French Fashion

27 Oct 2004

French Fashion

France is considered the center of the fashion world with Paris in the middle. France is the Mecca of this fashion world and where the officials lie that can make or break you as a couturier. The designers have a pilgrimage in Paris twice a year, January and July. Some of the designers like Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, and Yves Saint Laurent are practically household names (except you would have to live in a mansion to afford them). In the rest of this research paper, I will be reporting on the history of French Ð''Haute Couture' and highlighting the three designers mentioned above.

France began demanding attention in the world of fashion back in the days of Louis XIV (1638-1715). After his reign, the rest of Europe watched closely the trends of Paris. The first famous fashion designer to come out of France was Rose Bertin, who also served as Minister of Fashion to Marie Antoinette.

You cannot talk about French fashion without mentioning haute couture. In French, haute couture translates as Ð''high tailoring,' and that is an understatement for some of the pieces design houses create. Known as the Ð''Father of Couture,' Charles Frederick Worth founded his couture house in 1858. Worth is credited with two main innovations, the showing of his clothing on live models and the specifications that make a person a Ð''couturier.' Worth, together with his sons created the "Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne," the Association of Haute Couture Houses. Through this association, Worth established the specifications needed to be a Ð''couturier.' This association still exists today and still regulates the use of the term Ð''Haute Couture.' Only a designated couture houses can use the term to describe themselves.

Some of the criteria used to determine whether a designing house is a couture house, they must "make the designs at their own premises with a staff of at least 20, present their collections consisting of at least 50 garments to the press in Paris twice a year, the collection must consist of both day as well as evening wear, and has to be shown on a minimum of three models." All these regulations serve to make the Ð''Haute Couture' a sought after label for designers as well as buyers.

When you buy one of these dresses, suits, or any other garment from a high fashion label, it is most of the time made just for you. This element holds especially high importance for the queens, princesses, actresses, and other high society people that can afford them. The effect that a dress that fits exactly right and the ego boost wearing one (and the label that comes with it) will give you is found to be well worth the price tag to Europeans and Americans alike. The price for a Ð''Haute Couture' dress can range from "$16,000 to $20,000 US dollars" and a dress that is made to custom fit goes for about "$60,000 US dollars." Unfortunately, there are only a few thousand women who can afford to pay those kinds of prices for a dress.

Coco Chanel was founded in 1915 and is still popular today. Everyone can recognize a Chanel suit with the gold buttons and the clean lines. Coco herself was the epitome of fashion as the subject of several biographies and even a Broadway musical, in which, Katherine Hepburn played the lead. Carl Lagerfeld is now the chief designer in charge of the Chanel name. Luckily, he has kept to Chanel look, "elegance and sophisticated simplicity." As you may know, Claudia Schiffer became the Chanel