Charles Worth “The father of haute couture” MacKenzie Brown Introduction to Fashion Business Kate Schaefer
MacKenzie Brown
History: Charles Frederick Worth was born in Bourne, Lincolnshire, England on October 13, 1825. He began his career as a clerk and apprentice for two textile merchants: gaining knowledge of fabrics and the dressmaking business. Worth also visited the National Gallery and similar collections to study historic portraits, which later provided inspiration for his own designs of masquerade costumes and fashionable ensembles. He later moved to Paris in 1845, where he found work with a firm that sold textile goods and ready-made garments, called Gagelin. He became the leading salesman and opened a small dressmaking department for the company. He eventually opened his own firm in 1858 with a business partner. (Krick) Charles Worth’s success as a designer was parall to the rise of Paris and France. During Napoleon III’s restoration of Paris into a stately capital and the location for many high-class occasions, the demand for luxury goods, fashionable garments, etc. were on an unfathomable level. Napoleon III’s wife, Empress Eugenie, ensured the success of Worth as a famous dressmaker, due the trends and style she set at court. (Krick.)
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Worth created one-of-a-kind designs for wealthy clients, as well as collections from which less wealthy clients ordered garments. He provided wardrobes that included morning, afternoon and evening dresses, as well as nightgowns, wedding gowns, masquerade ball gowns and even costumes worn by singers and actresses. (Katy) By the 1870’s, Charles Worth’s name and fame was spread through frequent appearances in fashion magazines. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Worth had succeeded in catapulting his design house into a enormous business, through his talent of design and promotion. After his death in 1895, Charles’ sons took over the business. Gaston-Lucien and Jean-Phillipe upheld their father’s high-standards and design aesthetics. The House of Worth was kept in family hands until 1952, when Charles’ great-grandson retired. (Krick)
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Signature Elements: Charles Worth’s designs are known for his integration of influences and elements of historic dress within his design. He paid in-depth attention to detail and fit, his use of lavish fabrics, rich trimmings and decoration such as lace, fringe. His contributions to design include the princess gown, ankle-length skirt, and the waist-less dresses. Beyond contributing to design, Worth changed the way garments were displayed to customers. He used live models to display is pieces and used fashion shows to reveal new designs and collections. Most of all, he is known for breaking into high fashion and “haute couture� and making it widely available to the masses, as well as mass-production of clothing and varying the construction of pieces. Charles Worth has contributed to the fashion industry in countless, majorly important ways.
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Demographic/Psychographic: Charles Worth’s garments appealed to women with these approximate demographics and psychographics: • Age 20-40 • Marital status: Married • Access to disposable income due to royal and aristocratic lifestyle • Location: Major city within countries such as Russia, Italy, Spain, Austria, America, etc.
Core Customer: Charles Worth’s garments appealed to women of high-class status. He designed his pieces with the needs of women in mind, making the dresses a hot commodity among women of royal and aristocratic status. He was soon creating pieces for the royalty of Russia, Italy, Spain and Austria, as well as Americans of fame and wealth. Clients willingly traveled to Paris in order to obtain House of Worth clothing.
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Reaching the Target Market: Worth utilized both his design and promotional skills to gain recognition among his target market. Word of mouth between women of royal and elite status catapulted him as a celebrity fashion designer. “The wife of the Austrian ambassador bought a dress from Worth that attracted the notice of the Empress of France.” (Fashion Encyclopedia. <http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/fashion_costume_culture/EuropeanCulture-19th-Century/Charles-Frederick-Worth-Industrializes-Fashion.html>.) By the 1870’s Charles Worth’s name appeared in fashion magazines frequently. With his aggressive self-promotion and talent Worth built his business, The House of Worth and created a strong consumer base.
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Product Price and Size Range: A specific price range cannot be pinpointed, however it is known that Worth catered mainly to consumers that obtained wealth as royalty, aristocrats, actresses, singers, etc. Therefore it is able to be assumed that his creations were sold at a high price. However, he did appeal to slightly middle class women as he created a collection from which they could choose a dress to have made for themselves. These pieces were made in mass-production so they could be sold for a slightly lower price. Charles Worthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dresses were made to fit. Women of wealth had the funds to order full wardrobes and one-of-a-kind pieces: each piece was made to fit their body specifically. Less wealthy women were able to choose from a collection of Worthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dresses and have the piece made for them. Worth was well known for the attention he paid to detail and fit.
