Pronunciation: \vän döz′\ noun -a saleswoman, one who sells clothing. French.
When visiting haute couture houses, private clients work with a vendeuse. She takes down all pertinent information and acts as a liason between the designer and the client. In addition to sales records, sizes, style preferences and average amount of money spent, a vendeuse might even keep information on file about the client's temperament and personaly life. This relationship is very important to the haute couture client and is considered extremely private. According to Alexandra Palmer in Couture and Commerce, this privacy made researching haute couture difficult as it assured that no personal information would be disclosed. Things haven't changed much and the relationship is still one that is closely guarded.
HAUTE COUTURE
Pronunciation: \o-t ku-tur\ noun Etymology: French literally, high sewing
The term haute couture is often over-used and even the term couture has become a loosely used term today. It is important that you know what the term originally meant and what it should mean in terms of buying for a collection. Because something bears a designer's label who created couture pieces, does not mean that it is couture. When we use the term here at Dress, it will be a genuine couture piece. We will be offering a 1950's Christian Dior dress in February that is a numbered, couture dress.
Haute Couture originally referred to French fashion and in France, is a "protected name" that can be used only by firms that meet certain well-defined standards. 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.
The term can refer to: the fashion houses or fashion designers that create exclusive and often trend-setting fashions the fashions created In France, the term haute couture is protected by law and is defined by the Chambre de commerce et d'industrie de Paris based in Paris, France. Their rules state that only "those companies mentioned on the list drawn up each year by a commission domiciled at the Ministry for Industry are entitled to avail themselves" of the label haute couture. The criteria to which a fashion house must adhere in order to be categorized haute couture were established in 1945 and updated in 1992.
To earn the right to call itself a couture house and to use the term haute couture in its advertising and any other way, members of the Chambre Syndicale must follow these rules: Design made-to-order for private clients that require one or more fittings. Have a workshop (atelier) in Paris that employs full-time a minimum of fifteen people. 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.
Official haute couture houses
As of early 2007, there are ten official haute couture member houses:
Adeline André
Chanel
Christian Dior
Christian Lacroix
Dominique Sirop
Emanuel Ungaro
Franck Sorbier
Givenchy
Jean Paul Gaultier
Jean-Louis Scherrer
As of early 2007, there are three invited houses:
Elie Saab
Giorgio Armani
Valentino
The couturier Charles Frederick Worth (October 13, 1826-March 10, 1895), 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. 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 colors 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, 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. Japanese native and Paris-based Hanae Mori, a woman, was also successful in establishing her own line. 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.
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