Awards season

[URSTYLE]

The Golden Globes have just passed, but awards season has only just begun. Awards season goes hand-in-hand with haute couture fashion week. Where else would celebrities find dazzling looks for each the upcoming red carpet events?

However, haute couture is more than show-stopping gowns. The term “haute couture” comes from the French term for “high dressmaking” or “high fashion”. Where ready-to-wear pieces are mass-produced for sale in stores across the world, haute couture garments are single pieces made by request. This made-to-measure process creates one-of-a-kind garments for specific clients.

In less than two weeks, all kinds of fashion stars will converge in Paris for Spring/Summer 2019 haute couture week. The official schedule consists of five days of presentations and runway shows, beginning with Schiaparelli on the 21st and ending with Xuan on the 24th. In those five days, more than thirty brands and designers will show garments months in the making. That’s not an over exaggeration, either. Some of the finales look in couture shows are more expensive than some sports cars or even houses!

The steep price of couture comes from three sources; the luxury materials, the singular nature of each garment, and the time that goes into the creation of the garment. As mentioned above, couture looks commonly take several hundred hours to put together. The unique of the gowns make them expensive in the same way as rare gems. Speaking of, some of the larger gowns will sport hundreds of thousands of embellishments, including materials like crystals and pearls. Even those without embellishments might have fabric the length of a sports field.

Most designers participating in Paris Couture Week have been part of the schedule since its inception in the fifties. This includes some of the biggest names in fashion, like Valentino, Christian Dior, and Givenchy. However, there are some exciting and younger designers, like Iris Van Herpen, on the schedule as well. Other exciting things to look out for this season include Olivier Rousteing bringing Balmain back to Paris Couture Week for the first time in decades and the always-inspiring sets at Chanel.

Which collections are you most looking forward to seeing? Let us know in the comments below!

[photo source: pinterest.com]