Haute Couture. So what is it exactly?

Haute Couture

What is it? What can we learn from it?

When I was searching for a name for my business: Couture Arts Fashion Academy, I knew wanted something that captured the originality of the famous French haute couture houses. But most of all, I wanted to teach aspiring sewists about the importance of fit and attention to detail.  

Haute couture literally means high sewing or high dressmaking. It refers to clothes that are made to fit an individual, using the finest of fabrics and sewn with precise and time-consuming techniques.

The term, haute couture, is regulated by law in France. Surprisingly, it is the English-born designer, Charles Worth who is widely credited as the father of haute couture. He opened his Paris atelier in 1858 and made many changes to the way clothes were designed, made and sold.

Fashion is a major industry in France and their legal framework is designed to preserve their standing as the fashion arts capital of the world. The Chambre de commerce et d’industrie de Paris (CCIP or Paris chamber of commerce) appoints the Chambre syndicale de la haute couture who annually reviews membership of the organisation and determine who will show at Paris Fashion Week. Members are divided into a hierarchy: official members are the French houses such as Chanel and Dior, correspondent members include foreign fashion houses such as Armani and Valentino and guest members that include new upcoming talent as well as designers of jewellery and accessories. 

Haute couture houses design made-to-order clothes that require more than one fitting and they must operate an atelier or workshop that employs at least fifty full-time staff, including twenty technical workers. Every January and July, each haute couture house must present a collection of no less than 50 original designs — including day and evening.

Because of the design time involved in a one-off garment — including hand work, fitting procedures and the fabrics used — haute couture designs are very expensive and very few people can afford them. In fact there are only 4,000 haute couture customers in the world. The Fashion Law have crunched the numbers on haute couture and it makes for a fascinating read.

So where does that leave that rest of us who can’t access hand-made, one-of-a-kind garments? Many of the elements of haute couture can be emulated by professional designers and home sewists. Couture principles are embedded in everything we teach at CAFA — starting with our beginner’s classes. Even if you’re making the simplest of A-line skirts, there are fitting and sewing techniques that can elevate your garment from home-made to fabulous.

Happy sewing.

Gaylene

New Classes & Formats | Our Studio is Open

Those of us who enjoy creative pursuits have come to appreciate these more than ever in recent times. To be able to focus on a sewing project and experience the pleasure and satisfaction of making something useful or beautiful with your own hands is quite profound.

Many of you have been asking about our class times and are keen to pick up where they left off. We’ve also had many enquiries from newbies wanting to enrol in beginner classes. To this end, we've reconfigured our studio and are offering our most popular classes in a few new formats. While we'll have fewer students in each class, everyone will have a designated work area and ample space to sew at a distance from others.

We're also ensuring that each student brings their own equipment (no more shared scissors or tape measures and the the like) and we're throughly cleaning our sewing machines, overlockers and work spaces between each use. 

We’re running more Dressmaking Classes for both beginners and intermediate skills levels. Choose from morning, afternoon or evening classes - 2.5 hours or 3.5 hours per week.

Keep an eye out for our Fabric Stash | Sell, Swap & Share project. During my weeks in isolation, I confronted my ever-growing stash of fabric treasures and have decided that now is a good time to start to move some of it on to someone who may actually sew with it! I’m certain I’m not the only one.

Kind regards

Gaylene

New Class | Start Your Own Clothing Line

Many of our students have an end goal of starting their own clothing label. Learning fashion design, pattern making and sewing techniques provides a terrific grounding to launch your own business, but to be commercially successful in this ultra-competitive and always-changing industry, you’ll need more than this. You’ll need to learn how to set up a manage the business-side of things as well.

If you’re planning on starting your own label, our 12 hour workshop will cover the key issues that could make or break your business, including funding, cashflow, accounting and legal requirements, wholesale, retail and online marketing, outsourcing and offshore production and more.

Three four hour sessions will be run across three consecutive Sundays: 21 and July July and 4 August, 2019.

The cost of the workshop is $375 - a great investment in your future.

We've changed our name!

If you’ve taken any of our classes, you’ll know that couture is at the heart of everything we do.  

So, what is couture? It really comes down to two things: the fit and the finish. Clothes have to look good on the people who wear them. We’ve always been about quality and detail, and as we expand our offerings and combine disciplines such as embroidery, textile art and fabric design, we decided that it was time for a name that better represents our focus.

Couture Arts Fashion Academy will continue to teach sewing, pattern making and fashion design to home sewers and professionals and we'd love for you to join us.