Some Like It Haute
Haute Couture is the ultimate in luxury and fashion pampering. It is a delight only a few thousand women in the whole world will ever get to experience. 'Haute Couture' is the most exclusive and expensive clothing a fashion house can ever produce. ‘Haute Couture’ is a French word meaning high cut or tailoring.
Not every fashion house creates Haute Couture. In fact there are only a few of the most exclusive fashion houses that do. The term 'Haute Couture', although used more often than it should be, it is a term that is regulated by the French government and is still governed by a number of precise criteria. The house must have at least 20 staff that work at their premises and must present day and evening wear collections totalling 50 garments to the press in Paris twice a year, shown by a minimum of three models. Their collections must also be shown in their own salons.
Haute Couture clothes are carefully created taking about 100 - 150 hours of manual work to make a suit and up to 1000 hours for an evening dress. Details such as hand beading and embroidery often feature on Haute Couture clothes. Haute Couture clothes are made to measure. The couturier will make the whole outfit in a canvas toile before creating the final work of art. There will usually be a minimum of two fittings.
Haute couture is so special as it is specifically made to measure for you by a highly skilled couturier. The outfit will be completely unique and worn by nobody else. The tailoring of Haute Couture clothes can often be used to improve the figure and the clothes are quite obviously made for you. The fabrics used for Haute Couture are expensive silks, fine wool’s, cashmeres, cottons, linens, leather, suede, other skins or furs. Present day couture houses include Balmain, Chanel, Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Ungaro, Féraud, Gaultier, Lacroix and Scherrer.
But does Haute Couture have any relevance to the rest of us who aren’t royalty, aristocracy, wealthy business people, pop stars, models or film stars? It might all seem a bit far fetched and the fashion shows are usually quite outrageous. Fashions houses spend millions on their Haute Couture shows and yet the Haute Couture part of their business only account for a small percentage of their sales, sometimes they even make a loss on Haute Couture. Haute Couture is really like an advertisement for the fashion house, to prove how exclusive, luxurious and desirable their clothes are. Whilst most of us may never ever get to wear these beautiful clothes, there is a always a chance that perhaps one day, for a really special occasion… Haute Couture is great in our dreams.