Dior Haute Couture by John Galliano, Spring/Summer 2007

PARIS, France — In a fascinating interview with The Taipei Times, Didier Grumbach, President of the Fédération Française de la Couture, du Prêt à Porter des Couturiers et des Créateurs de Mode (sometimes known as the Chambre Syndicale), provides his point of view on the role of haute couture in the fashion business today, encourages young designers to manufacture in China, and welcomes luxury conglomerates like LVMH and PPR as a necessary part of the fashion eco-system.

On Haute Couture, he tells it like it is. “Couture is in fact not an industry, it is a savoir faire, a craft, and is a complement to ready-to-wear,” he tells the Times’ Catherine Shu. “When haute couture was organized and structured the way it was in 1944, there was no ready-to-wear as we know it today. Everything was made for you. Creative ready-to-wear did not exist. Today Chanel and Dior, the most mythical couture houses, are also at the same time among the biggest exporters of ready-to-wear, and without their ready-to-wear lines, their couture lines could not exist.” … Continue Reading