… and exact fit, the Worth design salon had special lighting that made his customers look beautiful.  Clients would make selections & have their measurements taken right there in the work rooms.  His fame and notoriety was unique to other designers who would travel to the clients’ homes for custom …

… several designs for the SEASON, rather than let the customer dictate the design has had been the previous dressmaking practice by himself and other designers. Worth would make a flamboyant introduction of the seasonal designs by putting them on live models who would show them in private sessions to …

…was a concept invented by Worth to sell more clothing to the wealthy and elite.  “Haute Couture” invented the term “costume” which dictated that each different function or activity should have it’s own “costume”. Worth encouraged wealthy women of all the European countries and the U.S. to make at least …

… including Sarah Bernhardt, Lillie Langtry, Jenny Linda, and Nellie Melba were Worth customers.  Not only did he design for royals, stage (and later screen), Parisian High Fashion designer Charles Worth also created special event pieces such as masquerade ball costumes and wedding dresses. (A Worth sketch of a masquerade …

… humorists, critics, and satirists had great fun with the crinolines.  Much of what we know today is through cartoons and satirical writing of those who wanted to comment on the huge hoops of the mid Victorian era, and Worth himself.  Some of the jokes were merited, as wearing a …

… looked to royals of all the countries plus the US.   In one such effort, after a successful sale to the wife of the Austrian ambassador so she could attract the notice of the Empress of France, Worth became Court Designer for Russia, Italy, Spain, & Austria as well as …

..worldwide, and the scale to which he did things – when the Suez Canal was finished in 1869, Empress Eugenie of France had Worth make her 250 dresses so she could attend the opening.   As the Second Empire of France (the Bourbons back on the throne after the Napoleon …

… came innovative designs and introductions of concepts from the crinoline into bustles, princess lines, and the later Titanic and WWI fashions.  Also out of Worth came the concepts of the runway fashion show and multiple shop sales. (Another Worth introduction, the “tournure” or metal bustle of 1885.. to be …

.. although it has been modified for multiple modern businesses. (Recent photo of the Worth Fashion House in Paris, France)

… a young Swede named Otto Gustaf Bobergh, and in 1858 the duo set up in business at 7 rue de la Paix, naming the establishment Worth and Bobergh.  The business stayed open even after his death under the ownership of his sons, and notable designer son Jean-Philippe Worth (which …