This is not entirely true. Many of my proffessors work in the ateliers and they do alter cut, silhouette and colour. (Although often clients will go and request that which they've seen on the runway). The seamstresses at Dior, for example, altered the collarline of a dior dress to.... well to put it bluntly... to give the optical illusion of symmetry in a friends bust. (No woman has a naturally even one; to simply adjust the measurements would throw off the dress and so a completely new cut had to be made because it altered too many lines because of the garments complicated construction.)zeitgeist wrote:Not quite. I concede that the craft aspect of haute couture is similar to that of bespoke (or what we like to think is bespoke craftsmanship), but if my mother's experiences are anything to go by, in women's haute couture the process is more akin to MTM. Measurements are taken, and the preexisting example is then reproduced with the necessary alterations to fit the customer.mmkn2 wrote:...and that men's bespoke is better thought of in the light of women's haute couture - that is, a garment created specifically for one person by the maker.
- M
Once in a while the designer may concede a change of fabric or trim as per the customer's wishes, but to alter the 'cut' or overall silhouette is AFAIK uncommon.
First, as Shredder noted, the term Haute Couture is grossly abused. It is infact a protected designation, the rights to which belong to members of "The Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture", whose membership is reviewed annually and dedicated by the French Ministry of Industry. There are 12 official members currently, and about 7 'guest' members, which include young designers who are invited to show in Couture week becasue they have a quality that is elevated and show potential. There are also 5 'correspondant members'; Foreign designers such as Valentino, who cannot qualify as full scale members of the association because their ateliers are not Paris-based.
The couture houses show both pret-a-porter and couture shows (Since couture loses money, it's continuation is funded by perfume sales, accessories sales from the PAP divisions and the support of the french government who wants to support the Paris-based ateliers). HC is a dying industry because the ateliers which they rely on (e.g. lesage embroidery) are aging, and basically have no apprentices left, or not enough to support all of the houses... essentially the knowledge is being lost. (And yet to qualify as couture, everything must be maid by hand, including, for example, the braids on a chanel jacket are made by one Madame Pouzieux, a no-nonsense 75-year-old who has been weaving Chanel's trim since 1947 from her farm, is the only person in the world that know how to do it, especially because she invented the machine herself and does it in between making the Chanel rep wait while she bails her hay or looks after the cows.... (you can see her in a documentary called Signé Chanel, a rather fascinating look at the seamstresses of the atelier itself, not focusing on 'the Kaiser' but rather on the seamstresses and the process of making the garments entirely by hand). There are an estimated 200 true couture clients in the world, and among them there are very few that are public. An interesting documentary is "The secret world of haute couture"
But essentially, the Maisons will have the PAP and the haute couture collections. It is true that a client can go in and order the piece from the couture collection, in which measurements are taken and the show dress will be made up for the client. This is still designated as haute couture, because it still fulfills the designated requirements (Made in Paris, permanant atelier of 15 or more work(wo)men, entirely handsewn/embroidered) However, because of the way these dresses are constructed, an entirely new pattern will be constructed... you cannot grade the original dress' measurements more than two dress sizes. (especially given the fluctuations in actual women's bust waist hip ratios) The cut and colour can also be altered at the client's discretion. This process is is, as Zeitgeist said, somewhat akin to made to measure at a very high quality level. (Although the pattern would have to be made up completely from scratch, not just altered, because of the woman's curves and the complicated nature of the patterns involved.) This is the main production output of the couture ateliers (although, given how small the client list this is not in significant numbers. It is growing though.)
However, above and beyond this service, there are clients who can commision garments from the houses on an individual basis. These garments will only be made once for that person (Possibly a double for the archives of the house) and only certain clients would have the power to do so. We as bystanders will never see these, especially given the secretive nature of the couturieur-client relationship, and the fact that most of the clients remain anonymous. Unless you happen to be at the event in person during which the client wore it. But there is the existence in haute couture of the entirely bespoke designed-for-one-person-alone garment. It's just so secretive that unless you know someone in the atelier, its existence is basically uncharted (except in the case of weddings).
I would really reccomend the Signé Chanel documentary. I'm not actually a fan of Chanel's aesthetic, but it really is an interesting look at the processes of the ateliers, and the seamstresses Madame Martine, Madame Cécile and Madame Laurence, who cut and sew and bloody their hands for the sake of a dress, are real gems.