Haute Couture - How does it work?

                                                               Christian Dior SS2007

Haute couture was a much bigger industry 50's and 60's than now. Luxury ready to wear did not exist at that time, and rich people used to buy haute couture, which was also less pricey than today. At that time brands would also charge up to 3000$ for Americans to attend their fashion showes.
Yvess Saint Laurent opened his Rive Gauche shop, which is considered to be a first luxury ready to wear shop, and thats where the things changed.
As we all know nowadays luxury ready to wear is dominated by luxury ready to wear , and haoute couture has only small portion of the market.

In order to produce Haute couture you have to fulfill some very strict regulations written by Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne:

• you must have at least 15 employes in your workshop in Paris
• you must present at least two collections per year to the press comprising day wear and evening wear, and the collection needs to have at least 35 outfits

Haute couture show are presented in January and July. The audience is usually fashion journalist and  also clients who later make appointments and choose clothes they want to purchase. Each peace in made to measure for the client and there can be usually one 3-5 measurements during making of haute couture garments. Established customers have mannequins made from their measurements and the haute couture garments are draped directly to the mannequin .  To produce garment like this it can take months.Haute Couture garments are mostly handmade and the prices for evening dress can bee from 20 000 - 60 000, but when comes to embroidery - sky is the limit. In extreme cases the price of the dress can reach millions! The dress that Samatha Mumba whore on premiere of Spiderman was worth 9 million!

                                                             Chanel SS2010

Although extremely high fees, Haute Couture is not lucrative business, most of brands use it maintain status and prestige. Brands that still produce haute couture clothes are: Chanel, Armani Prive, Christian Dior, Christian Lacroix, Jean Paul Gaultier, Givanchy, Franck Sorbier.


Visoka moda je bila mnogo rasprostranjenija 50 i 60 -ih godina proslog veka. Tada su je kupovali bogati ljudi iz dva razloga: Lukuzna odeca ready to wear nije ni postojala, a i viska moda je ipak bila pristupacnija nego danas. Takodje, u to vreme brendovi su zaradjivali tako sto bi naplacivali Amerikancima i do 3000 dolara da prisustvuju njihovim revijama. Prvu prodavnicu lukzune ready to wear odece je ovorio Yves Saint Laurent i od tada se sve promenilo.

Danas luksuzna ready to wear odeca dominira trzistem dok je Haute couture ili visoka moda zadrzala samo malo trzisno ucesce.
Da bi poslati proizvodjac visoke mode u Fancuskoj morate da ispunite neke vrlo stroge kriterijume propisane od Chambre Syndicale de la couture Parisienne, navescu samo dva:

• morate imati najmanje 15 zapolsenih u svom ateljeu u Parizu
• morate prikazivati svoje kolekcije modnim novinarima 2 puta godisnje u Januaru i Julu, kolekcija mora da sadrzi najmanje 35 modela odece za dan i odece za noc.

Publika na revijama visoke mode su modni novinari(koji najverovatnije nece kupovati komade iz kolekcija) i klijanti koji posle revije odlze na sastanke i dogovaraju se koje komade zele da kupe za sebe.
Svaki komad odece se radi po merama klijenta i obicno je potrebno oko 5 proba da bi komad odece bio potpuno gotov. Stalni klijenti vec imaju lutke radjenje prema njihovim merama po kojima se soje garderoba. Potrebni su sati i meseci za izradu jednog modela iz Haute couture kolekcije. Cene vecernjih haljina se krecu izmedju 20 i 60 hiljada dolara, mada kada je rec o kristalima, vezu i detaljina samo je nebo granica! Haljina koju je nosila Samantha mumba na promociji Spidermana je iznosila cak 9 miliona dolara i bila je ukrasena dijamantima!!!

                                                                    Valentino SS2007

Iako su komadi odece veoma skupi, visoka moda nije ispaltiv biznis, nju brendovi najcesce odrzavaju zbog statusa i prestiza. Brendovi koji se i dalje nalaze u visokoj modi su: Chanel, Armani Prive, Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Lacroix, Christian Dior, Franck Sorbier.

                                                                  Armani Prive FW 2008