Haute Courture Article - Wonderful Valentino, Gucci, Prada Fashion:Beau Riche

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HAUTE COUTURE

What exactly is Haute Couture?

Haute Couture, High Tailoring, is the epitome of fashion design and includes a select
group of fashion houses in Paris France. The media over recent years has applied the
term to high end fashion in general but this is actually a misnomer as genuine Haute
Couture is a legally protected French name and can only legitimately be used by those
who are named on a list complied by a commission, Chambre Syndicale de Couture,
within the French Ministry of Industry.

Presently there are ten permanent members on the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute
Couture list they are: Givenchy, Chanel, Dior, Adeline Andre, Christian Lacroix,
Dominique Sirop, Emanuel Ungaro, Franck Sorbier, Jean-Louis Scherrer and Jean Paul
Gaultier.

Additionally there are three members outside of France called correspondent members
and they are: Elie Saab, Giorgio Armani and Valentino

Haute Couture is fabulously expensive and is one of the last bastions of pure
unadulterated luxury, each creation a quintessential masterpiece. Heavenly materials
are draped, teased and tucked and tiny hand sewn stitches apply iridescent pearls and
gossamer, specially farmed, feathers. The elite, almost secret society, of
Haute Couture club members feel that these, once in a lifetime designs, are works of
art in textile and each designer a genius. They consider Haute Couture an art form and
instead of an extravagance is really a wise investment. Putting aside the art aspect of
an investment in Haute Couture you can actually appreciate that, for all its expense, it
is in point of fact incredible value for money. These beautiful items can last generations
and they are so skillfully designed that they are equally fashionable decades later. The
superb lustrous fabrics maintain their quality and color and, even on close inspection,
could have been made last week or last century. Essentially if you choose a timeless
little black Chanel dress or a Dior classic suit in your twenties they will still have
a wow factor when you are retired. Which is pretty amazing.

The wonderfully talented artisan ateliers that breathe life into the designers’ squiggles
and swirls take an average 150 hours to transform the one dimensional sketch into a
beautiful and elegant creation fit to adorn the shoulders of the princesses and
queens of Europe and the uncrowned wealthy of the world. There are some
diaphanous dresses with intricate delicate embroidery which can take over 1000 hours
to complete. The lucky ladies who wear these ethereal clothes say that wearing them
is like slipping on a silken extra skin. The fine and delicate fabrics fit so perfectly that
the €20,000 to over six figure price for some dresses is worth every penny.

However in the latter quarter of the twentieth century the Fashion Houses ran head
long into a reality check. The old school devotees of Haute Couture who would never
have countenanced a prêt-a-porter item on their well groomed bodies were being
replaced by a new generation which would match a Haute Couture jacket with a pair of
jeans.

The dedicated buyers of Haute Couture has lessoned considerably since the 1940’s and
it is considered that there are only approximately two hundred ladies in the entire
world whom consistently by these wonderful collections. Mostly buyers can only afford
one or two items so the demand for these exquisite pieces has dropped. Subsequently
those employed at the ateliers has dwindled from over 46,000 just after the war to
4,500 in 2007.

Chanel is endeavoring to keep Haute Couture alive by purchasing ateliers which throw
in the gossamer towel but it is not just the ateliers which are leaving Haute Couture.
Several of the Fashion Houses on the Chamber’s list decided that it was just too costly
to adhere to the inflexible rules as dictated by the French Ministry. They have left the
confines of this select world for the larger lucrative market of the prêt-a-porter ready
to wear lines. It has therefore become more of a labor of love for the remaining
members to continue in the Haute Couture tradition and, in an effort to offset the ever
increasing over heads, they sensibly use the fashion show runway as a platform to
promote their more profitable accessories and perfumes.

Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel’s top designer, was inspired at the early age of eleven when he
saw a collection by Dior in his native Hamburg. His focus henceforth centered
on design and his career found the fast track when he won an award for a coat in the
same Wool Boards competition as Yves St. Laurent won for a dress. An avid
photographer he often shoots his own press photos. He is known as Kaiser Karl to his
staff and the color of his signature leather fingerless gloves change with his creative
flow. Red means serious business. He has said that the best idea in his life he saw
in his sleep just before he woke up. He has devoted admirers of his collections,
continuing the excellence of Coca Chanel, and the absolute necessity of owning that
invaluable little black dress.

Many of the top designers have switched fashion houses several times during they
careers and are therefore comprehensively experienced in the professional expertise
and preferences of competing establishments.

John Galliano, the shining star of Dior, previously worked at Givenchy and his creative
designs adorn several of the most beautiful and talented actresses of our age. His fresh
and somewhat cavalier approach to design has escalated him to the upper echelons of
Haute Couture’s all time favorites. His parents were from Spain and Gibraltar but he
studied fashion in London and has been dubbed the first British designer to head a
French Couture House. With his roguish good looks and sublime creative
intelligence he personifies a modern day Da Vinci constantly challenging the
establishment as he simultaneously shocks and woos the world.
Valentino. Oh Valentino, classic, ultra feminine and dreamy Couture. Valentino’
s designs are visual rhapsodies. If Galliano is Da Vinci then Valentino is Chopin. A
flowing river of chiffon and silk his creations gently caress and elevate the senses and
if Helen and Hera stepped down from Olympus to shop the Rue du Faubourg Saint-
Honorè they would depart Parisian shores laden with Valentino.

Other familiar famous designers and fashion houses that used to be on the Haute
Couture list are: Versace, Guy Laroche, Jean Patou, Nina Richi, Paco Rabanne, Yves St.
Laurent, Marcel Rochas, Lanvin, Loris Azzaro, Elsa Schiaparelli, Balenciaga and Julien
Fournie

In addition to the permanent members listed above and the 3 correspondent members.
The board voted on, and extended to, an invitation to several new companies to
show in 2007.
Cathy Pill, Boudicca, Gustavo Lins, Gérald Watelet, Lefranc.Ferrant and Nicolas Le
Cauchois.

An invitation for a return visit in 2007 was also extended to:
Marc Le Bihan, Richard Renè, Eymeric François, Anne Valérie Hash, Carven, Christophe
Josse, Felipe Oliveira Baptista, Maison Martin Margiela, Maurizio Galante, On Aura Tout
Vu, Ralph Rucci and Adam Jones

So what can the future hold for Haute Couture? It is a shrinking industry and you
wonder how much longer the present permanent members can maintain the tradition.
It would be an incredible shame for this historic industry to disappear and one can only
hope that realistic endeavors can save Haute Couture as a living entity and not one to
be viewed as a museum dodo sealed forever between sterile glass enclosures.