21 Handmade Couture Dresses That Are Mind-Blowingly Beautiful

The couture shows are currently wrapping up in Paris, and despite some surrounding drama (Valentino is now down one designer, if you haven’t heard), the real story, as always, is about the clothes.

Couture represents the height of fashion craftsmanship, and it showed in Givenchy’s and Zuhair Murad’s exquisitely hand-beaded designs, Valentino’s gowns that took 110 hours to paint by hand, and Iris van Herpen’s cocktail dress made of real blown-glass bubbles.

Even if you’ll never wear one (because, come on, who but Rihanna ever will), click ahead to see 21 stunning gowns that are the height of atelier art.

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