Maison Lesage

Embroidery If one name stands for couture handwork, it is Lesage. Albert and Marie-Louise Lesage took over the Michonet workshop in 1924, and the house made its reputation on avant-garde embroidery for Elsa Schiaparelli, who sent Lesage all her embroidery until she closed in 1954. François Lesage then carried it through Balenciaga, Balmain and Yves Saint Laurent. Start here because the house says it holds the largest heritage of embroidery samples in the world, and because its school, founded in 1992, trains much of the next generation. Chanel's partner since 1983, it joined the group outright in 2002, yet its work still shows up well beyond Chanel's runways.