France’s reputation for fashion is usually traced to the reign of Louis XIV, when luxury trades came increasingly under royal control and the first fashion press appeared in the early 1670s.
The age of the couturier
Charles Frederick Worth, an Englishman, is generally considered the first modern Parisian couturier, dominating the industry from 1858 to 1895. Other houses followed, among them Jacques Doucet in 1871, Paul Poiret in 1903, Madeleine Vionnet in 1912 and Elsa Schiaparelli in 1927. Haute couture held sway from about 1860 to 1960.
From the New Look to today
Christian Dior’s New Look arrived in 1947, and Hubert de Givenchy opened his house in 1952. Yves Saint Laurent launched a ready-to-wear line in 1966, and by the 1990s many couture houses had joined luxury groups such as LVMH. Paris Fashion Week is held twice a year at the Carrousel du Louvre and is usually the last, and most anticipated, stop of fashion month. Beyond Paris, Lyon has been a silk capital since the seventeenth century.
Sources: Wikipedia: French fashion.
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