Editing Culture of France (section)

===Fashion===
{{Main|French fashion}}
[[File:Channel headquarters bordercropped.jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=Chanel's headquarters storefront window at the Place Vendôme Paris with awning|[[Chanel]]'s headquarters on [[Place Vendôme]], Paris]]

Along with Milan, London and New York, Paris is center of an important number of fashion shows. Some of the world's biggest fashion houses (e.g. [[Chanel]]) have their headquarters in France.

The association of France with fashion ({{lang|fr|la mode}}) dates largely to the reign of [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]]<ref>Kelly, 101. DeJean, chapters 2–4.</ref> when the luxury goods industries in France came increasingly under royal control and the French royal court became, arguably, the arbiter of taste and style in Europe. France renewed its dominance of the high fashion ({{lang|fr|couture}} or {{lang|fr|haute couture}}) industry in the years 1860–1960 through the establishing of the great [[couturier]] houses, the fashion press (''[[Vogue (magazine)|Vogue]]'' was founded in 1892; ''[[Elle (magazine)|Elle]]'' was founded in 1945) and [[fashion shows]]. The first modern Parisian couturier house is generally considered the work of the Englishman [[Charles Frederick Worth]] who dominated the industry from 1858 to 1895.<ref>Kelly, 101.</ref> In the early twentieth century, the industry expanded through such Parisian fashion houses as the house of [[Chanel]] (which first came to prominence in 1925) and [[Balenciaga]] (founded by a Spaniard in 1937). In the post-war years, fashion returned to prominence through [[Christian Dior]]'s famous "new look" in 1947, and through the houses of [[Pierre Balmain]] and [[Hubert de Givenchy]] (opened in 1952). In the 1960s, "high fashion" came under criticism from France's youth culture while designers like [[Yves Saint Laurent (designer)|Yves Saint Laurent]] broke with established high fashion norms by launching ''[[prêt-à-porter]]'' ("ready to wear") lines and expanding French fashion into mass manufacturing and marketing.<ref>Dauncey, 195.</ref> Further innovations were carried out by [[Paco Rabanne]] and [[Pierre Cardin]]. With a greater focus on marketing and manufacturing, new trends were established in the 1970s and 1980s by [[Sonia Rykiel]], [[Thierry Mugler]], [[Claude Montana]], [[Jean Paul Gaultier]] and [[Christian Lacroix]]. The 1990s saw a conglomeration of many French couture houses under luxury giants and multinationals such as [[LVMH]].

Since the 1960s, France's fashion industry has come under increasing competition from London, New York, Milan and Tokyo, and the French have increasingly adopted foreign (particularly American) fashions (such as jeans, tennis shoes). Nevertheless, many foreign designers still seek to make their careers in France.