Haute Couture, Ready-To-wear, and Prêt-à-Porter by Apparel Search - Terms of Interest to the Fashion Industry

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What is the difference between Haute Couture, Ready-To-wear, and Prêt-à-Porter?

Firstly, Ready-to-wear and Prêt-à-Porter mean the same thing. The French translation for Prêt-à-Porter into English is Ready-to-wear. Basically Ready-to-wear, is garments that are truly "ready to wear". In other words, you view them in a store, purchase them, and you are then ready to wear them. They are off the rack, high quality, garments that are NOT made to measure. Note: Even though garments are "Ready-to-wear", they still often need tailoring before you actually wear them.

Gaby Aghion the fashion designer behind the brand Chloé was the first to coin the term prêt-à-porter.

Haute Couture or Couture is fashion that is made to measure. In other words, custom made for a specific individual. Measurements are taken of the person, and then the garment is made to fit them specifically (the person buying the garment may be required to attend a few fitting sessions along the way). Haute couture is French for "high sewing" or "high dressmaking". Haute couture is made to order for a specific customer, and it is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable seamstresses, often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques. Couture is a common abbreviation of haute couture and refers to the same thing in spirit.

Haute Couture originally referred to Englishman Charles Frederick Worth's work, produced in Paris in the mid-nineteenth century.

In modern France, haute couture is a "protected name" that can be used only by firms that meet certain well-defined standards. However, the term is also often used rather loosely to describe all high-fashion custom-fitted clothing, whether it is produced in Paris or in other fashion capitals such as Milan, London, New York and Tokyo.

In the opinion of Apparel Search, if you commission a Haute Couture garment, it is wise to not gain or loss too much weight during the time you wait for the garment to be produced... It would be a shame to have a made-to-measure garment manufactured for you and then find that it does not fit as well as intended (no fault of the designer)...

In summary,

Haute Couture (Couture) refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing.

Prêt-à-Porter (Ready-to-wear) - is a high-end luxury garment, but can be purchase off the rack and ready to wear.

It is probably a good idea for you to also learn a bit about bespoke clothing. Did you know that bespoke clothes are different than made-to-measure clothing?

You may have interest in researching the following fashion designers.

Calvin Klein

Christian Dior

Christian Lacroix

Coco Chanel

Collette Dinnigan

Dolce & Gabbana

Donatella Versace

Donna Karan

Ermenegildo Zegna

Giorgio Armani

Jean-Paul Gaultier