A Significant Decline in the Couture System

European Couture.

Twentieth-century high fashion had traditionally been the almost-exclusive domain of European fashion centers. Designers from European cities, especially Paris, created original clothing for particular wealthy clients or a collection of styles from which clients could choose and subsequently purchase person-ally tailored versions. Naturally, this method is extremely expensive, and the group who patronized personal couture was elite. Many others depended on basic manufacturer lines that, while influenced by what was going on in Paris, were usually fairly basic wear. Still others made their own clothing.

Line for Line.

By the 1960s couturiers were sending their original designs abroad, particularly to the United States, where certain retail stores copied them in a system called "line for line." For a fee these American manufacturers were given permission to produce copies of designs for private...

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