Every year or around 25 November, or around it, the French fashion industry hosts a certain show of the track just for itself. Wearing mostly green and yellow hats-a color combination is said to represent the family and hope or belief and wisdom, depending on which Milliner is asking-the people from Paris luxury houses gather at the town hall to celebrate St. Catherine, Catholic holidays dating with the Middle Ages, which was first observed by Couture at the end of the 19th century. Historically, Catherine, as is known-free women, every 25 years and working in one of the then urban studios Haute Couture-Byla awarded a rare opportunity to meet their bosses before getting the rest of the day you want to enjoy street parties, all When wearing rich, often incorrect hats that were sometimes adapted to represent their individual skills or interests, or at least their house codes. (At the end of the 1940s, Catherorinettes Schiaparelli was excessive versions of the designer Elsa Schiaparelli’s surrealit fragrance of the Sun -shaped and candlesticks.) , “says Sophie Kurkdjian, an assistant to fashion history at the American University of Paris. “And I’m looking for a husband.” Compares tradition to prepare small handsor “small hands”, because generally anonymous craftsmen responsible for sewing and embroidering the most amazing dresses in the world are known.
The patron of Catherinettes is Catherine of Alexandria, a qualified debate that died in the fourth century and who, according to legend, transferred pagan scholarly to Christianity and refused to marry the Roman Emperor. (She also believed that she was guarding scholars and students.) More than just mating – the one that was practiced throughout France long before it was accepted by the fashion industry – St. Catherine was also “gluing with an experience,” says Pamela, says Pamela Golbin, formerly the main curator of fashion and textile in Décoratifs Musée des Arts. “Today it would be considered an exercise for team building.” The men from the houses eventually accepted the parallel tradition in honor of St. Nicholas, another patron of many, including men who want to marry, who once allegedly paid the dowry for three unmarried sisters by secretly throwing gold in their father’s house. They celebrated the holiday of St. Nicholas 6th December and enjoyed five more years without shame without shame and become Nicholas at the age of 30.
Two years ago, the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la regime, a Paris fashion week, which has long heard complaints about the “anti -evi -minism” holiday, decided that the participants may no longer be unmarried, says its executive president, says his executive president. Pascal Morand. She also reduced age for Nicholas to 25. The change in the rule was influenced by people like Victor Weinsanto, a 30 -year -old French designer who founded his own label in 2020 and now missed his opportunity to be Fetted like Nicholas. He appreciated this tradition from his internship in Chloé, where he watched Catherinettes got handbags with hats. (Together with the hats that the participants can maintain, many houses provide additional gifts: for example, Balenciaga offers full clothing.) However, Weinsanto still enjoys a distance show. “It’s a moment when you can have some freedom of taste,” he says, recalling the big feathered hats that Hermès employees wore last November, a brand that is not particularly known for its enchantment.
At the town hall, participants – about 400, many dressed in black, represent 17 houses and the federation itself – modeled their colorful hats on a private fashion show, each brand chosen its own music. (Hermès decided to “espresso” Sabrina Carpenter; he patered with the song Lil Wayne.) For a competitive industry that is generally taken seriously, the event is a goofy anomaly and a rare moment of unity. And yet the ceremony is not without a little good one-upmanship: Catherinettes hats are often designed by the creative director of the house, but some of the pleasures of the town hall added personal touches; Millin’s employee Maison Michel attached them a wooden stake to reflect their passion for the TV series “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”. Others attached gems or felt the Chanel logos to their hats, just like American university students could customize their promotion cap.
Catherinettes and Nicholases, who are both celebrating both in November, come only from the world of Couture, which means that employees from any of the 100 houses in the Federation can participate. (Nowadays, only 14 of these Maisons are still making Haute Couture: their own garments produced exclusively by hand and require at least four tailor and full -time seamstresses. Among the 23 Balenciaga participants last year were employees from his retail stores and corporate departments. (A brand known for its subway and streetwear, dressed its staff in black baseball caps designed by its creative director Demna, with green and yellow on the edge.) Delphine Bellini, the CEO Experts and young talents, “and the opportunity to impress the next generation of the company into the importance of craftsmanship. “I have to admit that I prefer modern interpretations of tradition than the old ones,” says Emma Sprecley, a press assistant and recent Catherinette in Dior, who had 68 celebrans in 2024. Every year on Friday around the holidays, the house throws a rich ball for their team – not only any collection of the corporate office, but an extravagant cocktail party that its creative directors, along with Delphine Arnault, CEO of Dior Fashion, and her father Bernard Arnault, head , boss, head of Dior’s executive director, LVMH. (Each in Dior gets the next Monday.)
“It’s our most important meeting of the year,” says British Milliner Stephen Jones, who learned of Catherinettes when he was hired in Dior in 1996. It recognizes certain mysteries around tradition – outside New Orleans, hosted , even for those who work in fashion. Several houses and designers were reluctant to say too much about habit – almost as if it were a secret. “Some things are to be kept private,” says Jones. “When you buy Dior Haute Couture dress, what do you buy?” You buy clothes, but you also buy privacy – something that is just for you, not anyone else. “For him, this event about Pride Fashion, which is dedicated to his craftsmen: Hats, which he designed for this year’s event, inspired by the Resort 2025 collection, was created by Scottish knitting manufacturers Robert Mackie. “In the United States, sports heroes or military heroes celebrate,” Jones says. “In France celebrates dress and fashion design.”
