The art of HAUTE COUTURE.
👀 Haute couture fashion week ends today. But what does haute couture mean? What rules do they have? How does it work? Is it as exclusive as it seems from the outside?
🔝 When we talk about haute couture we talk about the creation of high-quality, handmade clothing, with an emphasis on attention to detail and the use of advanced sewing techniques.
📚 The term "haute couture" was born in the 19th century by Charles Frederick Worth, an English designer who made seamstresses be seen as designers and who is considered the father of haute couture. Worth created the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, a French institution created in 1868 that belongs to the Fédération Française de la Couture and, from that moment on, only the houses and brands that belong to this select group can use the term "Haute Couture" in their creations since it is protected in France by law.
✍ These here are the rules of haute couture, pay attention!
- Fashion houses that want to opt for haute couture must make custom-made garments commissioned by private clients in a workshop with at least 15 employees and 20 technical workers or artisans, all full-time in one of their workshops/atelier located in Paris.
- Creations must go through more than one costume or fitting test.
- Each of the collections must have a minimum of 50 unique and original designs including night and day looks.
- Two collections must be presented a year, in January and July.
- The members of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture are divided into different levels of “hierarchy”, on the one hand, there are the officials, then the corresponding or foreign members, and, finally, the invited members along with the members belonging to jewelry and accessories. , the latter, includes firms that after being invited four times in a row, can choose to become members of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture.
- The person who starts the garment, known as the petite main, from the sketch, must be the one to finish it and it must be made completely by hand.
- Each piece produced must have a creation duration of between 100 and 1000 hours of artisanal work.
- The rule of 3 designs. To guarantee exclusivity to clients, there must be only three pieces of each design, the one created to measure, the one shown on the catwalk and the one kept in the firm's private collection. The three designs must be identical, although the one used on the catwalk is allowed to be made with other fabrics, so as not to waste valuable fabrics. Today some houses do not meet this requirement and produce one design per continent.
- Prices should be around 20,000 to 100,000 euros, from here they can reach any number that comes to mind...
#hautecouture #couture
