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Indian Express
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Paris Fashion Week 2025: What is haute couture, and why do runways show ‘unwearable' clothes?
The most exclusive segment of the Paris Fashion Week, the Haute Couture Week, was held from July 7 to July 10. The event signifies the highest level of fashion that is both exclusive and legally safeguarded, featuring clothing that showcases a designer's creative abilities and the brand's craftsmanship. Major design houses, including Rahul Mishra, Chanel, Dior, Schiaparelli, Giorgio Armani Privé, and Maison Margiela, presented their latest collections under the watchful eye of the organiser, Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode. While celebrated for craftsmanship and conceptual vision, the collections, featuring sculptural forms, experimental materials, and elaborate constructions, reignited a persistent question among the lay audience: what is the functional purpose of these seemingly unwearable garments? While the feathered headdresses, metallic body armour, or gravity-defying silhouettes gracing the Paris Haute Couture runways may never find their way to a consumer's wardrobe, their purpose transcends mere wearability. Haute couture means 'high sewing' or 'high dressmaking' in French. Often used for clothing primarily produced in Paris, haute couture includes clothes made with great attention to detail, high-quality and expensive fabric, created using time-consuming hand-made techniques, and generally custom-designed for the wearer. The official haute couture certification is given by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, and to be eligible, fashion houses must have a workshop in Paris, employ at least 20 staffers full-time, and present 'a collection of at least 25 original designs twice a year (January & July) at the Paris Couture Week,' according to the official website. Thus, the label is not for those focused on mass production; instead, it emphasises exceptional craftsmanship, artistic creativity, and extravagant prices aimed at an ultra-elite clientele. The term is also used for custom-fitted clothing in other fashion capitals like Milan, New York, and London. The French term for ready-to-wear fashion is prêt-à-porter, which is also sold by haute couture houses. The haute couture shown at fashion shows is rarely sold and is usually designed to boost the brand's image. Decreasing revenues have led some couture houses to drop their less profitable couture lines and concentrate solely on prêt-à-porter, resulting in their removal from the haute couture classification. The perceived disconnect between runway and retail is deeply rooted in long-standing sociological and economic theories of the fashion industry. The 'Trickle-Down' theory, articulated by sociologist Georg Simmel, suggests that fashion is a tool for social stratification. Elite groups adopt unique, often costly styles to signify their status. When these styles are imitated by 'lower' social strata, the elite move on to new, exclusive looks, creating a continuous cycle. Haute couture runways are the starting point for these defining styles. This desire to display status through consumption is termed 'conspicuous consumption,' coined by economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen in his 1899 book 'The Theory of the Leisure Class'. Veblen argued that the wealthy engage in lavish, non-essential spending (on goods like extravagant fashion) primarily to signal their wealth and social standing, not for the utility of the goods themselves. The more impractical or expensive an item, the more effectively it signals the owner's freedom from mundane concerns like practicality or cost. Fashion shows, especially haute couture, epitomise conspicuous consumption. They showcase garments that are often restrictive or fragile, making them impractical for daily life but perfect for signalling wealth and exclusivity. The high cost of materials and labour makes these pieces quintessential Veblen goods. Their primary purpose is to assert the designer's creative authority, build prestige, and set trends that will later be simplified for mass consumption. Is there more to fashion than prestige and wearability? Beyond status signalling, haute couture shows serve a fundamental purpose: they are exhibitions of art. Fashion designers, particularly those working in haute couture, are artists whose medium is fabric, structure, and the human form. The runway is their gallery, and the garments are their sculptures or installations. These creations explore conceptual ideas, push technical boundaries of construction and materials, tell stories, and reflect cultural moments in ways that ready-to-wear often cannot. The focus is on pure, unadulterated creative expression, innovation, and craftsmanship, akin to a painter's most experimental work or a sculptor's largest installation. When asked about haute couture, Fashion designer Akshar Bhan said, 'You may not understand a painting by Picasso if you have not read about it. I feel the same about couture. When you wear a couture dress and walk on the ramp, it is to showcase a designer's ideas and creativity. Stitching these garments is not easy and varies by designer, with some specialising in embroidery and others in stonework.' The 'art' displayed on the haute couture runway, however, doesn't stay confined to the gallery. It initiates the trickle-down effect in tangible ways. The radical colour palettes, novel fabric treatments, innovative silhouettes, distinctive prints, or even specific embellishment techniques debuted in couture gradually move down. Muskaan Kanodia, a merchandiser at COYU, shared her views on the increasing accessibility of haute couture and said, 'Before social media, fashion shows were exclusive and only attended by buyers, fashion houses, and retailers. It took a long time for the trickle-down to happen, as people waited for fashion magazines to look at the runway designs. Now, everyone can watch runway shows on live streams, and haute couture focuses a lot on the brand's visibility and reach. Every brand has its very own 'design language.'' The design language reflects the brand's values, helping people recognise it through its visuals and messaging. 'Dior has a very subtle design language as compared to designers like Rahul Mishra, Tarun Tahiliani or Iris van Herpen,' Kanodia added.
