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Haute couture (; ; French language for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted Luxury goods fashion design. The term haute couture generally refers to a specific type of upper Clothing common in Europe during the 16th to the 18th century, or to the upper portion of a modern dress to distinguish it from the skirt and Sleeve. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Paris became the centre of a growing industry that focused on making outfits from high-quality, expensive, often unusual fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable of sewers—often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques. Couture translates literally from French as "dressmaking", sewing, or needlework and is also used as a common abbreviation of haute couture and can often refer to the same thing in spirit.
The term is also used loosely to describe all high-fashion, custom-fitted clothing, whether it is produced in the fashion capitals of London, New York City, Paris, and Milan. In either case, the term can refer to the fashion houses or that create exclusive and often trend-setting or to the fashions created. The term haute couture has also taken on further popular meanings referring to non-dressmaking activities, such as production of fine art and music.
18th century France witnessed a dramatic rise in clothing consumption, and scholars have documented a "clothing revolution" that occurred between 1700 and 1789. This was characterised by the increased size and value of wardrobes across the country, even among the middling and working classes. The fashion industry sprang to life to meet increasing demand.
Rose Bertin, the French fashion designer to Marie Antoinette, can be credited for bringing fashion and haute couture to French culture. Visitors to Paris brought back clothing that was then copied by local dressmakers. Stylish women also ordered dresses in the latest Parisian fashion to serve as models.
As railroads and steamships made European travel easier, it was increasingly common for wealthy women to travel to Paris to shop for clothing and accessories. French fitters and were commonly thought to be the best in Europe, and real Parisian garments were considered better than local imitations.
A couturier () is an establishment or person involved in the clothing fashion industry who makes original garments to order for private clients. A couturier may make what is known as haute couture. Such a person usually hires patternmakers and machinists for garment production, and is either employed by exclusive boutiques or is self-employed.
The couturier Charles Frederick Worth is widely considered the father of haute couture as it is known today. Although born in Bourne, Lincolnshire, England, Worth made his mark in the French fashion industry. Revolutionising how dressmaking had been previously perceived, Worth made it so the dressmaker became the artist of garnishment: a fashion designer. While he created one-of-a-kind designs to please some of his titled or wealthy customers, he is best known for preparing a portfolio of designs that were shown on live models at the House of Worth. Clients selected one model, specified colours and fabrics, and had a duplicate garment tailor-made in Worth's workshop. Worth combined individual tailoring with a standardization more characteristic of the ready-to-wear clothing industry, which was also developing during this period.
Following in Worth's footsteps were Callot Soeurs, Patou, Paul Poiret, Madeleine Vionnet, Mariano Fortuny, Jeanne Lanvin, Coco Chanel, Mainbocher, Schiaparelli, Cristóbal Balenciaga, and Christian Dior. Some of these fashion houses still exist today, under the leadership of modern designers.
In the 1960s, a group of young protégés who had trained under more senior and established fashion designers including Dior and Balenciaga left these established couture houses and opened their own establishments. The most successful of these young designers were Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Cardin, André Courrèges, Ted Lapidus, and Emanuel Ungaro. Japanese native and Paris-based Hanae Mori was also successful in establishing her own line.
Lacroix is one of the fashion houses to have been started in the late 20th century. Other new houses have included Jean Paul Gaultier and Thierry Mugler. Due to the high expenses of producing haute couture collections, Lacroix and Mugler have since ceased their haute couture activities. End of a fairytale: Christian Lacroix fashion house to strip down. The Guardian. Retrieved 21 October 2014
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 goods such as and , and License ventures that earn greater returns for the company. It is their ready-to-wear collections that are available to a wider audience, adding a splash of glamour and the feel of haute couture to more wardrobes. Fashion houses still create custom clothing for publicity, for example providing items to celebrity events such as the Met Gala.
Recent guest members have included the fashion houses of Cathy Pill, , and Ma Ke (Wuyong). In the 2008/2009 Fall/Winter Haute Couture week, Emanuel Ungaro showed as an Official Member.
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