What is a Couture Gown?
Haute couture means ‘high sewing’. Couture gowns are custom made for an individual client rather than made for retail stores and the general public. While they are designed by a designer they are still different from a designer label gown as they are a custom-made dress for an individual woman. Materials used for couture dresses are usually exclusive to each couture designer. These materials are the finest available and are most likely designed and manufactured exclusively for a single couture designer.
You will need to make an appointment to get a couture dress custom made for you. You can contact the designer’s showroom directly and make and appointment for a private consultation and fitting.
Since a designer can only handle a small amount of clients a year, do not expect to be immediately accepted. Once you become a client of the designer, a vendeuse or salesperson, will supervise your couture experience. Expect to pay a starting fee of €12,000 for a couture dress. This will include all your fittings, the materials and delivery of your dress.
Gaining a title of a Couture Designer in France is not all that easy! For French couture, there are several regulations, according to the Chambre de commerce in Paris, France. The original rules were made in 1945 and then updated in the mid-1990s. For a couture house to use the term couture, it must make made-to-order clothing for clients with private fittings. There must be more than 15 employees in the workshop and the designer must present a collection to the Parisian fashion press twice a year. The designer must have a special licence to call itself Couture. Couture in other cities is not ruled by governing bodies. Couture for in Milan, London and New York are defined mainly by the fashion industry and critics as clothing custom made for individual clients.
Many ready-to-wear designers make dress designs for the commercial market based on the trends of couture. If dramatic, high, ruffled necks on a couture dress is popular in the couture of the season, then ready-to-wear designers produce a collar based on the couture design that is less dramatic and more wearable. Although the ready-to-wear designs are inspired by the luxury couture design, the ready-to-wear version is more subtle than the original couture design.
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