See - Sada Elbalad
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- See - Sada Elbalad
Zuhair Murad Shines at Paris Haute Couture Week 2025
Pasant Elzaitony Lebanese international designer Zuhair Murad took center stage in the heart of Paris, unveiling one of the most elegant and captivating fashion shows during the Haute Couture Week for Winter 2025. Once again, he reaffirmed his status as an icon in the world of high fashion. His latest collection was a perfect embodiment of timeless luxury, presenting a mesmerizing array of gowns that seamlessly blended traditional feminine silhouettes with refined modern touches. The color palette reflected Murad's exquisite taste, ranging from black, white, gold, and nude, to bold tones of royal blue and deep burgundy—adding depth, drama, and an everlasting sense of sophistication. By zuhair Murad The intricate details were truly breathtaking: delicate embroidery, sumptuous fabrics like lace, tulle, and chiffon, and long regal capes that elevated each piece with majesty and grandeur. The models graced the runway like queens, exuding confidence and allure. By zuhair Murad Zuhair Murad Commenting on the collection, Zuhair Murad said: 'I wanted to evoke the spirit of eternal elegance, to create designs that make every woman feel like a star on the red carpet or a queen in a fairytale.' Murad drew inspiration from royal eras, blending elegance with romance to craft designs perfect for glamorous soirées and luxurious weddings. By zuhair Murad By zuhair Murad Once again, Zuhair Murad captivates the fashion world from one of its most prestigious stages, carrying his signature Eastern flair with a global spirit that speaks to the modern woman in all her grace and glamour. By zuhair Murad By zuhair Murad read more 15 Ludicrous Cosplay Costumes That Will Blow You Away Watch... Dorra's natural beauty will blow your mind in latest photo session Exercising For As Little As 150 Minutes A Week Will Make You Happier، Study Claims ARIES: Your Horoscope for April 7 FDA Now Considers Vaping A Rising Epidemic In High School Lifestyle How to make Dried salted fish (feseekh) -By Chef El-Sherbini Lifestyle Batarekh Dip & Sardine Dip Lifestyle Best of Easter cookie and cakes Lifestyle ARIES friendship News Israeli-Linked Hadassah Clinic in Moscow Treats Wounded Iranian IRGC Fighters News China Launches Largest Ever Aircraft Carrier Sports Former Al Zamalek Player Ibrahim Shika Passes away after Long Battle with Cancer Videos & Features Tragedy Overshadows MC Alger Championship Celebration: One Fan Dead, 11 Injured After Stadium Fall Lifestyle Get to Know 2025 Eid Al Adha Prayer Times in Egypt Business Fear & Greed Index Plummets to Lowest Level Ever Recorded amid Global Trade War News "Tensions Escalate: Iran Probes Allegations of Indian Tech Collaboration with Israeli Intelligence" News Flights suspended at Port Sudan Airport after Drone Attacks Arts & Culture Hawass Foundation Launches 1st Course to Teach Ancient Egyptian Language Videos & Features Video: Trending Lifestyle TikToker Valeria Márquez Shot Dead during Live Stream
Straits Times
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Designer Iris van Herpen's Paris Haute Couture Week algae dress is actually alive
Belgian model Stella Maxwell presents the algae dress for Iris van Herpen during the Women's Haute-Couture Fall/Winter 2025-26 collection show in Paris on July 7. PARIS – Couture, the oldest and most elite of the fashion arts, the pieces made by hand for the very few, can sometimes seem like a fossil preserved in an amber corset. Which is why Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen's work, both futuristic and deliberately kinetic, has always been so mesmerising: skirts that jounce like jellyfish, extrusions that tremble like palm fronds, and sleeves (or sleeve-like appendages) that flutter like butterfly wings. Even by her standards, however, the second look in the couture collection she showed in Paris on July 7 as part of Haute Couture Week was something else. It was actually alive. Made of 125 million bioluminescent algae known as Pyrocystis lunula that glow in response to movement (think the luminescent plankton that can make the ocean seem lit from within), the dress-and-leggings combination was grown in a gelatin-like substance that was then moulded into one of van Herpen's signature sci-fi anatomical lattice frocks. Wearing it, the model resembled a very regal, otherworldly crustacean. It had an aquatic tint and a squishy, jellylike veneer. And though it didn't exactly radiate megawatt beams when the model walked, it did emanate a soft blue haze. According to van Herpen, the look feels sort of visceral when worn. And for anyone wondering, it was not smelly. More of an experiment than an actual for-sale item, the outfit was, 41-year-old van Herpen said backstage, 'the next step in not being inspired by nature, but collaborating with nature'. