Known as the “father of haute couture” and “the first couturier”, Charles Frederick Worth’s renown in the fashion industry remains consistent from the establishment of his fashion salon in 1858. Many garments made by Worth are housed by numbers of institutions, including the Costume Institute, The Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as evidences of Worth’s success in the fashion industry. Worth designed dress from prominent figures from all around the world, who would frequently visit the House of Worth to design their morning, afternoon, evening dresses, tea gowns, nightgowns, wedding dresses, masquerade ball, and even stage costumes. I speculate Worth’s success to his competence of making his costumer feel special
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His career life was revolutionary in several ways, but the most notable one would be Worth as the “father of haute couture”. As Milbank states, “before Worth, the idea of a dress being recognizably the work of its creator simply didn’t exist”. The process of making clothes were client-oriented before Worth. Clients would choose the design and the textiles, and dressmakers were there to follow clients’ orders. Dressmakers would visit the clients’ houses for consultations. However, Worth created the salon, “House of Worth” for the clients to visit the designer, and sewed the branded labels to his work, being the first person to use brand logo on clothing. Worth did not design his clothes only following the requests of his customers. Rather, considering his dresses as art pieces, he prepared his clothes based on his intuition on the best design for his customers. He used live models to advertise his dresses, and these models are told as the first fashion models. To see the fashion shows and consult the designs with Worth, clients had to regularly visit the House of Worth, naturally making House of Worth a high society meeting point. Even though this haute couture system was not run only by Worth, Worth aggressively self-promotioned himself through these methods. Therefore, it was not only the Worth’s dresses but Worth as a designer that became known in the …show more content…
His unique designs were good fits to the European taste of age. Naopleon III devoted his life into modernizing and luxuriating Paris to revitalize French economy, and thus as Krick states, “the demand for the luxury goods, including textiles and fashionable dress, reached levels that had not been since before the French Revolution”. This social mood matched with lavish, luxurious designs of Worth. As De Marley analyses, Worth used “Worth offered a new approach to the creation of couture dresses, offering a plethora of fabrics and expertise in tailoring”. Taking the picture entered above just for a quick reference, the wedding dress is made with velvet, lace, silk satin, net and faux pearls, providing an example of the taste of Worth’s designs. His dresses were not only beautiful but unique, providing one-of-a kind for each customers. To deal with the overwhelming number of clients, Worth created one-of-a kind pieces only for the most important customers, but prepared various designs for the other customers to choose from. They would see the designs worn by the models, choose one, and alter it little bit based on ones’ tastes and have it tailored at the House of Worth. This way, all customers could feel unique and special, with their one-of-a-kind Worth
His career life was revolutionary in several ways, but the most notable one would be Worth as the “father of haute couture”. As Milbank states, “before Worth, the idea of a dress being recognizably the work of its creator simply didn’t exist”. The process of making clothes were client-oriented before Worth. Clients would choose the design and the textiles, and dressmakers were there to follow clients’ orders. Dressmakers would visit the clients’ houses for consultations. However, Worth created the salon, “House of Worth” for the clients to visit the designer, and sewed the branded labels to his work, being the first person to use brand logo on clothing. Worth did not design his clothes only following the requests of his customers. Rather, considering his dresses as art pieces, he prepared his clothes based on his intuition on the best design for his customers. He used live models to advertise his dresses, and these models are told as the first fashion models. To see the fashion shows and consult the designs with Worth, clients had to regularly visit the House of Worth, naturally making House of Worth a high society meeting point. Even though this haute couture system was not run only by Worth, Worth aggressively self-promotioned himself through these methods. Therefore, it was not only the Worth’s dresses but Worth as a designer that became known in the …show more content…
His unique designs were good fits to the European taste of age. Naopleon III devoted his life into modernizing and luxuriating Paris to revitalize French economy, and thus as Krick states, “the demand for the luxury goods, including textiles and fashionable dress, reached levels that had not been since before the French Revolution”. This social mood matched with lavish, luxurious designs of Worth. As De Marley analyses, Worth used “Worth offered a new approach to the creation of couture dresses, offering a plethora of fabrics and expertise in tailoring”. Taking the picture entered above just for a quick reference, the wedding dress is made with velvet, lace, silk satin, net and faux pearls, providing an example of the taste of Worth’s designs. His dresses were not only beautiful but unique, providing one-of-a kind for each customers. To deal with the overwhelming number of clients, Worth created one-of-a kind pieces only for the most important customers, but prepared various designs for the other customers to choose from. They would see the designs worn by the models, choose one, and alter it little bit based on ones’ tastes and have it tailored at the House of Worth. This way, all customers could feel unique and special, with their one-of-a-kind Worth