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THE WORLD OF FASHION
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23
buying the already finished product.
For this reason, one of the most sig-
nificant commercial innovations of the
nineteenth century was the selling of
previously made clothes: professional
uniforms, men’s suits, and garments
for special occasions (mourning and
wedding attire, coats) were made with
cheap fabrics and in very basic styles.
This kind of clothing was sold in large
department stores and directed at the
working class.
In the 1920s, another fashion factor—
novelty—was introduced into the pro-
duction of clothes when in the United
States large department stores began
to offer simplifications of haute cou-
ture designs from Paris, thus fore-
shadowing what would become prêt-
à-porter.
Today, fashion is a motor that func-
tions at different speeds. From haute
couture to sportswear, from prêt-
à-porter to casual to mass distri-
bution, fashion production depends
on different concepts and calendars
conceived for the satisfaction of all
sorts of people, given that fashion,
nowadays is accessible to almost
everyone.
HAUTE COUTURE
What is haute couture?
Haute couture is a system of fashion
production and communication, born
in the second half of the nineteenth
century, whose main objective is to
dress women in custom-made clothes.
Today, the concept has changed, and
despite the fact that haute couture is
not a profitable activity, it represents
nonetheless a major publicity cam-
paign for brands that can afford it.
In 1858, Worth opened a Maison Spé-
ciale de Confections in Paris, at 7, rue
de la Paix, paving the way for haute
couture, a system linked to the figure
of the couturier, who, almost artisan-
ally, dresses women in custom-made
clothes. In 1869, the Chambre Syndi-
cale de la Haute Couture was created,
an entity which in 1911 defined the
designation “house of fashion” as a
business whose activity consisted in
creating feminine designs for selling
both to private clients and profes-
sionals.
The criteria for bestowing upon a
company the denomination “house of
haute couture”—an exclusively Pari-
sian title—were elaborated in 1945.
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FIELD GUIDE: HOW TO BE A FASHION DESIGNER
Among the requirements were creating
original designs by a permanent design-
er, producing custom-made designs,
executing certain tasks by hand (bast-
ing, embroidery), having a studio in
Paris with a minimum of employees
(currently fifteen full-time workers), and
showing a certain number of designs
regularly in Paris. Over the years, the
sector has been in decline. After World
War II there were 106 houses of haute
couture; in 2007 there were only ten. In
2001, the criteria were relaxed in order
to avoid a complete collapse. This was
not the first measure taken to rescue
houses of haute couture. In 1997, with
the same objective in mind, members
were divided into three categories:
– full members
– correspondents, foreign members
with the obligation of showing in
Paris
– guests, aspirants sponsored by a
member of the above two catego-
ries whose collections do not meet
all the required criteria and who will
only be bumped up to a superior
category if they show regularly dur-
ing certain seasons
Today, the qualification of haute cou-
ture is legally protected and can only
be used by companies that appear in
the list of one of the categories, estab-
lished each year by a commission of
the French Ministry for Industry.
© Fabrice Laroche. Design: Anne Valérie Hash. Haute couture SS 2009, Palais Royal, Paris
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THE WORLD OF FASHION
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25
CURRENT MEMBERS OF HAUTE COUTURE
MEMBERS OF HAUTE COUTURE
Adeline André
Anne Valérie Hash
Chanel
Christian Dior
Christian Lacroix
Dominique Sirop
Emanuel Ungaro
Franck Sorbier
Givenchy
Jean Paul Gaultier
Maurizio Galante
CORRESPONDENT MEMBERS
Elie Saab
Armani Privé
Maison Martin Margiela
Valentino
GUEST MEMBERS
Adam Jones
Alexis Mabille
Atelier Gustavo Lins
Boudicca
Cathy Pill
Christophe Josse
Felipe Oliveira Baptista
Jean-Paul Knott
Josep Font
Lefranc Ferrant
Marc Le Bihan
Richard René
Stéphane Rolland
Udo Edling
Wuyong
Haute couture clients
Clients interested in buying haute
couture have traditionally been:
– Private clients: wealthy women that
form part of international high soci-
ety for whom the selected design
is custom-made, which implies sev-
eral trials. Over the years, this type
of client has decreased from around
20,000 before World War II to less
than 200 today. It is important to
keep in mind that some dresses can
end up costing more than 100,000
euros ($136,000).
– Professional buyers: in the early
days of haute couture they were
primarily buyers from large Ameri-
can department stores, which could
purchase original designs—by sizes,
and at a 40 percent mark up com-
pared to private clients—with the
right to reproduce them industrially
or buy test garments and patterns
directly, which, in addition to being
able to be reproduced industrially,
were adapted to the store’s own
production models. In some cases,
and under very restrictive condi-
tions, big department stores could
associate their names with the cre-
ator of haute couture on labels.
This type of buying suffered a major
blow in 1929, as a consequence of
the New York stock market crash,
and would stop in the 1980s with
the rise of designer prêt-à-porter.
This was due to the fact that it
was now unnecessary to pay such
exorbitant amounts for garments
that became luxury prêt-à-porter
the moment they left Paris.
While haute couture represents a part
of women’s fashion with an increas-
ingly diminished clientele, men’s
tailoring continues to represent a
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FIELD GUIDE: HOW TO BE A FASHION DESIGNER
© Raul Benegas. Design: Dominique Sirop. Haute couture SS 2009
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