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore ST will have Govt's 'full confidence and support' in its mission to stay relevant: PM Wong Singapore ST will aim to become an indispensable partner to S'pore's communities: Editor Jaime Ho Singapore Heartbeats & Headlines: ST's 180-year legacy comes to life in immersive exhibition Singapore Trusted news, smarter experience with new Straits Times website and app Singapore Man who killed 5-year-old daughter gets life sentence after he appeals against 35-year jail term Singapore Judge declines to void alleged sham marriage in S'pore, says it is for Parliament to decide Business OCBC CEO Helen Wong to retire on Dec 31; Tan Teck Long named successor Singapore More than 14,300 people checked during 7-week-long anti-crime ops Designer Iris van Herpen appears at the end of her Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2025-2026 collection show in Paris on July 7. PHOTO: REUTERS In other words, forget floral prints, or rose embroideries. Think biological symbiosis. The look was created in conjunction with Chris Bellamy, a biodesigner who began working on the project with van Herpen about five months ago. The algae were nurtured in seawater baths and then placed in a protective membrane (the one that became the dress), which has its own 'house' – a kind of free-standing immersion tank – with specially monitored conditions, including humidity, temperature and light. When it was not being worn, the dress was returned to its natural habitat – though even in the unnatural environment of a fashion show, the algae held their own (colour). Still, how long they will ultimately live, and what will happen to the outfit once they expire, is not exactly clear. 'No one knows!' van Herpen chortled. 'That's the beauty of it. It's very much like a human being in that sense. It needs eight hours of sleep, it needs sunlight, it needs not too much stress.' The point of the living dress, she said, as with the rest of her collection, was to force a rethink of our relationship with the ocean – a theme that has been part of her work since 2017, when she immersed musicians in tanks of water for a show. To that end, this season's show opened with a performance involving lasers that danced across a gown made of what the show notes called Japanese 'air fabric'. A performer exhibits during the presentation of creation for Iris Van Herpen during the Women's Haute-Couture Fall/Winter 2025-26 collection show in Paris on July 7. PHOTO: AFP One look that resembled a translucent ivory Slinky trailing around the body was made of Brewed Protein, a fiber from fermented plant-based materials by the Japanese biotech company Spiber; another was formed from resin-coated silk, which resembled a wave caught in mid-froth. A model presents a creation for Iris Van Herpen during the Women's Haute-Couture Fall/Winter 2025-26 collection show in Paris on July 7. PHOTO: AFP As much as anything, however, her work, and especially the living dress, actually prompts a rethinking of our relationship with our wardrobes, and the way clothes need care in order to last. Not to mention a rethinking of the essence of couture. As the laboratory of fashion, couture is defined by experimentation and the sort of pie-in-the-sky imagination that is only possible when price and time have no limit. That's how you got a ruby crystal heart necklace that actually throbbed worn over a backward dress at Schiaparelli, the gown's torso – complete with breast plate – layered over the spine. It's how the team at Chanel, creating its final collection before the first show of new designer Matthieu Blazy, dreamed up the shaggy boucle 'skins' that resembled bison pelts but were actually made from tulle and feathers, worn over the shoulders of their barbarian bourgeoisie (the best things in an otherwise lacklustre show). Too often, however, couture seems as if it is preserving the know-how of the past – its embroideries, brocades and fairy tales – rather than trying to invent what's next. Van Herpen's work challenged all of that, simply by asking: What if a garment was not only constructed, but cultivated? NYTIMES
