For many of us, the word “couture” brings to mind a bedazzled velour tracksuit, an exposed mid-drift, and a chihuahua popping out of a fake Louis Vuitton bag.
We flashback to 2006, when The Simple Life of Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie was a trend-setter for us pre-pubescents, and an eyebrow wider than two millimeters was a cry for help. This Throwback Thursday is over, but the misconception of couture still remains. Well, buckle your seatbelts and unzip the Juicy because you are about to be shown the world of true haute couture.
Close your eyes and imagine a woman. She is the uber-wealthy heiress to a French something-or-other empire and has just seen the Chanel Haute Couture collection at the Grand Palais in Paris. She wants one of the dresses, but one does not simply walk into the Chanel store and pick one of these garments off the rack. Those garments (that most of us are familiar with) are known as prêt-à-porter or ready-to-wear.
For couture, she first has to make an appointment with a woman known as a vendeuse, a specialized sales person who knows the exact details of each client’s taste, figure, and budget. Once the dress is selected, meticulous measurements are taken and the work begins. On average it takes a team of pattern makers, seamstresses, embroiderers, and other craftsmen 120 to 150 hours to complete a couture garment, and the work is all done by hand!
The most astonishing aspect of couture is the fit. Feeling like a second skin, couture garments are fitted a minimum of three times to ensure a perfectly snug and sensual silhouette. The garments are so well-fitted that all of the seams, buttons, and hems are adjusted to the exact proportions of each body. With the hand stitching, the fittings, the finest fabrics, a simple day suit with blouse can start at $10,000 to $15,000. Adding embroidery, laces, and 800 hours of manual labour (required for many of the finest dresses) can increase the price to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week took place this past week and did not disappoint. Couture has always been a fine and delicately embroidered balance between the Golden Age of Hollywood fashion and the constant nuances of modern style.
One designer to note this year is Marco Zanini of Schiaparelli. What most love about Zanini is his unsuspecting rise to couture creating fame at the helm of the house of former surrealist couture giant, Elsa Schiaparelli.
This 40-something, with a Smiths tattoo and rugged looks, brings a rebellious and electric edge to his creations, which hasvebeen setting the trend for the rest of the couture world. Zanini is all about the mixing of things that traditionally wouldn’t go together. To give you an idea, the opening look featured a loose fitted cheetah print coat that sported sculpted mink sleeves — a distinct cross between glamour and the Michelin Man.
Another favourite was from the seasoned house of Chanel and their quirky kaiser, Karl Lagerfeld. This most ‘un-couture’ couture collection was based off the apartment of visionary Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier who was a true pioneer of modern architecture. Generally, sandals, bike shorts, and concrete don’t come to mind when thinking of couture, but it was these words that Lagerfeld used to concoct his collection, and what a sumptuous feast it was.
Couture: it is a jacket for the rich or a dress for the Prince of Monaco ball but, more importantly, it is the epitome of craft, care, creativity, and beauty — even if we can only afford to admire from afar. It reminds us that looking good is an artform and that wherever you are in life, there is always room for beauty and fantasy.
