Haute couture, who still cares?

What is beauty? And what is the purpose of beauty? Is it to bring happiness, peace and meaning to life? A motivational force to do good? Or is personal, like wallowing in joyful childhood memories of fairytales while models swathed in meters upon meters of sheer tulle floats down a fashion runway.

Haute couture is the art of dressmaking. The crème-de-la-crème of craftsmanship and tailoring. And as Paris Haute Couture Week 2024 has just wrapped up, we are left with impressions of spectacular and costly luxury. But the star-studded Paris Haute Couture Week is interesting in more ways than that, it also captures the world’s attention for a few days as celebrities and international press flock to the city of light; some to dream, some to be seen and others to see if haute couture is still relevant. Oh yes, and a select few come to shop.

But let’s face it, the latter is a minority. For the rest of us it is far more interesting to see if this old school spectacular has more to offer than opulence and crazy money.

Sometimes, it does. Judging by some great houses like Chanel and Dior haute couture still speaks a language, albeit a simple and self-centered one. Much of course depends on who is at the helm of the house. The line presented by designer Virginie Viard for Chanel paid homage a rich heritage that once upon a time was revolutionary regarding womens clothing – the invention of the button for instance. Viard was also inspired by dance and ballet – a logical choice, given that dance was a major source of inspiration for Gabrielle Chanel as well. Chanel’s costumes for the Ballets Russes’ 1924 production of “Le Train Bleu” are a legendary example.

For ex-supermodel Naomi Campbell it got personal as well:

“It’s very emotional. And I think Chanel has always been very emotional in what they do. As youngsters we didn’t really understand the technicalities and workmanship that went into what we were wearing. The specialness of couture, made on you, for you, you do feel the sense of “This is the only dress in the world like this,” she said, and called the collection “feminine, airy and graceful”.

Another show this week making an impression was Maria Grazia Chiuri’s runway show for Dior,

“Dior works because it makes the paradox between blockbuster entertainment and intellectual soul-searching feel fun,” writes british newspaper The Guardian, picking out the oversized puffy jacket worn by Rihanna. The jacket is a modern take on Christian Dior’s iconic bar jacket from 1947, from the so-caled ‘New Look’-show.

So, French fashion houses still speak about their own heritage. But, what about the world outside its privileged salons? Does haute couture as fashion have any relevance as art?

Last year’s haute couture week was unintentionally interesting. While France was ablaze in the wake of a shooting in which 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk was killed. While the shooting drew attention to the huge gap between rich and poor, cultures and religions that characterizes French society, not unlike what we see in many other Western countries, it was business as usual on the catwalk. Big gowns gliding down runways at gilded locations to the faint voices of protests in the streets outside was like a crude reminder not much as changed since Marie Antoinette and the revolution. If anything, it prooved that haute couture was completely out of touch.

From Dior’s haute couture runway show for SS24 in Paris.

Haute couture represents the very pinnacle of French style and savoir-faire. Such is its exclusivity, that only a handful of houses are granted membership by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode each year. What is created here is a cross between art and commerce, and for many working in the fashion houses and ateliers around Paris, couture week is their livelihood. Dior and Chanel, for example, employ hundreds of skilled craftsmen- and women to create these lavish collections, so there are thousands of jobs to consider.

Still, regarding the couture-spectacle as a phenomenon we must look for references, signs that elevates the garments from being pure decoration to pieces that has a dialog with the spectator. And not just the clothes. The arenas where they are exhibited matters as well. Tim Banks at Business of Fashion summed it up so well after Pierpaolo Piccioli’s Valentino show this year. Despite the collection piquing his curiosity, Piccioli lost points by showing in Valentino’s salon in Place Vendôme, the whispering heart of global luxury:

“The salon is traditionally the safe haven of haute couture. But there was enough about this collection that did not feel safe to suggest that salon must inevitably surrender to street. Bring it on.”

In other words, life in a vacuum can never be relevant.

All photos: Chanel and Dior press.