SINGAPORE – It was the morning of Chanel’s first haute couture presentation in Singapore, and a cavalcade of cars was lined up outside a 19th-century mansion on Keppel Hill, the venue for the occasion.

Once abandoned, the mansion had been restored to its former glory just for the week-long event in April.

Inside, Brazilian fashion icon and in-house model for Chanel, Amanda Sanchez, did a twirl. Dubbed as “Chanel’s most influential model”, Sanchez looked like a modern-day Tinkerbell in a tweed coat, an embroidered skirt with feathery tassels and a top hat.

Lining the racks behind her were more dresses, jumpsuits and coats from the French maison’s Spring/Summer 2023 collection. Drawing inspiration from the animal icons in Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s Rue Cambon apartment, the collection felt very feminine and whimsical, whether it was tweed shorts covered in hand-beaded bees or a short, sequin dress embellished with a menagerie of animals, from elephants to lions.

The history of haute couture may be closely linked to Paris, but the first couture house was founded in 1858 by an Englishman, Charles Frederick Worth.

Described as a bearded man with “solid fingers” by English writer Charles Dickens in 1863, Worth was the official dressmaker to Empress Eugenie of France and had been permitted to measure and dress the female elite in Paris – which was unheard of at the time.

He pioneered the concept of seasonal collections and displayed his clothes on live models who resembled his best customers at his shop in Paris’ Rue de la Paix.

In 1868, Worth started what is now known as La Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, the governing body for the French fashion industry that establishes rigorous standards for designers to be classified as an haute couture establishment.

To qualify, the fashion house’s in-house designer must conceive original designs and each piece must be individually handcrafted in the couture house’s workshops.

The ateliers must have a minimum of 20 employees.

Couture houses are also obligated to hold two annual shows during the dedicated haute couture week in Paris and showcase a collection of at least 25 looks, encompassing daytime and evening attire.

By the late 1920s, however, fashionistas had their sights set on newer couturiers like Chanel.

A renegade milliner, she had revolutionised women’s fashion by drawing inspiration from the wardrobes of her lovers, who included entrepreneur Boy Capel and the Grand Duke Dmitri of Russia.

She created an unfettered silhouette, rejecting excessive ornamentation and bulky styles in favour of minimalism, sophistication and often invisible details.

Her home at 31 Rue Cambon drew the likes of cosmetician Helena Rubinstein, performer Josephine Baker and socialite Peggy Guggenheim.

One could go shopping for perfumes, beauty products, jewellery and accessories on the ground-floor boutique and purchase their outfits on the first-floor Haute Couture Salons.

The second floor was an apartment where Chanel spent her days before retiring to her room at the Ritz Paris every evening, while the third and upper floors housed the ateliers where all the collection’s pieces were designed and crafted.

Today, haute couture is made the same way as it was in the old days.

Just like in Paris, clients are received by appointment at Chanel’s first haute couture outpost in Singapore, where they are presented with pieces from the latest collection. The concept of standardised sizes is non-existent and all the clothes are made to measure.

Once a client decides on a design, a first fitting is scheduled to take the client’s measurements, before a mannequin based on the exact measurements of the client is created.

There are a minimum of two fittings thereafter: the first for the initial version of the garment and the second for final alterations. Additional fittings can be arranged, and Chanel’s Haute Couture teams will also travel around the world to meet clients who are unable to go to Paris multiple times for fittings.

The creation of each outfit takes between two and three months, but the time also depends on the complexity of the design.

A minimum of 200 hours is required to make a jacket, while the creation of an embroidered wedding dress can take thousands of hours. This translates into higher prices: A single piece costs upwards of five figures.

Back at 11 Keppel Hill, Sanchez emerged from a dressing room in a long lavender coat embellished with crystals, marking the end of the inaugural haute couture presentation in Singapore.

Haute couture trivia

The pinnacle of refined fashion, haute couture means “high sewing” or “high dressmaking” in English.

The first couture house was established in 1858 – not by a French, but by an Englishman named Charles Frederick Worth.

There are only 17 maisons in the world that are qualified to make haute couture, including Chanel, Christian Dior and Versace.

Couture creations take hundreds to thousands of hours to complete. A feather dress from Chanel’s Spring/Summer 2018 collection, for instance, took two ateliers 750 hours to create, but anything involving intricate embroidery and embellishment will take longer.

There are only an estimated 4,000 haute couture clients around the world. They include Chinese heiress and philanthropist Wendy Yu, Canadian singer Celine Dion and Queen Rania of Jordan.

Ms Mouna Ayoub, a billionaire socialite of Lebanese origin, has made headlines for having one of the world’s largest private collections of haute couture. It has been reported that each couture house, including Chanel, has a mannequin for Ms Mouna that it uses when she is not available for a fitting.