"A model must both maintain and surprise. As a garment, it observes certain rules; as a dress, it transgresses them with insolence. It allows audacity within tradition."
-Christian Dior
"the art of the well executed, the sense of the accomplished"
-Christian Dior
"Haute couture consists of secrets whispered from generation to generation."
-Yves Saint Laurent
"a physician of the figure".
-Madeleine Vionnet
"For the great danger of our age is standardisation."
-Michel Klein
The term
model is used above not to
describe a woman wearing the clothes on the
runway, but a replica of the garment cut from
cotton cloth.
Haute couture deals in millimeters-- everything is measured so that the fabric hangs correctly and follows the contours of the body perfectly without hugging it. The goal is effortless perfection, reflected in
hundreds of hours of work-- shown in the prices, from about $20,000 USD for a suit to $80,000 USD for an
evening gown.
This is not about
impossible standards, it is not about
fashion in the 'fitting people into
molds and trends' sense: It's about making something from scratch to emphasize the
individual.
The industry of
couture is highly regulated by the
French goverment. A
house must meet stringent requirements to be able to call itself this-- there are only
ten houses of couture in
France today, though the numbers change constantly-- for example,
Balenciaga dropped out of couture, and
Pierre Cardin now only shows to a
private audience. They are:
1.
Coco Chanel (founded 1915)
2.
Pierre Balmain (founded 1945)
3.
Christian Dior (founded 1946)
4.
Hubert de Givenchy (founded 1952)
5.
Louis Féraud (founded in 1955)
6.
Yves Saint Laurent (founded 1962)
7.
Jean-Louis Scherrer (founded 1962)
8.
Emanuel Ungaro (founded 1965)
9.
Jean Paul Gaultier (founded 1976)
10.
Christian Lacroix (founded 1987)