The word haut literally means high. Meaning thereby high class or something of high quality, highly fashionable, and fashionably elegant. The French word in the fashion industry is used for fashionable women’s clothing when it is used with couture. Besides Haute Couture, there are other usages of the word Haute Cousine, Haute-volée and Haute Health for instance.
Such phrases that are used for fashion are mostly borrowed from French. The French definition of the words haut and haute also refers to tall, high toned, or high. In the earliest English language free dictionary, it was declared the word of the day.
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Haute Couture
Haute Couture is an exception in France, and as the Federation’s name suggests, it is at the center of the fashion ecosystem. It is a perpetual gateway between a tradition of excellence in know-how and contemporaneity in creation, using today’s production techniques that
are at the forefront of innovation. In January and July of each year, the Haute Couture collections are shown.
Special Status Due to Its Unusual Character
It has been given a special status due to its unusual character. The Finest Jewellery Houses connected with the Federation have been included on the Federation’s official calendar since 2010. This effort not only provides for presentation synchrony but also allows the history of two industries with extraordinary know-how and both in a constant state of reinvention to be played out in chronological order.
1. Charles Frederick Worth
Charles Frederick Worth, who built the first real Couture House at number 7, rue de la Paix in Paris in 1858, is credited with establishing Haute Couture. Rose Bertin, Marie-“Fashion Antoinette’s Minister,” had foretold it by being the first to begin freeing up the feminine form while embellishing her designs with embroidery, lace, and rose petals.
The designation Haute Couture became a legally recognized designation of origin following a judgment made on January 23rd, 1945.
Approval by Chambre Syndicale de la Couture
Only those households and businesses that are approved each year by a special commission managed by the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture and held under the Ministry of Industry are eligible. Its primary field of interest is handmade work completed within these Houses’ workshops, a laboratory for ideas and techniques, a space where creativity can flourish freely.
Novelty
The novelty of each year’s original models, as well as the customization of these models, which are subsequently manufactured to meet the client’s measurements, distinguishes Haute Couture.
Haute Couture, like modern Haute Joaillerie, mocks and occasionally trivializes academic forms to keep up with the times. They provide an undeniable sensory and imaginative boost while remaining ultra-modern and frequently fueled by new technologies.
Worth was the one who established the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne to control the haute couture industry.
Attempts to bring haute couture to Berlin were made during World War II, but the President of the Chambre Syndicale at the time, Lucien Lelong, declared, “It is in Paris or nowhere.”
The stage for World’s Most Talented Designers
In the twentieth century, haute couture became the stage for the world’s most talented designers, including Paul Poiret, Coco Chanel, and Cristobal Balenciaga. Couture became associated with completely handcrafted clothing made of the finest materials and constructed by the most skilled artisans.
Garments are tailored to the shape of each client before being embroidered, beaded, and feathered in workshops. There are never more than ten examples of any given design.
Another important usage of the word Haute is in place in the food and hotel industry. It is used with cuisine, hence Haute-cuisine means the high-level dining
Haute-cuisine
“Haute cuisine” is a concept derived from the French “Haute Cuisine,” which dates back several centuries, or more precisely, to 1547, when Catherine de Medici, upon becoming Queen of France, brought with her from Florence a team of chefs and winemakers who would lay the foundations of Haute French cuisine and the earliest haute restaurant.
The celebration of life, however, would come to an end in 1789, when aristocrats and their cooks were forced to take to the streets as a result of the French Revolution.
Growth of Restaurant Culture
This sparked the growth of restaurant culture, as the best chefs began to prepare for the general people as well as a small circle of nobility. As a result, hundreds of new eateries had appeared in Paris by the end of the revolution.
Something unusual in haute cuisine and the restaurant business did not occur until the nineteenth century. Nonetheless, as civilization and globalization progressed, more and more cultures borrowed from one another. As a result, the customary French method of serving all of the meals at once, which was inherited from the Greeks, became outmoded at some point. It was replaced with “a la Russe” service, in which food was brought to guests as they were ready and ordered. The French Monied Crowd was the first to adopt this new cuisine.
2. Michelin Issues Its First Guidebook
In 1900, global changes seized the world of haute cuisine, when Michelin issued its first guidebook, initially focused solely on advice for motorists, and later expanded to include hotels where guests were encouraged to stay. They introduced a list of restaurants in 1923, and three years later, they started awarding stars to the best of them.
3. Three-star Rating System
They introduced a three-star rating system in 1931, with the following criteria for selecting restaurants: “One star is a very good restaurant in its category, two stars are excellent cuisine, worth stopping by if you are driving nearby, and three stars are outstanding cuisine, deserving of a special visit and trip.”
As a result of the emergence of the Michelin guide, “Haute Cuisine” became more popular and conspicuous, and it was finally defined. Haute cuisine, or fine dining as it is more popularly known, is a high-end cuisine distinguished by refinement, uncommon recipes, and ingredients. It’s all about research and study. This is a kitchen designed to saturate and pleasure receptors to provide experience, impressions, emotions, and memories. As a result, haute cuisine raises the standard for itself, acknowledging its status as a new art form.
4. Haute Cuisine in Twentieth Century
Haute cuisine – nothing to do with the Terre Haute – flourished as an art form in the twentieth century, from the French nouvelle cuisine to the Catalan Adria’s molecular cuisine or René Redzepi’s Scandinavian manifesto. But the most significant event in the history of haute restaurants occurred in the twentieth century: the competitive and radical transformation of its “face,” which abandoned its conservative pillars and even opposed them, as well as the precepts of Auguste Escoffier, a prominent French gastronome, and writer.
5. Nouvelle Cuisine as a Manifesto
The French, such as Paul Bocuse, Jean and Pierre Troisgros, Alain Chapelle, and Louis Autier, were among the first who pitched Nouvelle Cuisine as a manifesto and a new reality in French restaurants, and it was an ode to the product and its value. The serving was meant to be simplified, the sauces were going to be lighter, and the cooking time was supposed to be reduced. All of this was a revolution for France, which had followed Caterina de Medici’s gourmet style for generations.
