Paper short abstract:

This paper explores how the category of “haute couture” is established and maintained through examining various production and consumption practices in Indian fashion. It will thus show how the construction of this aesthetic establishes boundaries of socioeconomic class in contemporary India.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines the adoption of the category of "haute couture" in the contemporary Indian fashion industry. Drawing on multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork with designers who create "haute couture" clothing as well as middle class and upper-middle class women who are the target consumers of fashion, this paper asks: what aesthetic, consumption or production practices are necessary in labeling a garment "haute couture" within the contemporary Indian context? How do "traditional" practices that are pervasive in the middle class-- such as the hiring of personal tailors to design custom-made clothing -- relate to the purchasing of garments that are created by fashion designers and labeled "haute couture?" This paper proposes that these middle-class practices of custom-made clothing negotiate and challenge the widely accepted and borrowed definition of haute couture as expensive, high-skilled dressmaking.

By investigating the distinct practices that come to label a garment "haute couture" this paper asks how this aesthetic category comes to be established as new, luxurious and lucrative. At the same time, this paper proposes that custom-made clothing by tailors can productively be thought of as a practice which resonates with "haute couture," but is nonetheless considered "traditional," affordable and accessible. Thus, by drawing on ethnographic research of events such as "Couture Week" and "Fashion Week," as well as various localized production processes, this project examines how the establishing of "haute couture" as a distinct and new category becomes a way in which divisions of socioeconomic class are produced and reproduced in contemporary India.