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What the Heck is Haute Couture?

© Anne Paxton

My first introduction to style (outside of the movies) was when I stumbled upon a show called "Style with Elsa Klench" on CNN one weekend. One show and I was hooked. I was fascinated by all the different designers and I discovered this show just in time to find out what "Fashion Week" was all about.

Calvin Klein, Valentino, Chanel, Givenchy, Anna Sui, Imitation of Christ and many other designers flashed across my screen infusing me with the knowledge of what to wear with a pencil skirt and convincing me that green and purple can make a nice color combination. Yet one aspect of these fashion houses fascinated me the most. Haute Couture. I didn't understand what it meant and it certainly took me forever to pronounce it. What is haute couture and why does every design house have it?

Haute Couture is really a dream. A dream of high fashion that every designer creates that inspires and awes the fashion public. Sometimes it is whimsical, sometimes it is madcap, and often haute couture looks like a dream of Salvador Dali, and it is that very reason that people are lured into a runway show. The fantasy of the clothing is something that one has never seen before and may not ever again: a breastplate made from motorcycle handles, a leather and chrome dress and a bird cage for a hat. And all of those are just the tame ideas.

Haute couture, which is french for "high dressmaking" isn't just about strange clothing on superthin models. It is about the finest clothing sewed to exact measurements for only the highest clientele. One dress or outfit will cost thousands and often tens of thousands of dollars. While this may seem ridiculous, a client is not only paying for the outfit they are paying for the attention and service they are given during the process of designing a dress to fit their body perfectly.

Surprisingly, fashion houses don't make a profit from their haute couture lines. Due to the time and expense of each piece, the cost rarely matches the price tag. What haute couture does do is create a relationship between the house and their client and guarantee that the client will buy other pieces from their normal fashion lines.

It is easy to say that haute couture isn't necessary and frivolous and maybe that is true, but it adds the excitement and enchantment that allows even those of us who can't afford a Givenchy gown to dream that we can. And who doesn't like to dream?

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