Haute couture: History and Key Facts

Haute couture is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design. The term haute couture generally refers to a specific type of upper garment common in Europe during the 16th to the 18th century or to the upper portion of a modern dress to distinguish it from the skirt and sleeves. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Paris became the centre of a growing industry that focused on making outfits from high-quality, expensive, and often unusual fabric, sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable of sewers, often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques. Couture is also commonly used on its own as an abbreviation of haute couture, referring to the same concept in spirit.

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