Defining Fashion: The Atelier

Todays terminology: The Atelier. 

Basically, it's a studio. 

But said in french, which immediately makes it sound more ‘fashion’. 

Pronounce it "ah-TEL-ee-yay". 

The History: 

The word atelier comes from the Old French word astatelier, which means "pile of wood chips" because originally it was generally used as a term to describe private studios belonging to architects, fine artists and people who practiced decorative arts. 

Interestingly someone who works in the art world probably wouldn’t associate it with fashion the way we do. But you know fashion people, we love to borrow things that we think are cool. Hence most couture houses (or those who want to appear fancy) will use an atelier, which basically means the specialised workshop where highly skilled employees construct the garments. 

Weirdly the usage of this word has almost doubled since 1950, and fashion education courses even title themselves ‘Fashion Atelier’ now - which basically means - learn fine sewing but feel boujie whilst you do it. 

For reference, a coutourier is the person behind the couture house, the atelier is where their teams bring the visions to life.