Haute Couture: Behind The Seams

Find out what makes high fashion so exclusive.

POSTED 10.05.24 16:41 BY JESSICA LIMACHER

Translated in English as “high sewing”, couture is the highest form of design, technicality, and art in fashion.

Haute couture is not only to show off fashion houses’ skills and artistry but is used as a marketing tool to push other products (bags, perfumes, brands). This creates brand awareness. It is only produced for a clientele of four thousand worldwide.

Haute couture is only created in Paris due to strict rules, which I will cover later on. Haute couture is the powerhouse of a fashion house and has pushed designers like John Galliano, Alexander McQueen and Raf Simons to express political, artistic, shape and style that could not be explored in ready-wear, either because of the deeper meaning or lack of skill within the brand.

So, Who Founded Haute Couture?

The term “Haute Couture” was created in 1945, the same time Dior created the “New Look”. Although the first couture house was founded in 1858, at 7, Rue De La Paix in Paris. Charles Fredrick Worth was an English man who came to Paris to sell designs internationally. Showcasing in true “salon” style in an atelier.

Later becoming successful, his goal was to stage two collections a year of new shapes and fabric choices, which led to creating seasons (Fall, winter, spring, and summer). Now sixteen fashion shows are run yearly.

Haute couture Collections are forbidden anywhere else due to the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, which restricts designers to ateliers and at least fifteen full-time staff.

Why is Haute Couture kept strictly to Paris?

Due to the invasion by Germans in 1940, Haute Couture was not able to coin the name until 1945 as gowns were being made for German nazi lovers. This not only affected who influenced whom but also why the French, once the war was over, created the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode to centralize Haute Couture in Paris and Parisian houses (Chanel, Dior, Balenciaga, Lanvin, Schiaparelli).

Requirements by Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode

Haute couture houses have the following requirements: brands must own an atelier in Paris with at least 15 full-time staff and present at least 35 looks in a show, twice a year. Each year the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture draws up a list of official couture houses that meet those specifications.

This list can and does change; Givenchy notably dropped off of the list of haute couture in Spring 2013. No brand, no matter their prestige, can circumvent the guidelines first put in place back in 1945.