Couture Fashion week Fall 2015

Hiatus drawn back by Charles Frederick Worth and couture week

so as some of you may know couture week was recently shown and my need for following every millisecond has prompted me to come back from this hiatus, with a solemn declaration never to leave without so much as a bye or leave

for those who don’t know am I also a dress designer and couture week is my porn

the intricate embroiders the pattern cutting skills..ahhhhh I revel in it

Following on from my piece during last couture season here I wanted to explore its origins

Couture in Paris was actually started by English man from Lincolnshire. His name was Chalrles Fredrick Worth

He started out working in textile mills in London before moving to the bright light of the fashion capital Paris, here he started to hone his skills working for Gagelin selling textile and making some ready to wear garments, 

he worked his way up to head of sales and opening a bespoke dress making service, cementing his reputation for dressmaking

the time was ripe for him to venture out on his own.

Napoleon the third had just become emperor and his wife Eugénie de Montijo who was a fashion icon 

The majority of her orders for extravagant evening wear, court dresses, and masquerade costumes. She had him on call constantly to create dresses for events she attended.   

As an example of the scale of Worth's business with the Empress, for the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, she had decided she needed 250 Worth dresses. Apart from Empress Eugénie, he had numerous other royal clients, including Empress Elisabeth of Austria.

Charles Frederick Worth’s dresses were known for their lavish fabrics and trimmings and for incorporating elements from period dress. He created unique pieces for his most important clients, 

but also prepared a variety of designs, showcased by live models, that could then be tailored to the client's requirements in his workshop

Worth created a straight gown shape without a defined waist that became known as the princess line. do to impracticalities of the crinoline skirt, which made it difficult for women to manage even the most basic activities, such as walking through doors, or sitting

Worth died in 1895 of pneumonia aged 69

Worth's legacy is his marketing and making of garments would shape the Haute couture industry that followed. Before Worth, the idea of a dress being recognizably the work of its creator didn't exist