Haute couture is clothing made to measure, largely by hand, for individual clients by a very small circle of Paris houses. The French words mean, roughly, high dressmaking, and the system took shape in the late nineteenth century with founding figures such as Charles Frederick Worth, Jeanne Paquin and Paul Poiret.
Since 1945 the term has been protected by the French Ministry of Industry, which grants it for one year at a time on the advice of a commission at the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode. The rulebook reads like a very elegant club charter: original designs made by hand in French workshops, a permanent artistic director, at least twenty employees and two separate ateliers, one for structured tailoring, the tailleur, and one for soft, fluid pieces, the flou. Shows take place in Paris, traditionally every January and July, with at least 25 looks. Only around a dozen houses hold the official title, which makes a couture gown less a purchase than an appointment.