Translating directly from French into High Fashion, Haute Couture is largely considered the pinnacle of luxury fashion but what exactly is it? In this post, we will explore just what is haute couture.
Like ‘Dentist’ or ‘Organic’ there are certain terms that are protected by law, meaning that you cannot, for example, go around calling yourself a dentist and practice dentistry without legally being qualified as one, just as you cannot slap the term ‘organic’ onto your food product if it has showered with pesticides or genetically modified. ‘Haute Couture’ has a
only brands that have been designated as Haute Couture by the ministry can legally call themselves ‘haute couture‘
Its protection is administered by the French Ministry of Industry, meaning that only brands that have been designated as Haute Couture by the ministry can legally call themselves haute couture (but many brands out there use the term liberally if not entirely fraudulently).
Within the Fédération Française de la Couture sits the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture who annually judge who may use the term with a criterion of rules including:
- designs made-to-order for private clients (with at least one fitting)
- have at least twenty full-time employees working within a
n atelier - operate an atelier in Paris with no less than fifteen full-time staff
- present at least fifty original designs to the public every season including day and evening wear.
Along with the grand French couturiers, there are ‘correspondent’ members (foreign) these include: Elie Saab, Giorgio Armani, Viktor & Rolf, Versace, Azzedine Alaia and Valentino. View the full list of members here.
How much does haute couture cost?
Of course, it largely depends on the garment that is being created. Is it day wear or evening wear? Does it require a lot of embellishments, therefore longer hours of crafting? How in-demand is the couturier? Well known fashion houses can charge between $40,000-$100,000 for day wear and much higher for evening or bridal wear. Generally, a lesser-known house with less demand are known to charge as little as $20,000.
Haute Couture’s presentation season is approaching in the first week of July, view the 2019 calendar here, which includes guest members such as Zuhair Murad, Ralph & Russo and Georges Hobeika who, though are not members, have been invited by the federation to present their work.
Read more about haute couture designer Giorgio Armani in this previous post, or keep up-to-date with fashion under the ‘wardrobe‘ category.
photo: Ilya Iix