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Fashion design

art of the application of design and aesthetics to clothing and accessories
A simple haute couture evening gown designed by Marc Bohan for the House of Dior, Spring 1983
Fashion house poster from Budapest
The Chéruit salon on Place Vendôme in Paris, 1910

Fashion design is the art and profession of designing clothes and related items like hats, purses, bags and shoes.

Fashion designers attempt to design clothes which are functional as well as attractive. They consider who is likely to wear a garment and the situations in which it will be worn. They have a range of materials to work with and a wide range of colors, patterns and styles to choose from.




Fashion design started in the 19th century with Charles Frederick Worth, who was the first designer to have his label sewn into the garments he created. Worth's success was such that he was able to dictate to his customers what they should wear, instead of following their lead as earlier dressmakers had done. The term couturier was in fact first created in order to describe him. While all articles of clothing from any time period are studied by academics as costume design, only clothing created after 1858 is considered fashion design.


Types of fashionEdit


Haute coutureEdit

Until the 1950s, fashion clothing was predominately designed and manufactured on a made-to-measure or haute couture basis. Each garment was made for a specific client. A couture garment is made to order for an individual customer, and is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric, sewn with extreme attention to detail and finish, often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques. Look and fit take priority over the cost of materials and the time it takes to make.[1][2] Due to the high cost of each garment, haute couture makes little direct profit for the fashion houses, but is important for prestige and publicity.[3]

Ready-to-wear (pret-a-porter)Edit


Mass marketEdit



  1. "What is Haute Couture?". Haute Couture Hot. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  2. Pauline Weston Thomas. "Haute Couture Fashion History" (Article). Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  3. "Haute couture: making a loss is the height of fashion".