Prior to Chloé's launch, luxury fashion houses had only ever produced Haute Couture (i.e. made-to-measure) clothing. This was fine for the few who could afford it, but it left everyone else in frequently poorly-made copies, supplied by the local seamstress.

Chloé's creator, Gaby Aghion, rejecting the stiff formality of 1950s fashion (and sensing a gap in the market), decided to create a line of off the rack, high quality, soft, body conscious clothes from fine fabrics, which she called 'luxury prêt-à-porter' and thus, the Prêt-à-Porter (Ready-To-Wear) market we know today, was born.
The couturiers quickly followed suit (the first being Givenchy, with their 1956 Ready-to-Wear collection; 'Givenchy University') and today, designer ready-to-wear heavily outweighs couture.