An English-born founder of a Parisian fashion house that becomes the ultimate symbol of Parisian luxury, Charles Frederick Worth revolutionizes fashion history during the French Second Empire era by inventing haute-couture and elevating it to the status of art.
Born in 1825 in England into a modest family, he becomes, as a teenager, an apprentice at the London novelty store Swan & Edgar. This experience gives him a deep knowledge of fabrics, and he spends hours in the National Gallery, where historical portraits leave a lasting impression and will inspire many of his future designs.
1885
1890 – This costume which surprisingly bears Worth’s label, was cut from a man’s coat dating from around 1780. The original garment was adapted to a woman’s figure and transformed with the addition of a waistcoat, trimmings and boning
Worth arrives in Paris at the age of twenty. He works at Gagelin, a well-known textile and ready-to-wear clothing store located in the heart of the Parisian fashion world, on Richelieu street near the Palais-Royal. He quickly becomes the main salesman and opens a division dedicated to dressmaking. His creations, presented and awarded at the Universal Exhibitions in London (1851) and Paris (1855), draw attention to his talent – so much so that he opens his own couture house in 1858 at 7 Rue de la Paix, perfectly located between the Palais-Royal and the Tuileries palace, where the imperial court, led by Empress Eugénie, makes him a success.
The Empress appoints Worth as the official court designer, and this imperial patronage greatly boosts his reputation and ensures commercial success. His clientele includes members of the French aristocracy and Parisian high society, but his international reputation and English roots also attract wealthy clients from abroad, especially the US.
Jean Béraud – An evening – 1878
Louis Beroud – The Opera’s staircase – 1877
Empress Eugénie’s vest – 1858-1860
Winterhalter – The Empress Eugénie surrounded by her ladies in waiting – 1855
Worth’s approach to fashion design is revolutionary. Before him, the client chooses the fabric and the model, and the dressmaker simply follows instructions – as an artisan. Worth, on the other hand, imposes his own original creations, guided by artistic inspiration, asserting himself as an artist.
He launches seasonal collections with designs made in advance and presented in luxurious salons. He abandons the standard communication methods of the time – fashion magazine publications and dressed dolls sent to clients – in favor of live presentation by a “sosie” (look-alike), often his wife Marie, who showcases the garments in the salons at 7 Rue de la Paix. This innovation foreshadows modern fashion shows.
His collections change regularly, introducing the concept of seasonal Spring-Summer and Fall-Winter fashion as we know it today.
And since the artisan has become an artist, his dresses are signed like paintings, with the Worth label applied directly onto the garment.
Worth’s success skyrockets, and he becomes the master of the imperial feast: demand for luxury goods during the Second Empire reaches levels unseen since the French Revolution, and his couture house charges truly exorbitant prices.
A woman of high society changes outfits an average of four times a day. Her wardrobe includes indoor dresses for receiving guests, day dresses for outings, evening gowns, and coats for daytime or opera events.
Day dress – 1869
Evening dress – 1866-1867
Day dress – 1900
Wedding dress – 1878
Bodice – circa 1880
Vest – circa 1895
Opera coat – 1901
Evening dress – 1913
Each time of day requires a specific outfit, especially a particular bodice. The fast-paced social calendar demands quick changes, leading to the invention of “transformable dresses.” This allows women to keep the same crinoline and skirt throughout the day and simply change the bodice: a high-necked version for daywear, a low-cut one for evening balls, and a third, slightly lower-cut bodice for dinner or the theater. Additional elements, such as flower garlands, may be added to the skirt for a ball.
Wearing a Worth gown becomes a social marker (Zola even mentions the designer in The Kill, so does Edith Wharton in The Age of Innocence), and being painted or photographed in one becomes even more prestigious.
The Industrial Revolution enables Worth to launch machine-made lace, and the invention of synthetic dyes allows him to expand his color palette.
Worth soon dominates a profession grounded in artistic creation. From this point forward, top designers no longer consider themselves mere artisans – they are creators and artists.
Buoyed by his talent and success, Worth becomes selective with his clientele. While he visits imperial princesses at home, high-society women flock to 7 Rue de la Paix, ignoring social conventions. He refuses to serve social climbers or aristocrats who arrive uninvited or without an appointment, yet he gives life to the tastes of certain elite clients – the most famous being the Proustian Countess Greffulhe.
Countess Greffulhe in the fleur-de-lis dress by Nadar – 1896
The fleur-de-lis dress – 1896
The Russian cape of Countess Greffulhe – This majestic cape was cut by Worth from a ceremonial coat which Tsar Nicholas II has offered to Countess Greffulhe
Lady Curzon’s Court dress – circa 1900
Details of Lady Curzon’s Court dress – circa 1900
Worth’s style combines historicism, a taste for disguise, and decorative excess.
Ball costume – 1893
Ball costume – circa 1880
Ball costume – 1881
Yet he also anticipates social change by adapting his designs to the needs of his clients – for example, abandoning the enormous crinoline (ten meters in circumference in 1860!) in favor of the more practical bustle. His transformable dresses and early sportswear collections for seaside holidays reflect this adaptability.
Tea gown – circa 1895-1900
By the turn of the 20th century, more than ten thousand dresses, coats, and hats leave the Worth ateliers each year.
After Worth dies in 1895, his sons Gaston and Jean-Philippe, and later his grandsons Jacques and Jean-Charles, take over the couture house. Gaston hires Paul Poiret in 1901, but the partnership is short-lived, while Jacques and Jean-Charles venture into perfumery.
Evening dress – 1926
Evening dress – 1926
Evening dress – 1925
Evening dress – 1936
In 1924, the house releases its first perfume, Dans la Nuit, in a bottle designed by Lalique. Over twenty perfumes follow between 1924 and 1947, under a company specifically created for the Worth perfume brand – which still exists today.
The couture house, however, faces growing competition and is eventually acquired by the Paquin house in 1950, before closing in 1956. Since then, several attempts to revive the brand have taken place – with little success – the most recent collection dating back to 2013.
The exhibition proposed by the Parisian Petit Palais museum – that Belle Époque temple so perfectly in harmony with the dresses on display – until September 7, 2025, is the first dedicated to the inventor of haute-couture. Some dresses will never be placed on mannequins again, as their fabrics have become too fragile over the decades, their silks splitting under the weight of the gemstones. Such concern highlights the rare opportunity to admire them – these beautiful witnesses of both great and intimate History.
July 25, 2025
