Day 2: Back to the Couture

Croquis were sketches of couture garments, created by houses and sent to their best clients, as an aide-memoire when placing their orders, or in case they couldn’t make the showing in Paris They’re little-used now. Donatella Versace says she receives emails and phone calls from prospective clients, who order their couture via the Internet. Dot-com croquis. This is from an eighties Dior collection, by Marc Bohan.

Marisa Berenson on the catwalk for Dior autumn/winter 2000. A family portrait. Incidentally, she’s Elsa Schiaparelli’s granddaughter.

Petite mains working on the spring 2014 Schiaparelli couture collection

Sketch for Stella Tennant’s opening gown from the spring 2014 Schiaparelli show, with swatch of Taroni silk

Marco Zanini and the Schiaparelli petite mains fitting on Jessica Stam. Spring/summer 2014 haute couture

Hand-pleating in the Schiaparelli atelier

Schiaparelli fitting, spring/summer 2014. Saskia de Brauw and Marco Zanini, with a Stephen Jones veil

Lesage embroidery for Schiaparelli, spring/summer 2014

Lesage embroidery for Schiaparelli, spring/summer 2014

Lesage crab embroidery, for Schiaparelli

The wedding dress at Schiaparelli

Pierced heart embroidery detail at Schiaparelli

Schiaparelli ambassador Farida Khelfa in fittings with Marco Zanini for his first couture collection

Christian Dior spring/summer 2014 - Silk chiffon and crepe dress with goose-feather and bead embroidery by Maison Lemarié. Photographed by Ruth Hogben for The Independent Magazine, 5 July 2014

Christian Dior spring/summer 2014 - silk broderie anglaise organza dress with origami-folded paillette embroidery. Photographed by Ruth Hogben for The Independent Magazine, 5 July 2014

Christian Dior spring/summer 2014 - silk gauze dress with openwork, underlaid with sequins and beads. Embroidery by Atelier Vernoux Photographed by Ruth Hogben for The Independent Magazine, 5 July 2014

Dior haute couture autumn/winter 2014: eighteenth century shape, Louis heel, cinched waist. Cartridge pleating.

Detail at Dior: embroidery on a re-interpreted frock-coat. Incidentally, when the embroidery on waistcoat and frock-coat matched like this it was called a suit of dittoes.

Embroidery detail at Dior

Looks backstage at Dior

Resin punctuated fringe covering a “neo-flapper” dress at Dior. The atelier call this new technique “Alien Fur”.

Suiting coming at you, at Dior

Suiting coming at you, at Dior

Suiting coming at you, at Dior

Suiting coming at you, at Dior

Christian Dior spring/summer 2014 - wool jumpsuit, with cutwork and floral sequin detailing. Embroidery by Atelier Montex. Photographed by Ruth Hogben for The Independent Magazine, 5 July 2014

Christian Dior haute couture label in a ball gown from autumn/winter 1954. Stamped with numbers to identify the model and authenticate.

Dior couture label in a polka-dot day dress from spring/summer 1959, when Yves Saint Laurent headed the house.

Dior couture model, featuring the label of the department store which purchased the dress - and the right to replicate the design for the American market. Sometimes this was hand-made, in the couture tradition, with grand department stores housing salons and ateliers similar to those in Paris. Other times, the garments were mass-manufactured. The wives, daughters and mistresses of the department store buyers and owners normally ended up with the couture originals. This licensing of haute couture models was the main money-spinner besides perfume, prior to licensing of designer names and the birth of designer ready-to-wear.

Inside as outside. The hallmark of couture is that the interior should be as perfectly finished as the exterior. Christian Dior haute couture autumn/winter 2009

John Galliano’s “Cabine Fever” for Christian Dior, 2009

Embroidery details from Dior haute couture, autumn/winter 2000