Editor’s Note: Justine Picardie is a fashion commentator, published author and the editor of Harper’s Bazaar UK. The views expressed in the video above are her own. This article was originally published in January 2016.
Story highlights
Haute couture -- hand-made luxury fashion -- represents the highest quality fashion money can buy
Some of the world's most famous couture brands include Chanel, Christian Dior and Jean Paul Gaultier
Prices typically start at $10,000, but garments can cost over $100,000
CNN
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Haute couture week is one of the most important events on the fashion calendar. Biannually, internationally renowned fashion houses like Chanel and Christian Dior, as well as newer, lesser-known brands such as Bouchra Jarrar and Elie Saab, present painstakingly elaborate and extremely expensive designs behind closed doors to a hand-picked audience of editors, buyers and private clients.
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A model walks the runway during the Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2020 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on January 20, 2020 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
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A model presents a creation by Jean Paul Gaultier during the Women's Spring-Summer 2020 Haute Couture collection fashion show in Paris, on January 22, 2020. (Photo by Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP) (Photo by ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images)
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A model presents a creation by Chanel during the Women's Spring-Summer 2020/2021 Haute Couture collection fashion show at the Grand Palais in Paris, on January 21, 2020. - The Grand Palais was turned into the garden of the Cistercian abbey in Aubazine, central France, where Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel grew up. (Photo by CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT / AFP) (Photo by CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP via Getty Images)
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PARIS, FRANCE - JANUARY 21: A model walks the runway during the RVDK Ronald Van Der Kemp Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2020 fashion show as part of Paris Fashion Week on January 21, 2020 in Paris, France. (Photo by Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
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In the fashion community, haute couture represents the highest quality money can buy.
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Haute couture, which means "high sewing" in French, is a term for garments that are made entirely by hand by the industry's most skilled artisans and craftsman.
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Not every designer can call their work haute couture. Only those who have been approved by the French Ministry of Industry have that right.
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Each garment is made-to-order and designs are often limited edition.
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Prices typically start at $10,000, but can go up to the hundreds of thousands.
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Haute Couture Fashion Week, held twice a year in Paris, is organized by the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. The committee is made up of representatives from the designated couture houses, including Chanel and Christian Dior.
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Lesser known brands like Viktor & Rolf, Bouchra Jarrar and Ralph Russo also show on schedule.
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There are about 30 haute couture shows in Paris, compared to 150 women's ready-to-wear shows each season.
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Couture clients have traditionally been wealthy western Europeans, but there are growing client bases in China, the Middle East and Russia.
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Couture shows are not only used to sell the garments themselves. Couture imagery is often used to market affordable luxuries like lipstick and leather goods.
Haute couture – or, “high sewing” – is a legally protected term that can only be used by brands approved by the French Ministry of Industry.
These custom-made garments, created entirely by hand by the industry’s most skilled artisans and craftsman, represent the best quality fashion money can buy. And yes that comes at a price, with certain pieces valued at upwards of $100,000.
Most people will never buy or wear a piece of couture, nor will they attend a couture fashion show. So why is it relevant? Here, Harper’s Bazaar editor-in-chief Justine Picardie makes the case for why couture matters.