An Englishman opens a fashion house in Paris.

The fashion house carves out a niche known as haute culture, ‘high sewing’, or exclusive high quality custom-fitting apparel.

He then “unionizes” the industry by gathering other fashion houses together to avoid their designs being copied without approval.

Today, that group of houses still exists and is known as the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode.

They acts as an elite authority, similar to the Michelin Guide in fine dining, determining which fashion houses meet the strict criteria to be officially recognized as haute couture.

Hierarchy makes its way everywhere.