Couture creation was born before the letter, thanks to the talent of a few seamstresses who remained famous: Rose Bertin (1744-1813), Marie-Antoinette’s fashion merchant, acquired a European reputation among foreign courts, and her workshop counted up to 30 workers; Madame Palmyre dressed the elegant ladies of the Romantic era, and Madame Baudrant made a name for herself under Louis-Philippe. But it is to Charles Frédéric Worth (1825-1895) that we owe the appearance of haute couture in the modern sense of the term. To tell the truth, the exercise of his activity coincided with conditions conducive to the blossoming of his talent: economic prosperity associated with an extremely brilliant court life assured him orders from a clientele eager to appear and to be dressed. by the Empress’s couturier. Her dresses are among the most expensive ever sold in haute couture: 5,000 gold francs at the time, or 1 million of our current francs.
Couturiers do not create fashion*, but they concretize with personal means of expression the various trends – technical, sociological, artistic – which converge to give birth to it. Worldly life, at the beginning of the century, remained marked by the memory of imperial splendor: elegance could only be sumptuous. The designers before the First World War (Callot, Doucet, M. Vionnet, Doeuillet, Redfern) remained faithful to the image of a creeper woman adorned with frothy lace, waving feathers and sparkling jewels. Haute couture then only dressed the most exclusive aristocracy, who ignored their couturiers outside of the fitting room. The war will break this closed circle: the upper bourgeoisie and the new glories of cinema now call on couturiers; Nina Ricci dresses the wealthy bourgeoisie, and Grès will understand the importance of this change so well that she will take on the role of fashion trendsetters of people in the entertainment industry, whom she will dress under contract. Today, as in the past, couture benefits from the reputation of prominent personalities to enhance the prestige of its brand. The expansion of the fashion house clientele to the world of entertainment sometimes led to the creation of stage costumes by the couturier. But it was above all the interest shown by America, around 1920, for French creations which made couture aware of its economic importance and which led it to open its doors to a wider public: production began. organizes, the collections take into account the arrival of foreign buyers, the press is admitted to the presentations and reports on them in its columns. This development was beneficial to the expansion of houses predating the First World War — Doeuillet, Lanvin (founded in 1889), Poiret (founded in 1910), Chanel (founded in 1911), Madeleine Vionnet (founded in 1912) — and corresponded to the rise of new names: in 1919, Molyneux and Jean Patou; in 1929, Maggy Rouff; around 1930, Schiaparelli and Grès (which began under the name Alix); in 1934, Jacques Heim; in 1937, Balenciaga; in 1939, Jacques Fath. Lucien Lelong, Robert Piguet, Paquin and many others marked this era. The workforce of a fashion house, around 1900, consisted of around twenty people, whereas, between the two wars, it reached 500 to 600 people, and even 1,500 at Patou and Chanel.
In the aftermath of the First World War, which took women out of their salons and put them in contact with an active life, lace and falbalas were out of date. A new rigor marks the city suit: Doeuillet, Patou, Molyneux, Balenciaga illustrate a discreet and refined elegance. This is the era of good manners. With a more stripped-down line, the evening dresses borrow from the Orient, under the influence of Paul Poiret, the play of colors and the brilliance of lamé. A change is underway which will lead to the advent of the « flapper », but it is Chanel who has the honor of giving substance to this new style of woman: she reshapes the silhouette by ridding it of the corset and rejuvenates the woman by shortening her skirts and… her hair. The “golden poverty” that it offers to the rich is only the expression of an elegance made of simplicity and a couture that wants to take to the streets.
Except for a few, like the closure of M. Vionnet’s house in 1940, most of them flourished back after the Second World War. The period introduced a lot of new and great names: Carven, 1945; Pierre Balmain, 1945; Christian Dior, 1947; Pierre Cardin, 1949. Dior made a sensational debut with the launch of the New Look, propelled by the financial backing of Marcel Boussac. This wedding of couture and industry prefigured the changes haute couture would undergo in the next decade, impelled by economic and sociological changes wrought by war. Despite challenges, such as the loss of foreign buyers and the shift toward ready-to-wear production, French couture adapted to everything and continued to thrive. Embracing leisure and youth culture, armed with their newfound buying power, was the hallmark of an ebullient consumer society. Today, French haute couture establishes its differentiation through its worldwide presence, signing vast numbers of foreign licensing agreements where models are actually manufactured, bearing designer labels. The history of Haute Couture speaks of its strength and innovation. While it continues to mesmerize the world, French couture remains the lighthouse of elegance, creativity, and luxury proactively adapting and inspiring.
