Au Cœur des Maisons de Couture

The fame of the great French fashion houses and the 'French know-how' is well known: Chanel, Dior, Givenchy, Yves Saint-Laurent, etc. These are names that everyone has heard thousands of times. What we know less, however, are the realities of work and the backstage of an industry that we know, without really being interested, that it has relied and still relies on 'little hands'.

But who were they? From the midinettes of the Great War to the textile workers on strike in the spring of 1968, where did these workers come from? What was their work? Where did they live? In what material conditions? With what leisure activities, and what aspirations? Sophie Kurkdjian and Sandrine Tinturier invite us to meet these excellent workers, based on the archives, and show us an unknown and often surprising universe. In this social history of fashion workers, the social history of an early unionized and militant profession, the history of techniques, and the cultural history of one of the jewels in the crown of the country's image abroad are all intertwined.