BOUNDLESS IMAGINATION

The difference between the two is one is a regulated term. Anyone can call themselves “couture”, all that typically (not always) means is that their pieces are hand-made and one-of-a-kind, though many brands just stick it at the end of their name to sound fancy. It’s a glorified marketing buzzword.

Haute couture, on the other hand, is determined by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (formerly the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture), which is a part of the French Ministry of Industry. They have somewhere around 100 members last time I checked, and only these brands can present at Paris couture week, though they don’t have to have a live show.  These are some of the criteria for selection:

Additionally, I’ve seen a lot of confusion about the point of couture, which is somewhat understandable. I think sometimes the fact that certain brands couture collections are worn on red carpets leads people to think that couture just means “extravagant, expensive evening wear collection”, but as I’ve stated above, that’s not at all what it means.

Plenty of couture is never really meant to be worn outside of exhibiting it at the runway show, which is why they only make one. I’ve seen a lot of comments either not understanding why anyone would design something that’s unwearable or saying there should be a separate “fashion as art” category. That’s what couture is. 

Specifically looking at this season’s Viktor & Rolf collection as an extreme example, it’s truly a walking art exhibit. Not only is the craftsmanship needed to make the dresses stand like that absolutely insane, they’re also using it as a critique of how the internet has warped our perception of reality. If this was framed in a museum, people would be all over it. And yet, because it’s labelled as “fashion”, about 75% percent of the comments on that post are “stupid fashion people have gone too far who the hell would ever wear this what’s the point” (almost a direct quote FYI) Most people still see fashion as something that needs to be pretty, functional, and wearable, not something that could just be for the sake of artistic value. 

It's why she was so kind to the woman whose kid locked himself in the hot car. She understands what a life can look like for someone with brain damage, in the kid's case from a high fever and dehydration, but she also understands how much that irreversible damage to the brain isn't a stop-all/end-all. She's a DOCTOR with a brain injury. She finished med school and survived a terrorist attack on a hospital during her time in Kabul. She speaks several languages, all while modestly claiming she only speaks "enough to get by". She's a mother, who herself understands the fear that one detrimental mistake on her part, as life is as a parent, can cause her kid to get hurt.

It also explains her interest in AI and "speeding up" the E.R. with timely charting. The smoother the E.R. runs with patient portals, the less likely someone is to make a mistake on their charts, and for her especially, the less likely it is for the E.R. to go up in flames while she has an absence seizure.

This is also why she's insistent on proof-reading, even while using AI transcriptions, because if Al-Hashimi is anything, it's thorough.

She's a doctor who is always trying to get back more time, to reclaim the crucial moments she's afraid of losing or missing because of symptoms out of her control.

She wishes she could spend more time with her son. She wants every patient to be able to advocate for themselves and the long wait times for tests. She wants Robby to get off her back so she doesn't lose everything if a seizure inevitably comes while at work.