Haute Couture is a French phrase for high fashion.  Couture means dressmaking, sewing, or needlework and haute means elegant or high, so the two combined imply excellent artistry with the fashioning of garments. 

Haute Couture is really an extension of the designers imagination. A dream of high fashion that every designer creates that inspires and awes the fashion public. Sometimes it is whimsical, sometimes it is madcap, and often haute couture looks like a dream of Salvador Dali, and it is that very reason that people are lured into a runway show. The fantasy of the clothing is something that one has never seen before and may not ever again.

The purchase of a haute couture model garment is at the top level of hand customized fashion design and clothing construction made by a couture design house.  A model haute couture garment is made specifically for the wearer's measurements and body stance. One dress or outfit will cost thousands and often tens of thousands of dollars. While this may seem ridiculous, a client is not only paying for the outfit they are paying for the attention and service they are given during the process of designing a dress to fit their body perfectly. The made to measure exclusive clothes are virtually made by hand, carefully interlined, stay taped and fitted to perfection for each client. 

Today only 2,000 women in the world buy couture clothes; 60% are American. Only 200 are regular customers. Often, designers will loan clothes to movie stars or other public figures for publicity. During fashion's "golden age," after World War II, some 15,000 women wore couture.

Despite the small market, designers maintain haute couture operations partly because the prestige helps sell other products, such as perfume, cosmetics, and their ready-to-wear lines available in stores.

Surprisingly, fashion houses don't make a profit from their haute couture lines. Due to the time and expense of each piece, the cost rarely matches the price tag. What haute couture does do is create a relationship between the house and their client and guarantee that the client will buy other pieces from their normal fashion lines.