The oldest and most revered fashion week, known for its escapism and grandeur, couture shows have transported audiences to the moon (see Chanel AW17, which transformed the Grand Palais into a space station) and 3,500 years back in time (look no further than John Galliano’s SS04 collection inspired by ancient Egypt).
What is haute couture?
Originating in late 19th-century Paris, haute couture — which, translated into English, means ‘high dressmaking’ — is fashion at its most refined. “Haute couture is a spearhead in terms of creation — a fantastic laboratory of both craftsmanship and design innovation,” Ralph Toledano, president of the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, told Vogue last year. “[It] is a land of free expression for designers, as well as an image builder for brands.”
Ahead of Haute Couture Fashion Week, we break down the numbers behind the elaborate craft of couture.
1858
The year British designer Charles Frederick Worth — regarded by many fashion historians as ‘the father of haute couture’ and ‘the first couturier’ — established the first Couture House at number 7, rue de la Paix in Paris.
1868
The year the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (FHCM) was founded. The FHCM promotes French fashion culture by presiding over Paris women’s and men’s fashion weeks. It also endorses designers who exhibit a quality of craftsmanship that meets the level required to show on the official Haute Couture Fashion Week schedule.
150
The average number of hours required to create a simple couture dress or suit from start to finish.
1,000
The average number of hours required to create a piece involving fine embroidery and other embellishments. Look 39 in Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel AW18 haute couture collection took almost this amount of time to complete.
1,600
The number of hours it took to complete Chiara Ferragni’s Dior haute couture wedding dress designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri.
6,000+
The number of hours required to create the most elaborately embroidered and embellished couture gowns.
4
The size of the team dedicated to creating a single couture garment at Chanel; consisting of one première (head seamstress) and three seamstresses.
10
The number of fittings it can take for a heavily embroidered, one-of-a-kind gown to be customised to its client. Simpler garments adopted from runway models require fewer fittings — often only two — and take six to eight weeks to deliver. Some couture clients have a mannequin made to their measurements so that they don’t have to travel to Paris for repeated fittings.
70
The number of seamstresses employed in Valentino’s Rome atelier; this expands to 80 during the collection period.
2,200
The number of seamstresses who are qualified to work on couture worldwide. The collective is called les petite mains, which literally translates to ‘small hands’.
2
The number of times fashion houses present their haute couture collections each year. Spring/summer collections are shown in January, while autumn/winter collections are shown in July.
16
The number of houses legally entitled to use the name ‘haute couture’. To be eligible, each member must do at least one fitting, present 50 looks a year and hire a staff in an atelier in Paris. The official haute couture members are: Adeline André, Alexandre Vauthier, Alexis Mabille, Bouchra Jarrar, Chanel, Christian Dior, Franck Sorbier, Giambattista Valli, Givenchy, Jean Paul Gaultier, Julien Fournié, Maison Margiela, Maison Rabih Kayrouz, Maurizio Galante, Schiaparelli and Stéphane Rolland.
7
The number of ‘correspondent members’ or foreign members whose ateliers are not based in Paris. These include: Azzedine Alaïa, Elie Saab, Fendi Couture, Giorgio Armani, Valentino, Versace and Viktor & Rolf.
4,000
The estimated number of haute couture clients around the world, which includes Queen Rania of Jordan as well as Debra L Lee, former CEO of Black Entertainment Television and now a non-executive director on the Burberry board.
9000 to 1 million
In euros, the cost of a simple haute couture dress to a more elaborate gown. Unlike ready-to-wear, haute couture garments don’t come with a set price tag — rather, the final bill tallies the cost of each material and the number of labour hours involved.
2021
In 2019, the Haute Couture and Fashion Federation took a step towards sustainability by announcing that it was making several tools available to its member houses, and to the houses listed in the official calendar of Paris Fashion Week and the Haute Couture Weeks, aimed at reducing their carbon footprint. These tools are available now, and the first focuses on presentations and fashion shows. It measures the environmental, social, and economic impact of Paris Fashion Week. These calculations can be made beforehand and, depending on the fashion houses' wishes, it will be possible to know these figures in order to reduce their carbon footprint. The second tool focuses on the production of collections and the industrial value chain. The aim is to support brands in their efforts to produce more environmentally friendly collections. Currently in the test phase, this tool should be operational for the start of the 2021 academic year.
This article was previously published on British Vogue.
It was published across Vogue's sites in 2017 and was later updated with refreshed statistics and facts to reflect the couture week going virtual for AW20.
Also on Vogue.fr:
Maria Grazia Chiuri on the female surrealist artists that inspired Dior’s AW20 haute couture collection
You can now participate in New York Fashion Week
Balmain presented an exclusive fashion show aboard a boat on the Seine
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