HAUTE COUTURE-by Marta González Hidalgo

Haute couture refers to the creation of exclusive garments made by hand without the use of sewing machines, from start to finish, with high quality fabrics, expensive and unusual. More than 10 pieces of the same design ever created and each piece can take over 800 hours of production. A couture garment is usually done for a client, tailored specifically to this.

Considering the amount of time, money, and skills that  each completed piece contains, it is said that the couture clothing has no price tag, that the price does not matter because of how well it's made and its good quality . Some couture pieces are not even sold, they are only made for the gateway, for display. Arguably haute couture exists since 1700. Rose Bertin, designer Marie Antoinette, may have been responsible for introducing haute couture to French culture.

In France, the term haute couture is protected by law and defined by the chamber of commerce industry Paris. This is defined as "regulatory committee that determines what fashion houses are eligible to be true couture houses", is an association of Parisian couturiers founded in 1868. They set the rules you have to follow about dates for openings, for collections or the number of models presented.

To earn the right to be called a house of couture and haute couture using the term in its advertising or in any other area designers must follow these rules:

• Design made-to-measure for private clients, with one or more test dress.
• Have a workshop (atelier) in Paris that employs at least fifteen members of staff full time.
• Must be twenty full-time technicians least in the workshop.
• Each season, presenting a collection of at least fifty original designs to the public, containing daywear and evening, in January and July each year.

Over the years many fashion houses have retired from haute couture because of the cost that that each show represents. During the twentieth century the number of houses decreased significantly from 106 in 1946, in 2004 there were only 9 houses senior sewing: Chanel, Versace, Valentino, Dior, Givenchy, were few.

One of the main windows of haute couture are red carpets. In these events, the designer has to convince even pay celebrities to wear their expensive creations.

Some fashion houses who marched in the latest catwalk couture spring-summer 2015 were: Valentino, Chanel, Elie Saab or Dior. In total 16 designers marched.