|
|
|
Janvāris 19., 2007
09:53 - haute couture - french for "high sewing" or "high dressmaking".
Haute couture refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted fashions.
Haute couture is made to order for a specific customer, and it is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finish, often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques.
To earn the right to call itself a couture house and to use the term haute couture in its advertizing and any other way, members of the Chambre Syndicale must follow these rules:
1. Design made-to-order for private clients that require one or more fittings.
2. Have a workshop (atelier) in Paris that employs full-time a minimum of fifteen people.
3. Present to the press in Paris each season (spring/summer and autumn/winter)
a collection of at least thirty-five runs comprising outfits for both daytime
wear and evening wear.
The couturier Charles Frederick Worth (October 13, 1826–March 10, 1895), is widely considered the father of haute couture as it is known today.
Following in Worth's footsteps were Callot Soeurs, Patou, Poiret, Vionnet, Fortuny, Lanvin, Chanel, Mainbocher, Schiaparelli, Balenciaga, and Dior. Some of these fashion houses still exist today, under the leadership of modern designers.
In the 1960s a group of young designers who had trained under men like Dior and Balenciaga left these established couture houses and opened their own establishments. The most successful of these young men were Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Cardin, André Courrèges, and Emanuel Ungaro.
Lacroix is perhaps the most successful of the fashion houses to have been started in the last decade. Other new houses are Jean-Paul Gaultier and Thierry Mugler.
For all these fashion houses, custom clothing is no longer the main source of income, often costing much more than it earns through direct sales; it only adds the aura of fashion to their ventures in ready-to-wear clothing and related luxury products such as shoes and perfumes, and licensing ventures that earn greater returns for the company.
While Paris is still pre-eminent in the fashion world, it is no longer the sole arbiter of fashion.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sviesta Ciba |