FHCM History

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The Company Description of Its Time

The Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode is filed as the governing body for the French fashion industry - the only regulator among this letter's retailers and channels, and the institution that decides what the most protected words in fashion are allowed to mean. Under its current name, the Federation brings together fashion brands that foster creation and international development; it seeks to promote French fashion culture, where Haute Couture and creation have a major impact, by combining traditional know how and contemporary technology at all times, and it contributes to bolstering Paris in its role as worldwide fashion capital. The Federation numbers some one hundred members, amongst whom feature the most emblematic brands on the global stage.

Three Chambers, a School, and the Calendar

The structure is threefold, and historical descriptions name all three chambers: the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, trade association of high fashion; the Chambre Syndicale de la Mode Masculine, trade association of men's ready-to-wear fashion; and the Chambre Syndicale du Pret-a-Porter des Couturiers et des Createurs de Mode, trade association of women's ready-to-wear of couturiers and fashion designers. Above the structure sit two powers no other fashion body in the world holds in quite the same form: the Federation is responsible for setting the dates and location of the French fashion weeks, and it establishes industry standards on quality and on the use of the word 'haute couture'. Who may use the term, and when Paris shows - both run through this one federation.

Its school completes the institutional picture: the Federation also has a fashion school, the Ecole de la chambre syndicale de la couture parisienne, created in 1928, and it is a founding member of the IFM, with the two institutions committed to a process of strategic rapprochement as recorded. The historical record's goals list extends the role further: training in traditional and new skills; coordinating and enhancing Paris Fashion Week and its official calendar of shows and presentations bringing together over 150 brands, with applications examined by a selection committee; accompanying emerging brands with financial and organizational support; and acting, in France and internationally, as a strategic, economic, technological, cultural and even political voice for fashion and creation. The route leads to the Apparel Search haute couture term page the historical record linked - the definition whose guardianship this federation holds.

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