Haute Couture

Haute Couture: A Summary

• Haute couture is a custom-fitted high-end fashion design that is constructed by hand from start-to-finish.
• Paris became the center of the industry in the mid-nineteenth century, making outfits from high-quality, expensive, and often unusual fabrics.
• Couture translates literally from French as "dressmaking" and is also used as a common abbreviation of haute couture.
• The term haute couture is protected by law and is defined by the Chambre de commerce et d'industrie de Paris based in Paris.
• The Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture is defined as "the regulating commission that determines which fashion houses are eligible to be true haute couture houses".
• To earn the right to call itself a couture house and to use the term haute couture, members of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture must follow specific rules.
• Haute couture can be referenced back as early as the 17th century, and Rose Bertin, the French fashion designer to Queen Marie Antoinette, can be credited for bringing fashion and haute couture to French culture.
• A couturier is an establishment or person involved in the clothing fashion industry who makes original garments to order for private clients.
• Charles Frederick Worth is widely considered the father of haute couture as it is known today.
• Some of the most successful young designers were Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Cardin, André Courrèges, Ted Lapidus, and Emanuel Ungaro.
• 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.
• Silk and wool are the most used textiles in haute couture, with various kinds of silks used to produce certain styles of clothing.