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Watch live: Jane Birkin's original Hermès handbag goes up for auction at Sotheby's
Watch live as the original Hermès Birkin bag, designed for singer Jane Birkin, is auctioned at Sotheby's Paris "Fashion Icons" sale during Haute Couture Week on Thursday, 10 July. Now one of the most coveted designer items of recent decades, the Birkin's origins stem from a flight from Paris to London. While travelling, the British actor, who was sitting next to the French luxury fashion house's executive chairman Jean-Louis Dumas, complained that she couldn't find a bag suitable for her needs as a young mother. Dumas sketched a rectangular holdall with a burnished flap and saddle stitching with a dedicated space for her baby's bottles. He then had an example made for her, and Birkin agreed when Hermès asked whether the brand could commercialise the bag in her name. The auction house said that the all-black leather prototype of the "legendary handbag" was handcrafted for Birkin. The commercialised version is now one of the world's most exclusive bags, with an extravagant price tag and years-long waiting list. It is expected to fetch hundreds of thousands of euros at the sale.
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
A Devout Chloé Girl Is Parting With 80 Outfits by Karl Lagerfeld
She was quite the Chloé girl, and certainly a devotee of Karl Lagerfeld. Now she is parting ways with her groovy, historically important wardrobe, spanning some 80 looks by the famous German designer between 1974 and 1983. Auction house Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr is handling the online sale, which kicks off on June 26 and runs through July 9. More from WWD Charlize Theron Finds Another Out-of-the-box Summer Shoe for 'The Old Guard 2' Press Tour The Fashion Crowd Take Over the Serpentine Summer Party Princess Diana's Wedding Gown Sweeps Into the Spotlight - Again - in New Documentary An exhibition of the dresses at 6 Avenue Hoche opens on July 3, and straddles Haute Couture Week in Paris, scheduled for July 7 to 10. Bonhams is keeping the identity of the seller under wraps, but confirmed it's a single-owner collection. Estimates for the dresses start at 700 euros and run up to about 1,500 euros. Lagerfeld logged two celebrated stints at Chloé. He started working for the house in 1963 and initially worked alongside other designers brought on by founder Gaby Aghion, such as Graziella Fontana, Tan Giudicelli and Michèle Rosier. Lagerfeld took full creative control of Chloé in 1966 and worked there until 1983. He rejoined Chloé for a second time in 1992, creating memorable ad campaigns with model Linda Evangelista, before leaving for good in 1997. 'This auction is an homage to Karl Lagerfeld with an exemplary collection of designs from his early years at Chloé presented alongside groundbreaking looks from his final spring 1984 Chloé collection,' commented Hubert Felbacq, director of the fashion and accessories department at Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr. Among lots from that spring 1984 collection is an ivory silk evening dress embroidered with gold sequins and draped for an antique effect. It's offered with an estimate of 1,200 to 1,500 euros. Felbacq noted that under the German designer, 'Chloé entered a golden era, pushing the boundaries of prêt-à-porter with bold, narrative-driven collections. From ethereal gowns and romantic silhouettes to bold, surrealist prints, these garments exemplify Lagerfeld's unparalleled ability to blend elegance with innovation.' The Bonhams sale also spans 70 other lots of haute couture from Yves Saint Laurent, Guy Laroche, Louis Feraud, Hervé Léger, Emanuel Ungaro and Pierre Balmain. Best of WWD Why Tennis Players Wear All White at Wimbledon: The Championships' Historic Dress Code Explained Kate Middleton's Looks at Trooping the Colour Through the Years [PHOTOS] Young Brooke Shields' Style Evolution, Archive Photos: From Runway Modeling & Red Carpets to Meeting Princess Diana
