The Development of the Paris Haute Couture Essay

The Development of the Paris Haute Couture - Essay Example The essay "The Development of the Paris Haute Couture" analyzes the Paris Haute Couture. The upper class citizens of the country came up with the haute couture in 1860, a fashion which would differentiate them from the lower class in the society . The fashion became popular in France, but it disappeared during the Second World War. The Second World War led to the fall of the haute couture because Germans occupied Paris, the city that bore the fashion. The upper class in the French society struggled to recover the status of the fashion in Paris after the war. The fashion has since grown to the extent of being exported and earning the country foreign exchange. The haute couture was developed in 1858 by Charles Fredrick Worth who was born in Lincolnshire. Fredrick travelled to Paris in 1858 with the intention of introducing new techniques of sewing clothes in the city. The founder who targeted women in the upper class in the society built the first houte culture shop in Rue de la paix i n the city. Charles sewed dresses for women using the most expensive fabric in the country at that time. Women came to the shop to order for dresses according to the design that they preferred. Fredrick then measured the bodies of the women so that he could determine the size and shape of the dresses. In the course of the business, Worth became a designer. The designer formulated dress designs, and labeled them with the worlds, â€Å"Worth 7 Rue de la paix .† The label contributed to the spread of the fashion not only in France., but the whole of Europe. In 1868, Fredrick developed the Chamber Syndicale De La Couture, an association that was in charge of registering and satisfying new haute couture houses. The Spread of Haute Culture in Europe The slave trade that took place along the Atlantic contributed to the spread of haute couture to the whole of Europe. Women who earned high income at that time travelled along the roads that were built by slaves to Paris where they boug ht the expensive designs made by Fredrick. The travelers who came from far regions spent their nights at the Hotel De La Paix where they were served with haute cuisine. This means that even the hotel and the haute food contributed to the development of the fashion. The women who bought the haute fashion dresses mainly used the clothing for special occasions such as horse racing and beauty pageants (Dejean 2005). Researcher found out that the number of models in France increased drastically when the haute couture was developed in Paris. The spread of haute couture led to the upcoming of new designers before the Second World War. The designers include Coco, Vionnet, Banciaga, Fortuny, and Poiret among others. These designers developed the haute couture further, and this led to the increased popularity of the fashion in Europe, Italy, and America (Ruppery, & Jana 2009). Fortuny developed a technique of pleating silk in a column-like silhouette. Banciaga who worked in a fabric firm deve loped silk gazar, which he used to make voluminous coats and dresses. Poiret, on the other hand, developed new designs, and he expanded the fashion to perfume and beauty products apart from dresses3. The increase in the number of silhouette sewers in the couture industry verifies the spread of the culture. In 1910, for example, the number