Haute Couture Fashion

The topic I have chosen is "The difference between Haute Couture and Ready to wear fashion" I chose this topic because there is a lot of confusion on the two. Haute Couture is a French phrase for High fashion (Thomas) it is of the highest quality and expensive fabrics and garments for highest price and wealthiest customers. “Later in the 19th century Englishman Charles Worth who is regarded now as the father of modern Haute Couture first put his name on the label of clothes”(Thomas). There is an organization called The Chambre Syndicale De La Confection ET De La Couture Pour Dames ET Fillettes which was founded in 1868 by Charles Worth and his sons. The purpose of The Chambre Syndicale De La Confection ET De La Couture Pour Dames ET Fillettes

The Chambre Syndicale De La Couture rules are that in order for a designer to be added into the label of Haute Couture they must produce 50 new and original designs with day and evening wear for each collection. They must show 2 collections a year and have at least 20 full time employees in a workshop (Thomas). Because of the strict regulations by the Chambre only a few design houses can use the exclusive Haute Couture label. Haute couture is made to fit each client perfectly, has attention to detail, and takes many hours to create. The fabrics available to the couture house would be very luxurious and include the latest novelty fabrics and expensive silks, fine wools, cashmeres, cottons, linens, leather, suede, other skins or furs. A Haute couture design can range from about £10,000 for a simple blouse to £40,000 and often beyond that figure. A Chanel couture suit for example in 2002 might have cost £20,000. By mid-2004 an evening frock cost

The manual labor needed to produce a garment this way takes between 100-150 hours for a suit and up to 1000 hours for an embellished evening dress. When a customer decides to order a Haute Couture garment she needs to first make an appointment with the design house prior to any visit to Paris. Once given an appointment the client is looked after by a vendeuse, an important saleswoman responsible for customers, their orders and supervision of their fittings. When a customer comes to a haute couture designer house they are helped through all stages of the fitting process to ensure that they are getting exactly what they want and that their design is not duplicated. Haute Couture designs aren’t as common any more as they use to be when they first were introduced because other designers began to make ready to wear designs and people were beginning to prefer that over the expensive time consuming designs of haute couture. Haute couture still has a place in the marketplace, because celebrities and people of the rich and famous with money are willing to pay an endless amount of money to obtain that one piece of unique handmade one-of-a-kind