French fashion has history dating back to the seventeenth century, and was initially restricted to the Royals, but was later publicized in the open market through the medium of the press. This promotion further helped French designs to reach to the elites in other nations who could afford it. The French fashion industry flourished during the rule of King Louis XIV, who was interested in pushing reforms in all aspects of French life, including the attire. As a result of this attempt of reformation, there were new styles introduced in France. These developments in French fashions attracted mainly the women from the Royal Families from the other European kingdoms. These noblewomen flocked to Paris to buy the latest French fashions, which turned Paris into the fashion capital of Europe.

French fashion had attracted attention since the early years of the nineteenth century. When Napoleon Bonaparte became the Emperor of France, he had the aim of making Paris the international center of the fashion industry. In order to make this bid for dominance successful, all British textiles were prohibited and new techniques for manufacturing tulle and batiste fabric emerged in Paris.

This helped with local textile manufacturing. In order to create a market for these fabrics, Napoleon forced the women and men in his courts to wear costumes which required high quantities of cloth. The women were asked to wear clothes with long strips of cloth at the back and a formal dress code for men was introduced. There were new styles of jewellery introduced during this time as well, which were quickly picked up as the new trends of French fashion.

French fashions today dominate several consumer markets across the world. With the introduction of the term Haute Couture in the mid nineteenth century, French fashion gained a new dimension. It is a term for high fashion’ in the French fashion circle. This concept was spread across the international fashion industry and today is used by several brands to promote their costumes. Haute Couture in French fashions was introduced to define fashion creations made using optimum quality material which is also unique in the industry. Some of these materials include but are not limited to hand dyed wool, shredded leather and gold. This is the reason why such Haute Couture products are very costly and purchased mainly by celebrities.

In recent times, the world famous haute couture houses that belong to the French fashion industry include but are not limited to: Christian Dior, Balenciaga, Pierre Cardin, Yves Saint Laurent, and Emmanuel Ungaro.