across extraordinary and mind boggling designs being sported by models and celebrities on the runway. It sets us to wonder why would someone create that piece and moreover who can don that piece and wear it every day?

Well, many times modernized haute couture designs are not made to be sold and worn rather they are exactly what they are displayed for- to show. Many times they are used as marketing videos to sell items like perfumes or accessories to the customers. Nevertheless, haute couture is not what some term it as ‘useless’. It is an art and art many times has no value. Haute couture gives the designers opportunities to show their designs, their inspiration, and their craftsmanship.

It lays down tradition and helps preserve the culture. During World War Two, there was an attempt to bring haute couture to Berlin, Germany but the President of the Chambre Syndicale at the time, Lucien Lelong, proclaimed, “It is in Paris or nowhere.” Paris is one of the capitals of fashion in the world along with Milan, New York and Tokyo. The French are known for their tailoring and fashion innovations.

Haute couture gives the designers a way to express their love for fashion and fabric; it has to be over-the-top! Besides this, couture also helps the brand to create an image for itself. Valentino is known for its ‘red gowns’ and the Valentino red through the years of couture. Through haute couture many brands like Chanel or Yves Saint Laurent have reached the fame where they are today and have become a brand name that everyone knows.

"I am very happy to design haute couture. It's a love story between couture and me."

- Yves Saint Laurent

Haute Couture allows designers and gives them a space to flow freely and flourish their creativity. Couture helps in setting new trends every year and also serves as a research and development department for new fabric and materials. It has endless opportunities and it is always going to be valued.

Future of Haute Couture:

What is it about haute couture that makes people think every few years that it's nearing its death?

Each piece of haute couture takes approx 100-700 hours, extremely skilled craftsmanship and meters and meters of fabric. With that insane amount of labour and skill it's no surprise that each garment is sold at a starting range of $10,000-$60,000 and can cost upwards of $100,000.

This makes only a miniscule of the world’s population to be able to actually purchase couture. Approximately, only 4000 women purchase haute couture every year. Does this make the industry to be a dying one?

Haute couture is an industry where the market for this fashion remains and the designers are evolving and while they remain true to their traditions they are constantly looking for modern inspirations. Initially haute couture had a market of grown-up elder women but now newer markets are emerging for couture- the millennial. Social media is used by the millennial on a large scale basis and they are constantly getting influenced by it. When they come across haute couture they strive to get to it. The designers in the industry have noticed that before women would want couture for its intricacy of handwork and the fairytale vibe to it. But now the new audience wants to wear couture because they obviously want to stand out and feel beautiful. What they’re looking for in couture now is a subtle uniqueness and know-how.

Couture also makes one feel powerful, for example, Debra Lee, former chairwoman of Black Entertainment Television. Lee told in an interview to Vogue, that she treats couture as a practical tool since it gives her powerful clothing to appear in public appearances professionally.

In 2020, sustainability and technology both have become an essential part for couture. Couture is more sustainable that ready-to-wear and fast fashion because it is one of a kind and not mass produced. Following the principles of sustainability Viktor and Rolf had in its Spring 2017 haute couture collection- "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" used existing damaged vintage dresses which were as old as from the 40’s and then pieced them together, highlighting the repairs with gold. In the show notes they referred to the Japanese principle Kintsugi, where beauty arises from imperfection.

The centuries-old tradition of haute couture is changing, but for the better and it is not going to die anytime soon.

Masters of Haute Couture:

Over the centuries some fashion houses have established themselves as the ‘Masters of Haute Couture’. Below are some of the most famous fashion houses:

1. Balenciaga

"Haute couture is like an orchestra, for which only Balenciaga is the conductor. The rest of us are just musicians, following the directions he gives us."

- Christian Dior

Balenciaga was one of oldest members of haute couture. But it hasn’t produced a single couture collection since Cristóbal Balenciaga himself shuttered his atelier in 1968. It was now all set to return in the July season of Couture in 2020.

Source : https://tankmagazine.com/tank/2017/05/balenciaga/

2. Dior

"With Dior Haute Couture, the dream is already there."

- Patrick Demarchelier

Known for bringing something new every time to the runway, this brand which put its first show on 12th February,  has continued to charm us with its vision through elegant, structured, and infinitely feminine collections.

Source : https://www.dior.com/en_us/womens-fashion/haute-couture-shows/spring-summer-2020-haute-couture-show

3. Jean Paul Gaultier

The popular couture is known for its looks which makes use of jeans, corsets, sailor shirts, androgyny collection. After 50 years in the industry, he finally retired in the spring season of 2020.

Source : https://www.jeanpaulgaultier.com/en-us/springsummer-2020/chapter1/

4. Chanel

Chanel is known for its inspirational collections. For its Spring/Summer collection of 2020, the inspiration was Coco Chanel’s childhood orphanage. This show witnessed some of the most subtle and refined clothes seen on a Chanel catwalk in quite some time.

Source : https://www.domusweb.it/en/news/gallery/2020/01/23/paris-fashion-week-this-year-set-design-is-mimetic.html

Conclusion:

Haute Couture is a world full of luxury and fashion which the average man can only see from afar. The seeds were sown by Charles Frederick Worth for intricate, hand sewn with rich fabrics and whether it is embezzled or embroidered, couture remains to be the extraordinary part of fashion. It is due to this phenomenon that whenever someone wears something special or expensive they call it ‘couture’!