What Haute Couture Week Means For Fashion Workers
365 days of fashion: the e-ncyclopedia of fashion
Tuesday, January 28, 2025
Paris Couture Week is here! Yesterday, Schiaparelli had the honor (as every couture season lately) to open this prestigious event at the Petit Palais in Paris. Daniel Roseberry embarked us on a fashion history time travel with a collection of bustle skirts, ribbons, and corset details inspired by couture legends of the 20th century, such as Charles Frederick Worth, Paul Poiret, Madame Grès, and Yves Saint Laurent. Though I watched only from my laptop, it was splendid!
Couture Week is my favorite of all fashion weeks because it showcases the artistic and spectacular side of fashion. These are not everyday dresses but truly WOW pieces that define fashion for me.
Did you know that Charles Frederick Worth is considered to be the father of Haute Couture and the first fashion designer (in the modern sense of the term)?
Founding his house in 1858 - the first haute couture house in Paris - Worth was the first designer to invite customers to his atelier and launched the tradition of salon shows - the first dedicated to a sole collection!
But it wasn’t before 1908 that the term “Haute Couture” was officially coined and legally protected since 1945. It was only allowed to be used by brands approved by The Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (The French Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion), which is the most important fashion organization in France, responsible for regulating the haute couture industry in Paris.
In the past, the main purpose of staging salon shows was to find clients and sell the collection. But today, even though luxury brands still produce custom clothing for VIP clients and Red Carpets, Haute Couture Week is not held for commercial purposes (at least, not directly - we’ll talk about it in a bit). In fact, you won’t find couture pieces in shops because beyond clothes, they are works of art, and most of them are “unwearable” pieces, aka those you wouldn’t wear in the street.
Haute Couture has changed since the 19th and 20th centuries, and in this article, I wanted to show you what it means for fashion workers today. From designers, pattern makers, fabric specialists, stylists, pr, and editors, let’s explore what this particular week means and the consequences it has on the other segments of the fashion industry.
Whether directly involved in creating couture or drawing inspiration from it, fashion workers carry the lessons of haute couture