WHaute couture is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing. Haute couture is high-end fashion design that is constructed by hand from start to finish, made from high-quality, expensive, often unusual fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable of sewers—often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques. Couture translates literally from French as "dressmaking", sewing, or needlework and is also used as a common abbreviation of haute couture and can often refer to the same thing in spirit. Haute translates literally to "high". An haute couture garment is always made for an individual client, tailored specifically for the wearer's measurements and body stance. Considering the amount of time, money, and skill allotted to each completed piece, haute couture garments are also described as having no price tag: budget is not relevant. In modern France, haute couture is a protected name that may not be used except by firms that meet certain well-defined standards.
WAndré Laug is an Italian fashion house founded in 1968 by the eponymous French designer.
WBerluti is a prestigious leather maker that manufactures menswear, especially the leather finishing of calfskin, kangaroo leather and alligator skin in its production of shoes and boots. It makes leather belts, bags, and wallets, as well as bespoke and ready-to-wear garments. Established in 1895 by Italian Alessandro Berluti of Marche, Berluti is based in Paris on rue Marbeuf. The latest creative director was Kris Van Assche (2018-2021).
WBernini is a men's fashion company based in Beverly Hills that was popularized in the 1990s and expanded rapidly into multiple stores. The clothing was sold out of a boutique store on Rodeo Drive before adding multiple locations there and elsewhere. Bernini's stores were known as offering "the very best menswear", with some branches selling custom-made suits. Pricing for a suit, shirt, and shoes could run into the thousands of dollars.
WMarie-Jeanne Rose Bertin was a French milliner, known as the dressmaker to Queen Marie Antoinette. She was the first celebrated French fashion designer and is widely credited with having brought fashion and haute couture to the forefront of popular culture.
WBorsalino is the oldest Italian company specializing in the manufacture of luxury hats. Since 1857, the manufacture has been based in Alessandria, Piedmont. The founder, Giuseppe Borsalino, is remembered for creating a particular model of felt hat characterized by the registered trademark Borsalino.
WCallot Soeurs was one of the leading fashion design houses of the 1910s and 1920s.
WHussein Chalayan is a Turkish Cypriot/British fashion designer. He has won the British Designer of the Year twice and was awarded the MBE in 2006.
WChanel is a French luxury fashion house that was founded by couturière Coco Chanel in 1910. It focuses on women's ready-to-wear clothes, luxury goods and accessories. The company is currently owned by Alain Wertheimer and Gérard Wertheimer, grandsons of Pierre Wertheimer, who was an early business partner of Coco Chanel.
WChristian Dior SE, also known as Dior, is a luxury goods company that was founded in 1946 by the eponymous designer. It is part of Groupe Arnault SAS. Dior presents its women's ready-to wear collection semiannually during Paris Fashion Week. The house's creative directors have included Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferre, John Galliano, Bill Gaytten, Raf Simons, and Maria Grazia Chiuri.
WHaute couture is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing. Haute couture is high-end fashion design that is constructed by hand from start to finish, made from high-quality, expensive, often unusual fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable of sewers—often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques. Couture translates literally from French as "dressmaking", sewing, or needlework and is also used as a common abbreviation of haute couture and can often refer to the same thing in spirit. Haute translates literally to "high". An haute couture garment is always made for an individual client, tailored specifically for the wearer's measurements and body stance. Considering the amount of time, money, and skill allotted to each completed piece, haute couture garments are also described as having no price tag: budget is not relevant. In modern France, haute couture is a protected name that may not be used except by firms that meet certain well-defined standards.
WChristian Dior SE, commonly known as Dior, is a French luxury fashion house controlled and chaired by French businessman Bernard Arnault, who also heads LVMH, the world's largest luxury group. Dior itself holds 42.36% shares of and 59.01% voting rights within LVMH.
WFantasy couture, a type of haute couture, is a trend in fashion and design that emphasize fantastical appearance over practicality/functionality and has elements drawn from the fantasy genre of literature and of film, often presented in an extreme style of detail, complexity, and precision. The trend is characterized by individuals such as Iris van Herpen, Eiko Ishioka, Guo Pei, Tex Saverio, Stephen Jones, Mary Sibande, and Bobby Love, among many others.
