Paper Couture is all about fashion, lifestyle, design and cafe culture.
High Fashion Culture is like art. It stands as a binder between the vehicles for change in the fashion world and the little people. Just because that black dress is two thousand Euro, doesn’t mean that they are expecting someone off the street to purchase it for that amount. So much tailoring, personalisation and love has been invested in it that its worth is intangible like art. This wasn’t even their Haute Couture collection, which are somehow price-less.
And this began a big debate that I have been thinking over since.
The designers for the biggest European Fashion labels exist to make trends, which the industries below them copy and then feed to the consumers. Then at the epicentre of these labels there exists a team working on their Haute Couture range. It is within these ranges that the heart and passion for dressmaking thrives forward. According to Wikipedia’s definition of Haute Couture, the following are the legal standards for an authentic Haute Couture piece:
In modern France this term ‘Haute Couture’ is protected for only the most custom fitted clothing, meeting well- defined standards of authenticity.
Designs must be made-to-order for private clients, with one or more fittings.
Have a workshop (atelier) in Paris that employs at least fifteen people full-time.
Each season (i.e., twice a year), present a collection to the Paris press, comprising at least thirty-five runs/exits with outfits for both daytime wear and evening wear.
So I see the major importance of Haute Couture is the personalisation of the entire process. Models are no longer just coat hangers for the garments, nor are they brought into for fittings on the day before the parade. Their bodies are a vital part of the tailoring process.
Its almost like there is a hierarchy in the fashion world which exists harmoniously. It begins with small teams working away to improve the art of dressmaking. It then is expanded to larger and more exaggerated forms of these ranges for the catwalk. These then are duplicated for the general population. If Haute couture didn’t exist in our culture today then perhaps I wouldn’t be too dramatic in saying, the fashion industry would lose its meaning.