Meaning & use
haut couture
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Meanings
noununcountableformalspecialist
The most expensive, custom-made end of the fashion industry, where clothes are made to measure by hand.
Grammar: Uncountable, so no plural and no "a"; say "in haut couture" or "a haut couture house".
Patterns
- work in haut couture
- a haut couture house
- haut couture designs
She trained in Paris and now works in haut couture.
Only a handful of houses still belong to haut couture.
The exhibition traces a century of haut couture in Europe.
noununcountableformalspecialist
Clothes of this exclusive, hand-made kind.
Grammar: Uncountable; if you need a count, use "a piece of haut couture" or "haut couture garments".
Patterns
- wear haut couture
- buy haut couture
The actress wore haut couture to the ceremony, fitted over several weeks.
Few customers can afford real haut couture.
Common combinations
- a haut couture house
- The oldest haut couture house in the city closed last year.
- haut couture collection
- Their haut couture collection took six months to sew.
- the world of haut couture
- He left the world of haut couture for ready-to-wear.
- haut couture gown
- She arrived in a silver haut couture gown.
Synonyms and how they differ
- haute couture
- The standard English spelling with an e; it means exactly the same thing and is the safer choice.
- high fashion
- A looser everyday term for expensive, trend-setting clothes, not necessarily hand-made.
- bespoke tailoring
- Focuses on clothes cut for one customer, without the Paris fashion-house image.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: haut couture or haute couture? haut couture or culture?
haut couture vs haute couture
The usual English spelling; "haut couture" is the French masculine form and looks unusual in English text.
haut couture vs culture
A completely different word meaning the arts, beliefs and customs of a group; it sounds vaguely similar.
Practice
Which sentence uses "haut couture" correctly?
Choose one answer.
"Haut couture" is an uncountable noun for exclusive hand-made fashion, so option 1 fits. Option 0 treats it as a countable item, option 2 gives it a plural verb, and option 3 uses it as if it were a place.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “haut couture”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.