Is there a role of Haute Couture within the Twenty First Century Fashion Industry?

Haute Couture means high fashion and are clothes that are produced in Paris fashion houses and are all hand sewn, one off designs. Haute Couture was founded on a system established by Charles Frederick Worth (Wilcox, 2008, p.12). Charles Worth is considered to be the father of Couture who in1858, with the help of a business partner, opened his own fashion house in Paris. His aim was to bring together design and production all in the same place. Worth started the idea of catwalks by preparing a number of designs, which he showed to his clients on live models. He was also the first to start to design his own ideas based on his knowledge of what women needed, before Worth the women would tell the dressmaker what they wanted. Charles Worths dresses attracted the attention of the Empress of France who became a major client of Worth. Soon other famous and wealthy people started to follow and Worth became the first celebrity designer (metmuseum). Le Chambre Syndicale de la couture was founded in 1868 to regulate the increasing number of couture houses. It was a governing body that dealt with labour, marketing and copyright issues for individual couture houses as a collective (Wilcox, 2008, p.64). In order to be labelled a couturier each member had to apply annually for membership and follow strict guidelines. According to Wilcox (2008, p.66) these regulations were that the couturier had to maintain in a suitable premises in Paris, and each collection had to have a minimum of 75 original designs. The couture collections had to be shown in the spring and autumn each year. The garments had to be made to measure and shown on three models at least 45 times a year in the Paris house. The rules also cover the making of the garments. As they have to be made measure it is required to have a minimum of 3 fittings at each stage and to do this the fashion house needs a minimum of 20 full-time employees including seamstresses and saleswomen. Each member of Le Chambre Syndicale had to apply annually for admittance and conform to the rules set out. Between 1937-1947 Lucien Lelong was the president of Le Chambre Syndicale. During this time the Nazis wanted to move Couture out of Paris and into Berlin. The Germans planned to move the Paris ateliers and designers to Germany or Austria, where they would train a new generation of German dressmakers. Within a generation, the Nazis expected, couture would be German, not French. Le long pointed out that the plan was impractical. French fashion was dependent on thousands of skilled artisans in tiny ateliers, each specializing in one small detail of finish, such as embroidery. He explained that the necessary skills were not teachable and it took decades to reach the required levels of craftsmanship. Lelong asserted the right of each country to produce its own fashion and argued that it was their home environment that allowed the workers to do what they did. The Nazis backed down and Lelong negotiated to keep a supply of fabric that would maintain production.

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Lelong is credited with saving over 12,000 workers from deportation into German was industries. Over a period of four years Le Chambre Syndicale had 14 official conferences with the Germans and during four the Germans announced that Couture was to be entirely suppressed, and each time Lucien Lelong managed to avoid the catastrophe, Paris Couture had won its own private war (fashionencyclopedia.com).

The golden age of couture was from 1947 1957. It started with Christian Dior who said, A golden age seemed to have come again. War had passed out of sight and there were no other wars on the horizon. What did the weight of my sumptuous materials, my heavy velvets and brocades matter? When hearts were light, mere fabrics could not weight the body down. (Wilcox, 2008, p.30). In 1946 Dior opened his new fashion house and launched his first collection, the New Look collection, in 1947, which became an instant sensation and Dior was thought of as the saviour of couture. When talking about his New Look collection Christian Dior said I designed clothes for flower-like women, with rounded shoulders, full feminine busts, and handspan waists above enormous spreading skirts. (Palmer 2009). According to Wilcox (2008) Diors romantic vision created optimism after the gloom of the war years and the complexness and intricacy of his dresses created many jobs for seamstresses. The New Look was a change from the more manly clothes that women had worn during the war. Carmel Snow, the editor of Harpers Bazaar during this time, said, women embraced the New Look because they had longed to look like women again. (Palmer, 2009, p.27). However not everyone was impressed by Diors New Look, many women in America believed that the collection was impractical and anti-feminist. The women started a petition called the Little below the knee club and in California a woman, called Louise Horn, gave a demonstration of how the New Look could be dangerous as the got off a bus in her long, full skirt and showed it being trapped in the door, (Palmer, 2009). In 1954 Chanel re-launched her fashion house after 15 years out of the business. She said, Dressing women is not a mans job. They dress them badly because they scorn them, (Galante, 1973, p.220). Chanels aim was to make women look pretty and young again she dismissed eccentricity in fashion and believed in comfort and function, (Haye, Tobin, 2011). On the 15th February 1954 in American Vogue she was quoted saying, A dress isnt right if it is uncomfortable. Elegance in clothes means freedom to move easily. Since the opening of Couture houses products were tied to a glamorous feminine Parisienne world. In 1953 Christian Dior wanted to increase the standards of good taste internationally. Diors first expansion was into the American market. This started when he was invited to America to receive a fashion Oscar from Neiman Marcus. On this visit he saw how different the American lifestyle was to that in Europe. He saw manufactured versions of his New Look at all different prices. Dior wanted to know how to distribute his own designs locally and secure the profit in the fast paced manufacturing market, (Palmer, 2009, p.78). Dior went on to develop a line called Christian Dior New York, the aim of this line was to compliment his couture sales. He mad

