Crazy Facts About Couture Fashion Week You Don't Know

by Bobby Schuessler

The haute couture shows are like the Oscars of fashion shows—the pinnacle of the fashion community, if you will. Just. Plain. Gorgeous. While we already spilled the answers to your pressing questions about haute couture (what it actually is, the purpose, and who purchases it), we’ve got a few other fun facts up our sleeves in honour of the current shows in Paris.

Keep scrolling for the craziest facts about haute couture you didn’t know.

It took this long to make this Dior dress:

Photo:

Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

One gown alone can take hundreds of hours to create. This Dior dress, for example, took 200 hours.

The number of couture customers in the world:

Photo:

Francois G. Durand/WireImage

Unlike the millions of people who buy ready-to-wear clothing worldwide, there are no more than 2000 regular customers that actually buy haute couture.

Couture daywear costs this much:

Photo:

Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

How much does your day-to-day work uniform cost? Well, couture daywear starts at £7,000.

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Where the biggest couture clients are based:

Photo:

Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

Even though the shows take place in Paris, it's not actually where the majority of couture clients are based. For Versace, the largest client bases are in India, Russia, and Brazil.

How much these Chanel couture sneakers cost:

Photo:

Catwalking/Getty Images

A pair of sneakers in an haute couture show can cost £3,000. Yes, for sneakers. Case in point: these Chanel stunners.

The number of clients that attend the shows:

Photo:

Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

While ready-to-wear fashion shows can attract upward of a thousand people, only 150 regular clients attend the haute couture shows twice per year.

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The number of couture seamstresses employed:

Photo:

Antonio de Moraes Barros Filho/WireImage

While you'd think it would take an entire fleet of seamstresses to create all of the intricate clothing, there are only 2200 seamstresses worldwide who work on haute couture.

Are you surprised by any of these facts? Let us know in the comments below. And if you want to invest in clothes that last a time (without costing the world) shop from this edit.

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