In a word? Unbelievable. Haute Couture may appear only twice a year, but the work and progress that go into the creation of each collection might just drive any designer crazy! Let us begin this journey by pinning down a few things. “Haute Couture” literally means “high sewing” or “high dressmaking”, which alludes to the fact the garments are sewn by hand- yes, by hand - from scratch. True story.

Aside from the fact that Couture dresses will cost you a pretty penny, their creation takes days upon days to bloom and more specifically, from 100 to 700 hours. That’s pretty huge considering the Fashion Houses don’t gain that much profit from the whole concept. But Fashion will be Fashion, right?

So, how does it all translate into real life? First and foremost, you clearly have to have the Mother of Fashion, AKA Paris’ blessing. And in order to have that, every House must meet a few “legal” requirements set forth by the Fédération Francaise de la Couture. To begin with, the designer must offer its clients made-to-order designs with one or more personal fittings. Also, the designer must have an atelier in Paris with a minimum of 20 full-time workers. But most importantly, said designer must present collections twice a year for both day and evening outerwear. 

Well, it seems just fair for la crème de la crème of the fashion helm, doesn’t it?

Cindy Menassa