WFendi is an Italian luxury fashion house producing fur, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, fragrances, eyewear, timepieces and accessories. Founded in Rome in 1925, Fendi is known for its fur and fur accessories, and for its leather goods.
WJean Paul Gaultier is a French haute couture and prêt-à-porter fashion designer. He is described as an "enfant terrible" of the fashion industry and is known for his unconventional designs with motifs including corsets, marinières, and tin cans. Gaultier founded his self-titled fashion label in 1982, and expanded with a line of fragrances in 1993. He was the creative director for French luxury house Hermès from 2003 to 2010, and retired following his 50th-anniversary haute couture show during Paris Fashion Week in January 2020.
WGeorgine is a women’s ready-to-wear brand founded by the designers Georgine Ratelband and Chris Roshia in New York City.
WGrès was a French haute couture fashion house. Parfums Grès is the associated perfume house, which still exists, and is now based in Switzerland.
WGeorges Hobeika is a Lebanese fashion designer of haute couture and ready-to-wear clothing. Hobeika officially opened his atelier in Beirut, Lebanon in 1995, and has been presenting his collections in Paris, during the city’s official fashion weeks, for over a decade. Hobeika is officially recognized by the "Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture", as a guest member.
WIRFE is a French fashion house from the beginning of the 20th century. The name comes from the first letters of the founders - Felix Yussoupov and Irina Romanova.
WKenzo is a French luxury fashion house founded in 1970 by Japanese designer Kenzo Takada and owned by parent company LVMH.
WChristian Marie Marc Lacroix is a French fashion designer. The name may also refer to the company he founded.
WLéo Marciano Paris is a French luxury fashion house founded in 1966 by the eponymous designer Léo Marciano.
WMaison Schiaparelli is a haute couture house originally overseen by avant-garde Italian fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli from 1927 until 1954. The house was revived in the 21st century, presenting its first runway collection in 2014. Since 2019, it has been headed by creative director Daniel Roseberry. It is located at 21 Place Vendôme in Paris, France.
WRedfern & Sons, was a British tailoring firm founded by John Redfern (1820-1895) in Cowes on the Isle of Wight that developed into a leading European couture house. By the early 1890s the business had branches in London, Edinburgh, Paris and New York. The Paris extension was operated as a couture establishment while its other branches functioned primarily as tailors and importers.
WRalph Toledano is a French-Moroccan businessman. He is president of the Puig group’s fashion division; president of the Fédération française de la Couture, du Prêt à Porter des Couturiers et des Créateurs de Mode; and president of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture.
WValentino S.p.A. is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1960 by Valentino Garavani and part of Valentino Fashion Group. Since October 2008, the creative director is Pierpaolo Piccioli. Alessandra Facchinetti was Valentino's creative designer from 2007 to 2008. Valentino is headquartered in Milan, while the creative direction is in Rome.
WVargas Ochagavía was a Spanish haute couture firm made up by couturiers Jesús Vargas (1913-n.a.) and Emilio Ochagavía (1922-1996). The firm opened in 1946, presented its first collection in 1948 and was running until 1987. It was a member of the Cooperativa de Alta Costura until 1970.
WGianni Versace S.r.l., usually referred to simply as Versace, is an Italian luxury fashion company and trade name founded by Gianni Versace in 1978. The company produces upmarket Italian-made ready-to-wear and accessories, as well as haute couture pieces under the Atelier Versace brand. The Versace logo is the head of Medusa, a Greek mythological figure. The logo came from the floor of ruins in the area of Reggio Calabria that the Versace siblings played in as children. Gianni Versace chose Medusa as the logo because she made people fall in love with her and they had no way back. He hoped his company would have the same effect on people and on those who wore his clothes and shoes.
WTilmann Wröbel is a Franco-German fashion designer born in 1964 in Düsseldorf, Germany. He is now working and living in Biarritz, France & Düsseldorf, Germany.
WYiqing Yin is a Chinese-born, Paris-based Haute Couture designer and an official member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture.