Even if you are not interested in fashion and newest trends, you probably have heard the mystic words combination: Haute Couture or High Fashion. Houte Couture differs from ready-to-wear fashion and street wear and usually has nothing to do with latest trends. Only eighteen fashion houses have a privilege to entitle themselves with this magical phrase. A single high fashion costume costs up from $40000. What is so marvelous about it?
The keys that make high fashion outstanding are luxury, thoroughness and private attitude. The luxury is ensured by original design and high quality fabrics. Every garment is sewed by hands; decorations such as beads and embroidery are also applied by hands only. Imagine an evening gown decorated with thousands of tiny beads, this adornment can take weeks of seamstresses work! But it's not only accurate work or exclusive materials that makes high fashion garment high priced, it's also the brand name that's makes clothing special.
If money isn't a problem to you, you can order any costume from a certain fashion house haute couture collection. Body size or figure is not a problem here, as fashion house will personalize a clothing for you. The costume delivered to a customer is precisely fitted to his or her proportions and wishes. But don't take a fashion house as simple tailor atelier! Once a person choose a clothe model, color and fabrics, huge team of tailors, embroiderers, furriers, vendeuses and other starts its work to satisfy the client. Making a high fashion clothe is not the same thing as making a copy of clothe in a collection. As not everyone has model like shapes or height, so a garment is adapted to client. This means they not only change clothe size, but make a clothe highlight advantages of the clients figure and hide disadvantages. Fashion houses are interested in good look of their collections.
Originality makes haute couture even more outstanding. There might be two people that ordered the same clothe, but they can still feel original. High fashion garments never reach stores, so you won't see thousands of people wearing the same dress in streets. Some of high fashion collections are copyrighted, to protect certain style from being copied by less famous companies. All these features make high fashion very expensive and only a small part of people can afford it. There are approximately 3000 people that order clothing from haute couture a year. And only 1000 of them buy garments this way regularly.
A number of haute couture houses varies as they need to meet very strict requirements to be in the list. These requirements are even defined by law in France. Following fashion houses have the right to call their collections high fashion: Armani Prive, Chanel, Christian Dior, Christian Lacroix, Elie Saab, Givenchy, Jean Paul Gaultier and Valentino. To be accepted to exclusive caste of haute couture fashion house has to present a collection of minimum 35 costumes of evening wear and daytime wear. These collections have to be presented every season certainly in Paris. Other requirements are to design haute couture clothes for private persons and hold atelier in Paris working full-time with at least 15 people employed.
It might look that haute couture title doesn't pay off for a fashion house as they need to work hard to keep the title and a clientele is surprisingly small. But many people get interested in designers ready-to-wear or accessories because of good image of haute couture. When a person buys a dress from ready-to-wear collection by famous fashion house she finds her style closer to those who can afford to wear high fashion. The good name of haute couture is sometimes used by others designer to get attention. Designers entitle their collections the high fashion when they want to accentuate that this wear is luxurious and exclusive.
from jurgita.com
