“Haute Couture” film by Sylvie Ohayon

“Haute Couture” film by Sylvie Ohayon – dream of Dior House. Story by Eleonora de Gray, Editor-in-Chief of RUNWAY MAGAZINE.

Haute couture film 2021, Director Sylvie Ohayon, Star Nathalie Baye
Haute couture film 2021, Director Sylvie Ohayon, Star Nathalie Baye

Once upon a time, the writer and movie director Sylvie Ohayon decided to do a movie about Haute Couture. She invited French star Nathalie Baye to tell the story about Dior Fashion House, which exists only in fairytales, and the noble thief. The screening already took place and the Premiere is announced for November 10th, 2021.

Director Sylvie Ohayon
Writers Sylvie Ohayon and Sylvie Verheyde

Producer  Olivier Kahn
Executive Producer Benjamin Hess 
Staring Nathalie Baye and Lyna Khoudri

Haute couture film 2021, Director Sylvie Ohayon, Star Nathalie Baye
Haute couture film 2021, Director Sylvie Ohayon, Star Nathalie Baye

The movie “Haute couture” is a story about workshops of the house of Dior. 
Dramatic comedy “Haute couture” is a fairytale praising Dior fashion house, and Haute Couture style which is no longer exists. Dior house today belongs to LVMH luxury group.

That’s what Dior fashion houses produces today under direction of artistic director Maria Grazia Chiuri:

CHRISTIAN DIOR Fall-Winter 2020-2021 Paris
CHRISTIAN DIOR Fall-Winter 2020-2021 Paris
Dior Spring Summer 2022 Men - Dior Cactus Jack Men by RUNWAY MAGAZINE
Dior Spring Summer 2022 Men – Dior Cactus Jack Men by RUNWAY MAGAZINE

Strangely enough November 24, 2021 another fashion brand releases the movie “House of Gucci”. Gucci brand belongs to long time competitor Kering Luxury group. Lady Gaga, Jared Leto, Adam Driver, Salma Hayek, Al Pacino, Tom Form – all great stars were gathered to play in this movie. But according to the critics and the preview this movie won’t have more success than “Haute Couture”, a very French, very socially oriented movie. 

Imaginary Dior House in the movie “Haute Couture” (gowns in the movie are not produced by Dior house):

Haute couture film 2021, Director Sylvie Ohayon, Star Nathalie Baye
Haute couture film 2021, Director Sylvie Ohayon, Star Nathalie Baye

“Haute Couture” story is almost like a Cinderella, but the girl was not actually hard working, or she was not extremely kind, she was a thief, she was stealing bags from the ladies in the metro, and still got rewarded for her “efforts”, she entered Dior Haute Couture fashion house.

There are many odds in this movie. Sylvie Ohayon  plunges into the world of the suburbs that inhabits her through the meeting of two women from underprivileged social classes. “I wanted to film the seamstresses at work and show that behind the magnificence, there are normal people who make magic,” explains director Sylvie Ohayon.Although imagining Dior house, atelier, dresses which no longer exist in this house won’t save the story.

Haute couture film 2021, Director Sylvie Ohayon, Star Nathalie Baye
Haute couture film 2021, Director Sylvie Ohayon, Star Nathalie Baye

The  characters express themselves in suburban banter and slang, and we might wonder if it is really appropriate in the Dior workshops. If haute couture is the backdrop of the film, it is not the center of the subject. The story is about human relationships between Esther and Jade.

Esther is at the end of her career as Head Seamstress at Dior Avenue Montaigne workshop (played by Nathalie Baye). One day she gets her handbag stolen in the metro by a 20 year old woman, Jade. In the evening she takes her RER (rapid transit system serving Paris and its suburbs) and returns to the solitude of her little suburban pavilion in Athis-Mons. Jade (played by Lyna Khoudri) is a 20 years old thief, who lives in the suburbs of Paris, and spends her days with her friend Souad  to steal in the metro.

Haute couture film 2021, Director Sylvie Ohayon, Star Nathalie Baye
Haute couture film 2021, Director Sylvie Ohayon, Star Nathalie Baye

And another impossible thing happened – Jade decided to return the bag to Esther. Angry but convinced that the young thief has a gift –  “with these hands, you could do pretty things” – , Esther offers her the chance to join the workshops of the Dior house and to pass on a profession.  She sees in her the opportunity to pass on her skills, the craft of dressmaking.

The meeting seems a bit “sewn up”, and many unanswered questions. Why is Jade returning the bag? And why does Esther agree, so easily, to take Jade on an internship at the workshop of Dior on avenue Montaigne where there are so many very valuable items? The film praising the non-existing Dior house by a non-possible story leaves all these questions unanswered.

The End. Dior and Gucci made the movies.



Posted from Paris, Le Marais, France.