The Father of Couture

There’s no doubt that ‘Haute Couture’ has become a widely recognised term. In fact, nowadays people tend to just say ‘Couture’, which has come to encompass the phrase’s meaning all by itself.

When we asked our customers and friends what this phrase meant to them, the popular answer was custom-made, high-end fashion. That’s pretty close, but what does Haute Couture literally mean? For that, we needed to dig out our French dictionaries…

The word ‘haute’ translates to ‘high’, and can also mean ‘elegant’, and ‘couture’ translates to ‘sewing’, and can also mean ‘dressmaking’, or ‘needlework’. 

So, this well coined phrase literally means ‘elegant needlework’, or ‘high dressmaking’. We think this is a beautiful way to describe what we do here at Achillea Marini, and hits the nail on the head in terms of defining the precision and attention to detail that come with creating our custom-designed and made wedding dresses.

And we prefer to describe what we do as dressmaking or needlework rather than ‘fashion’, because the wedding dresses we produce aren’t exclusively inspired by the current trends, but are timeless pieces that are a reflection of the bride’s individual tastes rather than what’s on the Catwalk.

In order to better understand the legacy of the fine art of dressmaking, we thought we’d take a moment to explore the history of the Haute Couture tradition. So, let’s go on a little journey to 19^thCentury Paris…

It was during the 1800’s that custom-made dressmaking triumphed.  After the explosion of Louis XIV’s extravagant Court in the 18^th Century, fashionable women started to imitate the styles and trends of the notoriously exuberant King.

Paris fast became the hub of fashion, and with the development of public transport women across Europe were able to travel to the Capital in order to shop for the latest trends. Clothes shopping became a form of recreation, and the privilege of the rich.

But Haute Couture as we know it didn’t explode onto the scene until one very talented and ambitious young man took the fashion industry by storm…Charles Frederick Worth, AKA The Father of Couture.

Up until Worth came onto the scene, the term ‘Haute Couture’ hadn’t even been coined.

With a host of wealthy customers all willing to throw mountains of money at style, Worth created one-of-a-kind designs that were solely for the shape and style of the wearer, and nobody else.

His clients were able to choose the colour and fabric of their dress, their precise measurements were taken, fittings ensued, and the tradition of custom-designed dresses that we know and love today was formed.

The previously humble trade of dressmaking was turned on its head, and the skill soon became perceived as an art form in itself…

The concept of the fashion designer was born.

The surprising thing about Charles is that he was not French. Given the fact that Paris is the home of high-end fashion, you’d think the man responsible for revolutionising dressmaking was a born and bred Parisian. In fact, Charles was born in Lincolnshire, England, and although he started his career in London, the ambitious designer soon moved to Paris to make his undeniable mark on the industry.

Following in Worth’s wake are the notorious fashion houses of Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, and Jean Paul Gaultier to name but a few, all of whom take their inspiration and fashion philosophy from the seeds sewn by Worth.

And when you learn that it was Worth who was the first to attach a designer label to his creations, you realise just how significant his work is in today’s fashion industry. Previously the dressmaker was seen as an artisan, not an artist, and their name was neither here nor there.

Nowadays fashion designers go one-step further with the fashion label, incorporating the designer’s name into the design itself, for example the well-loved Louis Vuitton handbag…

But perhaps this trend is more a celebration of the designer rather than the beauty of the design itself. Are you, for example, noticing the well-crafted handbag or the well-known Louis Vuitton emblem?

If we could just have ten minutes to ask Worth what he thought of today’s fashion industry, we’d be in heaven. But for now we will continue to keep in mind Worth’s work and legacy, and the beautiful art of custom-designed dressmaking, or, as we translated at the beginning, ‘Elegant needlework’…