Haute couture is the most technically advanced and highest form of dressmaking. Some say it’s anachronistic, others a laboratory of ideas. We say it’s the place where fashion’s dreams come true. It’s here that designers have the opportunity, and global platform, to give dimension to the wildest extremes of their imagination and show off the finest fabrics available and the exquisite craftsmanship of the white-coated petites mains, who, like the mice in Beatrix Potter’s Tailor of Gloucester, toil the nights away sewing. While some houses focus on tailoring, others flou, all produce flawless work to tempt the lucky client for whom a custom-fit duplicate will be made.
No one turns to couture looking for something to “throw on.” These are clothes that rise to the occasion, that look best in lavish interiors as perfect as film sets; among the boiseries, say, of a French château; on an unending manicured lawn; walking down the aisle. They are rarified garments designed for a lifestyle enjoyed by few but dreamed of by many. So what is the life of couture off the runway? In the pages of Vogue, at Versailles, it transformed Kirsten Dunst into a latter-day Marie Antoinette; it was as grand as the gilded interiors of the Paris Opera; it made it through the storm with Rihanna; and was accessorized, by Kim and Kanye, with a matte black Lamborghini, naturally. Here, just in time for Paris Couture Week, how these and many more fantastic—and fantastical—couture garments have come to life in Vogue.
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