Spring 2023 Haute Couture
Let’s talk Haute Couture! The French term couture translates to dressmaking, needlework, or sewing that was said to be started by Charles Frederick Worth. In fact, the fashion world considers him as the Father of Couture or Haute Couture. An English fashion designer who moved to Paris, he was known for letting his clients choose the fabric types, colors, and other details they wanted when creating their clothes. His methods of producing clothing made him dominate Parisian fashion in the nineteenth century.
Haute couture became the forum in the 20th century where the most gifted designers showed off their craft—Paul Poiret, Coco Chanel, and Cristobal Balenciaga among others. Couture became synonymous with entirely handmade garments, made of the very best materials, and created by the most accomplished craftspeople. Garments are fitted to an individual client’s shape and then sent to workshops to be embroidered, beaded, and feathered. No more than ten examples of any particular design are ever made.
Haute Couture shows happen twice a year one week in January and one week in July and these times are some of my favorite times of year. What I love about these shows is the creative freedom not only the clothes but, the runways! Some shows are more avante garde then others but, they all have an over the top elements that turn the runway into a theater.
To create a simple couture dress or suit it takes an average of 150 hours to create from start to finish.
It takes an average of a 1000 hours to create a piece involving fine embroidery and other embellishments.
Elaborately embroidered and embellished couture gowns take about 6000 hours to make. So if you were working 40 hours a week it would take 150 weeks to create one gown.
Their is a team dedicated to creating each piece which usually consists of 1 head seamstress and 3 seamstress’s. Haute couture gowns can take over 800 hours to produce so it goes without saying that buying haute couture doesn’t come cheap. Day wear can start at $10,000, while a heavily embroidered and intricate gown can cost several hundred thousand dollars. The Scott Henshall diamond-encrusted dress worn by Samantha Mumba to the 2004 premiere of Spiderman II was priced at approximately $9 million dollars. If you have the bucks to spend the sky is the limit. It is also important to note that most celebrities that wear couture or even RTW do not actually own them. Despite these mind blowing prices, most fashion houses don’t actually make money off of haute couture. It is used as a marketing vehicle to sell everything from perfume to lipstick to the average consumer. It is estimated that there are 4,000 couture clients around the world.
It is pretty amazing to see what comes down the runway at these shows. Not just any can make clothes and call it couture. You have to be accepted into the Le Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. If you would like to learn more about the history of couture head over here.
There were so many inspiring collections designers sent down the runway this spring that left me feeling inspired. If you are interested in watching the fashion shows live bop over to FF Channel on YouTube. It is like having a front row seat to the shows watching the clothing in movement! I was inspired in some way by all of the collections but, there were a few that rang my bell.
Giambattista Valli
I mean can words even describe how much joy this collection brings to my life? I loved the beautiful draping of the fabric and matching floor color. It made me feel I was in the styling parlor with my champagne being presented the newest designer frocks in preparation for awards season! The color pallet, the oversized bows and billowing folds of fabric. Swimming through the layers and layers of beautiful parfait colored chiffon. Well done Well Done!!
Images | Vogue Runway
Valentino
Okay so next on my to die for list is Valentino. You can never go wrong with Valentino. Again with the color pallet makes my heart melt. The mix of strong tailored lines with fun prints and texture. The polka dot dress was one of my favorites the optical illusion, I had to double take on the dots on the cut out dress.
Images | Vogue Runway
Armani
It’s giving court jester but, fashion. I actually love this print and love it even more in this color pallet. It can be a tricky print to work with because it can easily read as a costume. The beautiful simple lines of the silhouettes layered with big neck ruff collars, netting, and bows. The
Images | Vogue Runway
Alexis Mable
So when I saw these pink scalloped cigarette pants with this gem colored dramatic sleeve top I melted. The beautiful embroidery and draping on the pieces are stunning. I love the drama of the gem tone color pallet making the name of the collection Color Addict a perfect fit. It felt like I had stepped into the golden age but, fresh and modern.
“Alexis said he wanted to open with gold half-tones because they can work as well by day as by night. A long beige-gold mesh dress with an asymmetrical neckline, tonal embroidered belt, and a dramatic drape from hem up to shoulder was followed by a draped sheath in burnished lamé whose midsection was hand-embroidered with the profiles of two lovers. That was an homage to the artist, illustrator, and costume and set designer Erté, who drew Lido dancers in his day and worked on theater productions there. Elsewhere, a quasi-cosmic homage to the artist Jean Lurçat appeared as a sequined bodice on a one-shouldered dress in Danube blue crepe, and later on a fuchsia bustier dress-slash-cape, flourishes the designer called “a bit rock and roll.”
Images | Vogue Runway
Rahul Mishra
Rahul Mishra said he has been entrenched in the Netflix series “Cosmos” inspiring thought about the universe. Backstage before the show, the designer said that, as a scientist at heart, he’s always intrigued by worlds within worlds.
“Obviously the cosmos is very, very vast, and the first thing that came to mind was going interstellar. But what I wanted to do is look down below and look at the seas,” he said, quoting an ancient saying that goes “what is outside is inside you.” In the collection notes, he developed that thought further, touching on the Sanskrit statement “Aham Brahmasmi” (“I am the cosmos”) and the thin barrier—ie, physicality—that separates us all from other “vast and bewildering” realities.
Images | Vogue Runway
Viktor & Rolf
This was such a fun collection! The absurdity of this reality tv world we live in where things are so easily altered with the click of a button. Is what we see real - I mean really. I just saw a women demonstrating a video app that basically photo-shops your body while doing live streams! I mean really!? I loved the color pallet and cake topper gowns with a comical twist on the world today.
“snapping photographs and immediately being able to invert them, using filters to distort and enhance our silhouettes and bone structure—has warped our sense of reality. “There is a disconnect between what we see, and the physicality of the product,” said Snoeren. Then there is the internet’s context-less state, where one scroll can take you from a fashion show to a mass shooting. “The information that comes at us, going from making banana cake to so many people being killed in Ukraine,” said Snoeren. “It’s: What kind of world are we living in? It’s absurd,” said Horsting.
Images | Vogue Runway