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Dominant fiber/fabrication: Charles Worth utilized rich, lavish fabrics for his pieces. He adorned the garments with luxurious decorations such as fringe, lace, braid and pearls. Such fabrics and trimmings were used because Worthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design aesthetic was one of high-quality and luxury. During the time period, demand for luxury goods was at an all time high, making it possible for him to create and sell such garments.
Other Retailers Currently: Other retailers in present day that emulate and manufacture similar products are high-end retailers and designers such as Chanel, Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Louis Vuitton, Gianni Versace, Emilio Pucci,, etc. These designers offer both haute couture and ready-to-wear collections that are lavish and high quality, that are sold at a high price point.
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Designerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Presentation: Charles Worth as a designer as well as his presentation greatly captured my attention. He was one of the first designers to introduce the idea of using live models and fashion shows to present his garments and collections. Today, models and fashion shows are a huge part of the fashion industry and I find it fascinating that he is the founder of the concept.
Value or Quality: Charles Worth is known for his high quality, lavish garments. He utilized only the best fabrics and trimmings to create intricate and stunning garments for the wealth of the world. The House of Worth is a design house that goes down in history as the founder of haute couture and high fashion. It is apparent that Worth was a designer of extremely high quality.
Influencing other Designers and Historical Importance: Charles Worth has greatly impacted and influenced the fashion industry. As the father of haute couture, founder of the use of live models and fashion shows, founder of mass-production of clothing and much more he has contributed to the fashion world immensely. Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading high-end designers Charles Worth
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are influenced by his innovation and lavish creations, appealing to the wealthy, high-class customer. Charles Worth will always be known as the â&#x20AC;&#x153;father of haute coutureâ&#x20AC;? and for the multiple ground breaking contributions made during his time as a celebrity fashion designer of the nineteenth century.
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Article: FASHION
December 17, 2010
Giovanni Bedin Revitalizes a Heritage Brand By MELISSA GOLDSTEIN "I love Caravaggio," Italian designer Giovanni Bedin tells me, stretching the name, caramel-like, to five exaggerated syllables. "I love Bacon. And I love Damien Hirst," he says, pausing for the pay-off. "Are they related? Yes! No? Whatever." We are at the Mayfair Hotel in London, to discuss the coming debut in stores of Mr. Bedin's spring/summer 2011 ready-to-wear collection for the recently relaunched fashion house Worth, and the designer has presented this artistic paradox to illustrate his wide-ranging influences with regard to his collections. Charged with meeting the lofty standard set by the brand's legendary founder, Charles Frederick Worth, Mr. Bedin is simultaneously determined to pursue the modern.
StĂŠphane Remael for The Wall Street Journal Giovanni Bedin in the Louvre, Paris
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His opening statement for the house, the autumn/winter 2010-11 couture presentation, comprised corseted and tutued dresses overlaid with precious lace and embellished with rich embroideryâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the historical effects complemented by shapes that have, in recent years, returned to runways; big shoulders and minuscule waists. While the offerings were widely appraised as exquisite, not everyone deemed them to be wholly relevant, with Vogue pondering whether Mr. Bedin's presentation tilted too heavily to the side of homage, and lacked the designer's own 21stcentury personality. This tightrope walk between past and present, it seems, is among the trickier challenges for Mr. Bedin in revitalizing a heritage brandâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;or, in Chief Development Officer Martin McCarthy's words, mounting "a 150-year-old start-up." Founded in 1858 in Paris, the House of Worth is credited with originating haute couture, having introduced the sewing of labels into bespoke garments and presenting clients with personalized options from which to choose. The fate of the brand would unfold in a Shakespearean manner, passed down through four generations, which saw its internal splintering among the family into separate perfume and clothing businesses, followed by its acquisition by competitor Maison Paquin, before closing down entirely. Thanks to the efforts of fashion entrepreneur Mr. McCarthy (whose industry experience as a designer and creative director is wide ranging, including stints with Gianfranco Ferrè and BMW) and his business partner Dilesh Mehta (CEO of Shaneel Enterprises and a veteran of the perfume industry), who merged their Worth holdings in the early 2000s, the house is now again officially whole. Mr. Bedin's affinity for Worth's ornamentation, and his intuitive understanding of how to execute it, make him an ideal candidate for the post. "I'm very comfortable with this kind of universe. It comes very naturally to me," he says. "It has nothing to do with costumes," he adds, swatting away any notion that his couture designs are too "period" to resonate. "We work on 65 centimeter [length]...because I love to say so much in such a small proportion," he explains, adding, "I don't see anybody in the past wearing miniskirts. What I use of the archive is techniques...But the shapes are completely up to date."
