A Quote by Hubert de Givenchy

To be a couture designer is not only to create dresses but to adapt your line to your private customers. It is why couture is expensive. You are like a doctor. — © Hubert de Givenchy
To be a couture designer is not only to create dresses but to adapt your line to your private customers. It is why couture is expensive. You are like a doctor.
Couture is more your own world, they come and buy head-to-toe ­ - they buy the jewelry, bags, coats, dresses, bodies underneath.... But couture is not dead ­ - it's taken another shape.
It really is the very top of the fashion world; nothing comes above haute couture. But not any old designer can create something magical and call it haute couture; the term is strictly protected for a very special few.
Couture is emotion. Couture is freedom. Couture is not thinking about pricing and not thinking about craziness. You can do whatever you want to do in couture.
When I was young, especially when I was at school, I thought couture was about big gowns, big hats (that is couture as well, of course) - but my couture is about going near the clothes and having a look at the details. I like people to have a shock in a chic way.
Couture is also a term used for top-of-the-range, to-order clothing - but not to the level of intricacy and expense as haute couture. And without the 'haute', the word 'couture' itself isn't protected.
You work around a body and adapt the clothes to your own customer, and this is the interesting part. This is why the haute couture exists: because in ready-to-wear, you have not too much fitting.
For me, haute couture is a necessity. I never would have done this job were it not for haute couture. It is a comfort, a security. I almost feel it is our duty to continue. Haute couture is France. We have to keep all the skills and craftmanship alive.
I'm constantly correcting young people and fashion students in this nation when they say "Well, I do couture." By definition, you don't. You have to be licensed by the government of France to do couture. So don't use that term. You can say that you do one-of-a-kind, you can say it's custom, but you can't say it's couture - because it's inaccurate.
I don't have anything against homes for the elderly, but my mom, after having nine children, after all the sacrifices, living in an apartment - it gave me anxiety. Being the only male in the family, I said, "No I can't let this happen." Therefore I signed, because I wanted to buy a house for my mom. I started at Givenchy and the whole fashion world was saying, "Couture is finished." No, couture is not finished. Couture has changed - thank goodness.
With couture you have faithfulness - people are faithful to you. In couture, you will see that the cut looks like a lace dress from a distance, but it's only when you get nearer you understand that it's layers of lace, hand stitched in a certain shape, all the work - the zips, the buttons, the hooks... it goes on.
I've worn dresses from all different price ranges, and the thing that couture dresses have in common is that the fit is amazing.
Couture has a lot of issues today. Here in Paris there are oddly so few houses showing. And I'm not talking about the style. I'm talking about the sense of couture and these young actresses that you were talking about - they want long dresses that are not always the most innovative or the most interesting. So it's a bit lost.
It's couture. Everything has to be done by hand. That is most important. That is the crucial element. Without it, that is not couture anymore.
I am very happy to design haute couture. It's a love story between couture and me.
My first stage was couture. Boom. Couture. It has changed because women have evolved. Back in the day there were princesses. Today, there are still princesses, but she no longer rides around with horses and a carriage. She parties, she goes on vacation, she goes on boats. She wants to be dynamic. I understood this and I kept going. We do prêt-à-porter, men's, and couture.
Today couture has to be expensive, but it shouldn’t look expensive.
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