Haute Couture: Preserving the Art in Fashion Design

In today’s marketplace, where designers are creating mass produced lines accessible for the average consumer, haute couture is the one place where high fashion exists in its truest sense. Although beaded gowns are no longer the expected evening attire for high-class women, and a casual dress style is now more popular than ever, couture lines still remain in runway shows across the globe. Haute couture, originating in Paris, literally translates to mean “high fashion” and can refer to both the garments themselves and to the fashion houses that create them. Couture is the most expensive and most intricate clothing on the planet, as you can see from the detail in the gown on the left; the garments are custom-made and hand sewn with the utmost level of detail and care, requiring one hundred to four hundred hours for their assembly. The price of these custom fit gowns can range from $25 thousand to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the most expensive couture gown (see below), worn by Samantha Mumba to the Spiderman II premiere, is a diamond-encrusted dress worth $9 million. Such outrageous prices and over-the-top designs make it no surprise that only 3,000 women in the world can afford to buy these clothes and only about 1,000 regularly purchase couture. With the high cost of production and low number of sales, it is understandable that haute couture is not a money-making business—profits account for less than 10% of a designers revenue and often come out as a net loss—so why does it continue? Lavish designs are an integral part of historic and modern fashion, and although these extraordinary fashion shows may not sell clothes they sell the dream of the unobtainable.

Major design houses rely on couture lines to add to the exclusiveness of their brands. Despite the cost and the difficult process of obtaining one of these elite designs, it is precisely this exclusivity that makes them so appealing. For fashinistas who can afford couture, it is a way of demonstrating they are serious about fashion, and owning one of these gowns makes a person an immediate trendsetter. Joan DeJean, author of The Essence of Style, a book about how the French invented high fashion, believes “It's a thrill to own a dress that will spawn a thousand copies.” The difficulty of purchasing couture, however, extends even further than the monetary limits. Even though the fashion houses need the business, purchasing couture is an invite-only process. Cason Thrash, an avid collector of couture, explains, “couture is almost like a private club…its not easy at first to get your invitations or to get to know the directresses of the houses.” Versace Atelier no longer even shows the haute couture line during fashion week; they now unveil these designs by invitation and appointment only. The process of purchasing one of these gowns, reserved for the most privileged of customers, can be seen in this video link on the Forbes website.

Although couture may not earn revenue directly, having one of these lines adds value to a designer’s name. The exclusiveness of the haute couture label carries over into other more affordable products, which consumers desire because of the elite brand name attached. For most design houses, 75% of profits come from cosmetics and perfumes, and ready-to wear lines, which refer to clothes that are still expensive but cheaper and more wearable than couture, account for most of the other 25%. Thus a consumer might not buy a dress that is more expensive than most cars, but they might purchase the brand’s other products because they see it as a high-end, luxury label.

Haute couture is not about practicality or selling a garment, it is about showcasing a designer’s most creative, most inspiring work. It is about innovation and designing something that has never been seen before; there are no rules when it comes to creating couture. Thrash explains what is so fascinating about this high level of fashion; she says, she loves couture because it is “the pinnacle of fashion. You see the collective, creative juices in their finest moment going down the runway.” It is an exciting sight for anyone who loves fashion and wants to witness creativity in the highest degree. Couture may not be practical, and it may not fit in with today’s "street-style"—it may not really fit anywhere, but design is a form of art, and with art, there does not need to be a higher purpose than to intrigue the senses. As seen in the images to the left in the Christian Lacroix fall 2007 line, couture is largely about fantasy. Alex Monsanto, who owns his own design studio in Los Angeles, fell in love with couture at the age of fifteen and explains why it is here to stay. He says, “ It is art, the essence and the key of creativity. Haute Couture will probably not bring about any great change in the life of most women, but it has something to offer society in general. If you take away the spirit of creativity just because it doesn’t fit the times, then nothing can be created.” Couture often defines a designer’s essence and displays the extremes of his style. It is what happens when boundaries and restrictions are removed and a designer has absolute free reign over his creation.