The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
The author has shared a YouTube video.
You will need to accept and consent to the use of cookies and similar technologies by our third-party partners (including: YouTube, Instagram or Twitter), in order to view embedded content in this article and others you may visit in future.
PARIS, France — haute couture, fashion's highest form of creative expression and the creative laboratory of a $2.4 trillion industry, is only made possible due to the skill and technical ability of a small group of international craftsmen and women living in Paris. Although named les petites mains (translated as "little hands", though in its usage the term connotes fairy-like levels of dexterity), despite the diminutive tone of the profession's official appellation, its members are treated with great respect both within France and around the world.
"They maintain the tradition," explained Christian Dior's artistic director for womenswear Maria Grazia Chiuri exclusively to BoF, 24 hours before her latest show. Indeed, as the guardians of centuries-old craftsmanship who work across the tenures and aesthetics of multiple creative directors, charged each time with reinterpreting a brand's codes and closely guarded techniques, the skills of an atelier's les petites mains not only make the fantastical confections of haute couture tangible reality, they represent a couture maison's identity in its purest form.
Offering a rare glimpse into the human stories behind Paris's haute couture, BoF takes its readership into the Christian Dior atelier for the final, high-intensity 24 hours before its Autumn/Winter 2017 haute couture show.
Serre, who grew sales by 20 percent in 2023, has been named Pitti Uomo’s next guest designer. She’s using the opportunity to show her men’s collection for the first time.
Hermès’ elusive sales strategy is at the centre of a new legal challenge for the French luxury giant. BoF breaks down the practices under scrutiny and what the suit could mean for the fashion industry at large.
A sharp drop in the label’s Asia-Pacific sales is the latest sign that Chinese luxury demand is cooling.
This week, Kering flagged sales were down 20 percent at its flagship brand, knocking confidence in the group’s turnaround strategy. ‘A more drastic solution is required,’ one analyst wrote.