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Though this year marked the start of what Mr. McCarthy calls "the full-on explosion of the House of Worth," the story technically resumed in 2003. "We decided to launch a very small lingerie line; it was a bit like a test," Mr. McCarthy says, adding candidly, "Not just for Worth, but also for Giovanni." To be clear, Mr. Bedin was no upstart designer for hire off the street. Born in Vicenza into a family whose business is tailoring (they're behind the eponymous line Bedin), he was cloaked in fashion from a young age: "There are a couple of pictures of me when I was 4 or 5 years old wearing a double-breasted, camel-hair coat," he notes. After studying at the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, Mr. Bedin worked for Karl Lagerfeld and Thierry Mugler before designing his own collection. Subsequently, he signed on with Worth. It was following the 2003 lingerie presentation that he received the ultimate nod of approval: the endorsement of the late Isabella Blow, the respected English magazine editor and style icon credited with discovering Alexander McQueen, among others. "Isabella told me once, 'I can take a pair of shoes and put some stones and a bow on them. You don't have to be a designer to do that,' and so this is always on my mind," he says. "I never use a fabric by itself: I do patchwork, mix fabrics together. I love when it looks simple; but, in a technical way, I love when it's tricky. It's the only way to protect the product." Mr. Bedin's 40-plus-piece ready-to-wear collection testifies to this commitment: A parade of cocktail frocks rendered in a subdued palette of blacks, grays, creams and whites, it revels in craftsmanshipâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;both from a construction standpoint (via fine boning and structured supports), as well as in finishing touches: lace frilling and ribboning, bejeweled buttons and hand-sewn detail throughout. "This idea of a hybrid: ready to wear but with this couture mentality; that's the secret ingredient," Mr. McCarthy says. Guarding his masterplan, Mr. Bedin is coy concerning the details of the way his vision will play out in the forthcoming autumn/winter collection, but speaks with alacrity about a recently discovered dress from the Worth archive called "Night and Day." The business plan is decidedly more forthright: Following the end-of-January debut in stores of
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the ready-to-wear line (which is being stocked by an elite selection of boutiques around the world: Browns in London, Joyce in Hong Kong, Podium in Moscow, and in the U.S.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;where the brand is sold as Courtworthâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;at Maxfield in Los Angeles and Blake in Chicago), Worth will focus its efforts toward its next big "statement": the autumn/winter 2011-12 presentation, which coincides with the relaunch of Worth couture lingerie at London Fashion Week in February. The rebirth culminates in 2013, when Worth will move its operations from Italy to the brand's spiritual home in Paris, and open its first dedicated retail space in the original Worth building. "In 50 years time we'll be judged for the actions we're taking now. It's an incredible responsibility," Mr. McCarthy says. But with the daunting task of reinterpreting the sacred comes the truism that fashion is, inherently, an ever-refreshing cycle of old-is-new again. The key, of course, is making it feel special and modern; something the House of Worth is banking its old-world-meets-worldly formula for success can accomplish.
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Bibliography: Krick, Jessa. "Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History." Charles Frederick Worth (1825Â 1895) and The House of Worth. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Web. 20 Apr. 2012. <http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/wrth/hd_wrth.htm>. Katy. "The Fashion Historian." Web log post. : Charles Frederick Worth. Blogger.com, 21 Mar. 2010. Web. 20 Apr. 2012. <http://thefashionhistorian.blogspot.com/2010/03/charles-frederick-worth.html>. "Fashion Encyclopedia." Charles Frederick Worth Industrializes Fashion. Advameg. Web. 20 Apr. 2012. <http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/fashion_costume_culture/EuropeanCulture-19th-Century/Charles-Frederick-Worth-Industrializes-Fashion.html>.
Photographs in Order of Appearance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_Frederick_Worth_(Mars_1895).jpg Krick, Jessa. "Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History." Charles Frederick Worth (1825Â 1895) and The House of Worth. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Web. 20 Apr. 2012. <http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/wrth/hd_wrth.htm>.
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