haute couture

 

dressmaking as a master craft…

Haute Couture in direct translation means “high sewing” or “high dress making”, and in its contemporary guise, is traditionally seen to have Charles Frederick Worth as its main progenitor. Worth was an English born Parisian who opened a Couture house in Paris in 1858. Couture refers to garments and apparel that is custom designed for a specific individual, often for a specific event, and fit/tailored to that one individual. Each haute couture garment is a once off creation, and although it may be imitated for commercial purposes, the original remains without exact duplicate. The term, Haute Couture, is a protected term in France, and only those houses who meet the strict requirements laid out by the Chambre de commerce et d’industrie de Paris (the Ministry for Industry) are allowed to advertise that they are Haute Couture houses. The conditions that must be met are as follows:

1. Houses must design made-to-order garments for private clients, with one or more fittings.
2. Houses must have a workshop (atelier) in Paris that employs at least fifteen people full-time.
3. Each season (i.e., twice a year), present a collection to the Paris press, comprising at least thirty-five runs/exits with outfits for both daytime wear and evening wear.

If the above conditions are met, the design house/label is included as a member of the Chambre syndicale de la haute couture.

Prêt-à-porter in translation from French means “ready-to-wear” or “off-the-rack”, and describes garments that have been produced, en masse, to the general specifications of standard sizes designed to fit the general populace. This type of off-the-rack fashion is what is found in all fashion retailers, and due to its lower production costs (as compared to haute couture) is much cheaper, and in turn, has a higher turnover. Many fashion houses have closed down their haute couture sections in order to exclusively cater for their prêt-à-porter clientèle.