Charles Frederick Worth

Charles Frederick Worth
Born(1825-10-13)13 October 1825
Bourne, Lincolnshire, England
Died10 March 1895(1895-03-10) (aged 69)
Paris, France
OccupationFashion designer
Known forCreating haute couture
LabelHouse of Worth
SpouseMarie Augustine Vernet (1825–1898)[1]
ChildrenGaston Lucien, Jean Philippe[1]
Parent(s)William Worth and Ann Worth, née Quincey[1][2]
RelativesJean-Claude Pascal (great-great grandson)[3]

Charles Frederick Worth (13 October 1825 – 10 March 1895) was an English fashion designer who founded the House of Worth, one of the foremost fashion houses of the 19th and early 20th centuries. He is considered by many fashion historians to be the father of haute couture.[4][5] Worth is also credited with revolutionising the business of fashion.

Established in Paris in 1858, his fashion salon soon attracted European royalty, and where they led monied society followed. An innovative designer, he adapted 19th-century dress to make it more suited to everyday life, with some changes said to be at the request of his most prestigious client Empress Eugénie. He was the first to replace the fashion dolls with live models in order to promote his garments to clients, and to sew branded labels into his clothing; almost all clients visited his salon for a consultation and fitting – thereby turning the House of Worth into a society meeting point. By the end of his career, his fashion house employed 1,200 people and its impact on fashion taste was far-reaching. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has said that his "aggressive self-promotion" earned him the title of the first couturier. Certainly, by 1870, his name was not just known in court circles, but appeared in women's magazines that were read by wide society.[6] He is credited with inventing the hoop skirt and the bustle.[7]

Worth raised the status of dressmaking so that the designer-maker also became arbiter of what women should be wearing. Writing on the history of fashion and, in particular, dandyism, in 2002, George Walden said: "Charles Frederick Worth dictated fashion in France a century and a half before Galliano".[8]

  1. ^ a b c Breward, Christopher (2000). "Worth, Charles Frederick". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 60. Oxford University Press. pp. 351–352. ISBN 0198614101.
  2. ^ Marriage certificate, Horbling, 2 December 1816, and other primary sources; A Portrait of Bourne by Rex Needle (2014), section "The family background of Charles Frederick Worth" ; note that de Marly, p.2 is incorrect.
  3. ^ "Charles Frederick Worth, le "père de la haute couture"". Jean-Claude Pascal, Portrait (in French). 25 December 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  4. ^ Jacqueline C. Kent (2003). Business Builders in Fashion – Charles Frederick Worth – The Father of Haute Couture The Oliver Press, Inc., 2003
  5. ^ Claire B. Shaeffer (2001). Couture sewing techniques "Originating in mid- 19th-century Paris with the designs of an Englishman named Charles Frederick Worth, haute couture represents an archaic tradition of creating garments by hand with painstaking care and precision". Taunton Press, 2001
  6. ^ "Charles Frederick Worth (1825–95) and the House of Worth". metmuseum.org. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
  7. ^ Schiro, Anne-Marie (20 October 1982). "GOWNS BY WORTH: GILDED AGE'S OPULENCE". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
  8. ^ Walden, George; Howard, Philip (28 September 2002). "Fine and Dandy". The Times. No. 67568.