Inside Chanel's Haute Couture Ateliers: Where 150 Hours Become a Dress
We visited the Rue Cambon ateliers during the Spring-Summer season
Thomas Løvaslokøy & Øyvind
Aurevia Escapes
15 November 2024
11 min read
Each Chanel couture piece requires between 100 and 800 hours of handwork. We spent a day with the petites mains — the specialist artisans who create what the fashion press photographs — and learned why couture cannot, will not, and should not become efficient.
Haute couture is regulated in France by the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. To bear the designation, a house must employ at least 15 full-time workers in its Paris atelier, present a minimum of 35 looks each season, and make every piece to order. Chanel employs 500 people in its ateliers. This is not a technicality; it is a philosophy.
The Process
A Chanel couture suit begins with a toile — a muslin mockup — fitted to the client's precise measurements. There are typically three fittings before a single piece of the final cloth is cut. The jacket's chest, interlaced with chains to give it weight and drape, is hand-stitched by a specialist who does nothing else. A single jacket: 130 hours.
“The petites mains do not think of their work as slow. They think of everything else as rushed.”
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