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Workshops for haute couture

Patronized by couturiers, hidden from the public...

Couturiers turn to specialists for crafts that originated with the Court and remain unique to Paris. When these masters open their doors to our guests, they show every aspect of production.

 

 

    • A workshop for beaded embroidery 

     

    •Theme-tour
    From drawers of beads...
    to a gown for Givenchy

     

     •We examine paper drawings, see embroiderers at work...

     

     

    Our host examines models.

     

    •...and discover the results

     

     

     

     

    • In the same building, flower-making

     

    Our host's great-grandfather purchased this workshop toward 1880, that is, at the time when haute couture appeared. His descendant is almost the only craftsman who can still create the silk flowers it demands. 


    • He shows us how silk is starched, cut and shaped

     

     

    Irreplaceable 18th-century cutting tools

     

    •The visit's greatest moment - watching the way in which petals are dyed

     

     

    0ur host demonstrates, using formulas written by hand on his grandfather left.

     

     

    There are at least 250 cards per color.

    Despite the infinite variety of nuances the cards permit, the result depends on drying time and so on weather. Our host is almost alone to possess the experience to obtain the exact hue the couturier requires. That is one reason why this craft cannot be outsourced.  

     

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    • We may rummage through drawers filled with flowers...

     

    some so spectacular that women wear them in lieu of jewelry. We may purchase them at wholesale prices. (One cannot purchase single flowers elsewhere, because they are integrated in haute couture gowns.)

     

     

    •Gifts

    One can order flowers as gifts just as couturiers do, but few people know that the possibility exists.

       

       

      • Around the corner is Europe's best-known establishment for creating hand-made hats

       

       

      Completing an order for Chanel
      Models...

      Once more we see production's every step - and leave awed by the expertise needed to produce the accessory that most immediately individualizes women.

       

       
        •  Nearby

         

        The establishment is in the heart of the Right Bank and the visits can combine with Opéra, Covered-passage maze, Silks of kings, Walking into History ...

         

         

        • To know

         

        We can visit the flower workshop easily, even if the director is absent. But visits with him,

        and in the other workshops, can take place only a few times a year.

         

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        Photos / Sarah White Wilson

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