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Haute Couture

Haute couture is a French expression for "high sewing"or "high dressmaking". Originally, these words referred to the work of Englisman Charles Frederick Worth, which was produced in Paris in the mi-nineteenth century. Today, "haute couture" refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted fashions; in modern France, it is a "trademark", a "protected name" used only by firms that meet certain well-defined standards and demands. This term is also used freely to describe all high-fashion custom-capitals such as London, New York, Tokyo, Rome and Milan. Haute couture is produced in order to fulfill the wishes of a specific customer. It is usually designed with an extreme attention to detail and made from high-quality and expensive fabric. The production is often a time-consuming long process using hand-executed techniques.
In France, the term "haute couture" is defined by the Chambre de commerce et d?industrie de Paris (located in Paris, France) and protected by law. Each year, a list of companies is drawn up by a commission domiciled at the Ministry for Industry, and according to the rules of Chambre de commerce, only these companies are entitled to avail themselves of the label haute couture. The criteria were established in 1945 and updated in 1992.
However, "haute couture" has been misused in the late 1980s by successive high street labels and high street labels. In the public perception, the true meaning of the term has become blurred with that of pret-a-porter, which is the French term for ready-to-wear fashion. The pret-a-porter collections typically deliver a higher return on investment that a custom clothing, so every haute couture house markets one or more of them. In fact, a big amount of the haute couture-collections displayed at today's fashion shows is rarely sold - it is created to enhance the prestige of the fashion house. Because of falling revenues, few couture houses were forced to abandon their less profitable couture production and to focus solely on the less prestigious ready-to-wear. All these houses have their workshops in Italy. Among others, the Italian designer Antonio Capucci is also no longer considered haute couture.