How has Haute Couture changed in 2021? From the arrival of menswear to the newfound sobriety of the shows, passing through multiculturalism and collaborations

Haute Couture is rightly considered the last bastion of traditional fashion. With an estimated number of 4000 private customers all over the world, Haute Couture is a tight and impenetrable circle and, until recently, also one of the most "conservative" areas of fashion, complete with very precise rules on how many workers should be present in the atelier and how many looks should be sent to the catwalk, divided between day and evening looks. An ancient and very important heritage that even in the depths of our post-industrial era preserves the charm of craftsmanship – but which is much less immobile than you might think: one of the principles of couture is in fact that of having to adapt to the times and, to a certain extent, evolve with them. 

How is modern Couture?

Finally, we must emphasize another change that has taken place, which is that of the aesthetic language of the shows themselves. If at the time of Karl Lagerfeld and John Galliano, that is, in the early 2000s, the show couture was pharaonic and spectacular ostentation of virtuosity, with steam trains and hot air balloons that crossed the catwalk, bronze lions and gigantic sculptures and literal woods or pirate ships transported in the middle of Paris, this year the sophistication has remained but without all the noise. Modern Couture has kept a distance from the larger-than-life theatricality of the past to find a clearer, more intimate, and suitable language for the times – giving Haute Couture the opportunity to express itself at its best and address a market of younger customers who have the same passion as traditional ones, with a unique appreciation of the personal and experience component of authentic Haute Couture.