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A grands couturier is a fashion designer who holds significant clout in the fashion industry. His or her designs and collections will influence the fashion industry at all levels; this is called the trickle-down effect. For example, in the fall 2006 collection, Valentino's embroidered dresses soon influenced other designers to incorporate embroidery into their collections. Similarly Donatella Versace used many dark colors which led to many black and blue clothes sold in stores.
Grands couturiers usually are household names who have high profile clients. They come out with fashion collections every season in one or more of the five major fashion weeks-Milan, Paris, London, Tokyo, and New York. Their designs are also often featured in popular fashion magazines like Vogue or Madame Figaro.
It is difficult to decide who deserves the title grands couturier because numerous designers have had influence in the fashion industry. However the name was originally created for the head designers of the haute couture houses. There are 10 current official French couture fashion houses and 2 honorary Italian houses.
The official grands couturiers: (in order of their fashion house)
[[Adeline André]]
[[Chanel]]-Coco Chanel/ Karl Lagerfeld
[[Christian Dior]]
[[Jean-Paul Gaultier]]
[[Givenchy]]
[[Christian Lacroix]]
[[Scherrer]]
[[Dominique Sirop]]
[[Frank Sorbier]]
[[Emanuel Ungaro]]
[[Torrente]]-Rosette Torrente-Mett/Julien Fournie
[[Versace]]-Gianni Versace/Donatella Versace
[[Armani]]-Giorgio Armani
Haute couture
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Haute couture (French for "high sewing" or "high dressmaking"; IPA: [ˌoːt kuˈtyʁ]) refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted fashions. It originally referred to French fashion and in France, is a "protected name" that can be used only by firms that meet certain well-defined standards. However, the term is also used loosely to comprise all high-fashion custom-fitted clothing, whether it is produced in Paris or in other fashion capitals such as New York, London, and Milan.
Haute couture is made to order for a specific customer, and it is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finish, often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques.
The term can refer to:
- the fashion houses or fashion designers that create exclusive and often trend-setting fashions
- the fashions created
