Explainer / How do luxury brands get haute couture status? Only 17 fashion maisons – like Dior, Chanel and Armani Privé – are recognised as such for their US$150,000 bespoke gowns

Nov 18 , 2021

Getting all ruffled with Valentino’s haute couture autumn/winter 2021 collection. Photo: Valentino

An haute couture creation costs anywhere from a minimum of US$10,000 up to US$150,000 and beyond for the most extravagant, intricately embroidered gown. But for those with the funds, what goes into one of these fantastically ornate pieces of apparel more than justifies the cost.

Sew intense: the intricate detailing on this piece from Chanel requires 600 hours of work. Photo: Handout

For perspective, it makes sense to compare women’s haute couture with the menswear parallel: a Savile Row bespoke suit created from scratch by a master tailor. Taking into account fittings as well as the work involved in its construction, a bespoke suit may take 80 or 90 man-hours to create. Unsurprisingly, this artisanal effort doesn’t come cheap. A two-piece suit from a Savile Row house will generally cost £5,000 (US$6,700) and above, depending upon the cloth chosen.

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A creation by designer Pierpaolo Piccioli, part of his haute couture autumn/winter 2019-20 collection for Valentino. Photo: Reuters

A simple women’s couture suit might require 150 hours of work to make. An elaborate haute couture gown is on another level, however. One dress can take more than a month for the atelier to complete, representing over 1,000 hours of work – in extreme cases, perhaps even several times that number.

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Four to 10 craftspeople may work on a single haute couture dress. Each of these artisans – known as petites mains – undergoes a thorough 10-year apprenticeship and many spend decades working loyally at an atelier, or private workshop, translating designers’ visions into reality.

A French governmental body, the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (FHCM), strictly regulates which couturiers can assert haute couture status. Each maison must own an atelier in Paris with a minimum of 15 full-time employees, have 20 full-time technical workers in an atelier somewhere, and show 50 looks, at presentations held twice a year.

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The FHCM currently recognises just 17 grand couturiers, including Christian Dior, Chanel, Schiaparelli, Maison Margiela and Jean Paul Gaultier, plus nine foreign members – Armani Privé, Valentino, Atelier Versace and Fendi among them. The regulations are exacting. Big names have seen their status revoked and had to fight their way back onto this exclusive list.

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Freed from the commercial restrictions of ready-to-wear, designers are at their most creative when working in the realm of haute couture. The estimated 4,000 women who regularly purchase these exquisite garments could be viewed, to some extent, as patrons of the arts. They empower the world’s greatest fashion designers and the most skilled seamstresses and seamsters on earth to practice fashion in its most elevated form. And surely that is money well spent.

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Haute Couture

French body FHCM sets the rules for haute couture ateliers, which can spend over 1,000 hours on a bespoke gown – while a tailored Savile Row suit only requires 90
Schiaparelli, Maison Margiela and Jean Paul Gaultier are on the list as well as foreign members including Valentino, Atelier Versace and Fendi