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the line distinct by making it mid-season, so it was shown after the Paris collections. On the 1st November 1948 he opened the line in a boutique on 5th avenue, which gave the feel of being in a boutique in Paris. The collection offered Dior at affordable prices, according to Palmer (2008, p.80) the average price for suits and coats was $135-$300, for afternoon and cocktail garments it was $125-$400 and for evening wear the prices started at $225.

Couture went on to be developed into ready to wear collections to help increase profits of the fashion houses. Ready to wear is also known as prt-a-porter and is the term for clothing marketed in a finished condition, in standardized clothing sizes (apparelsearch.com). Ready-to-wear clothes are a cross between Haute Couture and mass market. They are not made for individual customers, but great care is taken in the choice and cut of the fabric. Clothes are made in small quantities to guarantee exclusivity, so they are rather expensive. Fashion houses usually present ready-to-wear collections each season during a period known as fashion week. In 1954 before Chanel launched her comeback collection she wrote a letter to the editor in chief of Harpers Bazaar saying that one of her primary goals was to have an American manufacturer produce a ready-to-wear line as more and more women in Paris were being shown collections that they couldnt afford (Haye, Tobin, 2011). Chanel realized that her clothes would be copied by the high street, however the cheaper versions would never have the same cut or luxury as the originals, therefore by creating a ready-to-wear collection Chanel increased sales of the brand that had previously dropped due to the lack of sales in Haute Couture. During the 1970s fashion consisted of Glam Rock which had progressed from the hippie look, Punk, New Romantic and Androgyny which included heavy make up on boys and girls and frilly shirts. In the 1980s fashion had many trends, which included power dressing with wide padded shoulders. Also after the release of the film Fame, sports and dancewear became very popular. Conical bras also became a trend, inspired by Madonna. Yves Saint Laurent was attracted to the youth movement and began to design couture clothes inspired by street fashion. In 1971 Yves Saint Laurent announced he would stop showing couture in order to concentrate on his ready to wear collection. Today at Chanel couture production is divided between tailoring and dressmaking workshops, which are both, placed above the couture salon and ready-to-wear boutiques in France. Chanel has a team of 35 to 40 workers, which often increases to another 10 around the time of the couture shows, and the rigid hierarchy of the workforce has remained the same since Chanel first created her fashion house. The official members of Le Chambre Syndicale in 2011 are Adeline Andr , Anne Valrie Hash , Atelier Gustavo Lins , Chanel, Christian Dior ,

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Christophe Josse , Franck Sorbier , Givenchy , Jean Paul Gaultier , Maurizio Galante and Stphane Rolland.

Future of couture Today couture collections are still shown in Paris and are often extravagant. The aim of couture today is to gain publicity and offer inspiration. Also by gaining this publicity it influences potential customers to purchase items from the ready to wear collections. Only a small group of people are able to afford couture and dresses are often leant to celebrities to wear on the red carpet. Le Chambre Syndicale now also invites guest members for a season in order for them to gain publicity and show off there potential in the fashion world.

Laura Kitts-Steen

References
De La Hayle, A., Tobin, S., (2011) CHANEL The Couturiere At Work, Victoria and Albert Museum Palmer, A., (2009) Dior A New Look, A New Enterprise (1947-57), Victoria and Albert Museum Wilcox, C., (2011) The Golden Age of Couture Paris and London 1947-57, Victoria and Albert Museum Galante, P., (1973) Mademoiselle Chanel, Henry Regnery Company http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/wrth/hd_wrth.htm http://www.fashion-era.com/chambre_syndicale.htm http://www.modeaparis.com/ http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG3497094/Lucien-Lelong-theman-who-saved-Paris.html http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/Le-Ma/Lelong-Lucien.html

Laura Kitts-Steen