Haute couture behind the scenes
The art of perfection
In January and July, some 1,000 journalists from all over the world (2,000 for ready-to-wear) come to see the haute couture collections which, by tradition, are held in some of Paris's most prestigious hotels such as the Intercontinental, the Ritz, the Grand Hôtel and, from time to time, the new rooms at the Louvre Carrousel, which is the venue mainly for the prêt-à-porter shows. The atmosphere is always unique: the glitter of fabrics, the sumptuous accessories and the stage directions for each appearance affording each model the presence of a diva. In the first row, clients and celebrities take notes: Paloma Picasso for Christian Lacroix, Catherine Deneuve for Yves Saint Laurent, and, all around them, wealthy Americans (60% of the clientele) who have travelled to Paris to breathe the fresh air of perfection.
Haute couture implies precision in lines. "Haute couture consists of secrets whispered from generation to generation," says Yves Saint Laurent, who is careful to achieve a supreme balance in all his clothes, designed in the secrecy of the "studio". If, in ready-to-wear, a garment is manufactured according to standard sizes, the haute couture garment adapts to any imperfection in order to eliminate it (see box). Haute couture is the art of raising a collar, adjusting the sleeve of a suit or a plunging neckline, to hide a sloping shoulder or admirably emphasise a bustline One of the century's great French designers, Madeleine Vionnet, defined herself as "a physician of the figure". On average a dress will require three fittings.
There are eighteen houses of haute couture in France today: Balmain, Pierre Cardin, Carven, Chanel, Christian Dior, Louis Féraud, Givenchy, Lecoanet Henant, Christian Lacroix, Lapidus, Guy Laroche, Hanae Mori, Paco Rabanne, Nina Ricci, Yves Saint Laurent, Jean-Louis Scherrer, Torrente, Emanuel Ungaro.
Haute couture employs 4,500 people (including 2,200 workshop seamstresses); there were some 35,000 of them prior to the Second World War. Haute couture is an important economic factor: in 1994, direct turnover from haute couture excluding tax amounted to five billion French francs (1 billion dollars), with exports accounting for 73%. Besides the made-to-measure business, which represents 6% of turnover, there is also luxury prêt-à-porter (33%), men's prêt-à-porter (18%) and accessories (43%), which spread the influence of French labels all over the world.
Designing a model
A model of haute couture is first and foremost the fruit of many hours of craftsmanship. As the head seamstress of a workshop explains: "Everything is in the technique: the reverse must be as beautiful as the face." The first stage is the drawing. The couturier makes a series of sketches and hands them over to the workshop, which uses them as the basis for the "canvasses". This is a generic term for the models cut from cotton cloth, generally unbleached. Lines are traced and "bolducs" - or red tape ribbons - placed onto it to define the structure of the garment.
Haute couture deals in millimetres: everything is measured so that the fabric "hangs" correctly and follows the contours of the body perfectly without hugging it. Sometimes, couturiers dispense with drawings and cut directly into the fabric: this was the case of Chanel and also Balenciaga, the great, unrivalled master, one of the first capable of cutting and even sewing as a virtuoso Next comes the stage of the fabric, which is cut, assembled, overcast before being sewn, then ironed lengthily. Up until the final fitting (on the model herself), it is possible to alter a dart, redo a shoulder, under the watchful eye of the couturier who signals his or her wishes to the head seamstress, the only dressmaker "privileged" to have access to the "studio" (the design office).
There are two types of workshop: the "suit" workshops, generally reserved for daytime wear, which are more structured, more padded; and the "dressmaking" workshops, which tend to handle evening wear. Workshops are a veritable beehive, with head seamstresses, seconds and the "arpettes" or apprentices busily working away: it is said in the trade that, in order to be a success, "a model has to give the impression that it has not been touched," especially if its pleats hide hundreds of hours of work. On the eve of the show, the final details are adjusted and everything is tidied up. Some superstitious women of couture refuse to use green thread (an omen of bad luck). Then the day of the parade arrives. The dresses set off for the catwalk. "You see them go; it's a little like watching your children go..."
L. B.
www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/label_france/ENGLISH/DOSSIER/MODE/cou.html