Haute couture is an industry focused on creating unique, high-quality clothing. What is its origin and history?
Haute couture, a term meaning “high sewing” in French, originated in Paris through the vision of an English gentleman. With the assistance of his wife, he succeeded in capturing the hearts—and wallets—of the wealthiest ladies in the French aristocracy, upper middle class, and beyond. Today, this industry is worth billions and caters primarily to the wealthiest 1% of the world’s population. Let’s explore the history of the legendary Charles Frederick Worth and his wife!
High fashion: a very special niche
Haute couture refers to high-quality garments that exemplify exceptional craftsmanship and represent the pinnacle of the fashion industry. Clothing in this category, designed by fashion house stylists, must meet specific standards set by the French Ministry of Industry and the Fédération Française de la Couture. These standards include four essential criteria that define haute couture.
A maison, which refers to a production company, must exclusively create made-to-measure clothing to hold the haute couture label. Each haute couture dress is unique and can be viewed as an actual non-fungible piece of art. Additionally, the maison must have an atelier in Paris with at least twenty full-time technical staff members. Lastly, it is required to present its collections twice a year, in January and July, showcasing a total of 50 original designs for both day and evening wear.
Rose Bertin was a French milliner who lived during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. She is regarded as the pioneer of haute couture for creating original custom-made dresses for Marie Antoinette, the wife of Louis XVI and Queen of France. However, the formal concept of haute couture is more accurately attributed to Charles Frederick Worth, who became prominent in Paris about thirty years later.
In any case, the high fashion industry, as you may have guessed, is based on the concept of scarcity—a principle that we at Young Platform adore, almost as much as the digital asset that best embodies it: Bitcoin. But back to us. The prices of the garments, which hover between tens and hundreds of thousands of euros, are justified precisely by their irreplicable nature, as well as by the infinite number of hours required for production – 150 for a simple dress, 1,000 (41 days) for a piece with delicate embroidery and finishing touches. Of course, the materials chosen also play a significant role in the final cost calculation.
High fashion: how, when and where?
As we have already mentioned, the invention of haute couture is attributed to Rose Bertin, who, however, cannot yet be called a ‘designer’ since this profession was not yet established after the French Revolution. And this is where our Charles Frederick Worth comes in: born in 1825 in Lincolnshire, England, he moved to London at the age of 13 and began working in an extensive fabric warehouse on the famous Regent Street, where he came into contact with the world of silk and fabrics. At the age of 20, in 1845, he moved to Paris, already the European centre – and not only – of fashion, where he worked as an assistant at the fabric boutique Gagelin. It was here that his life changed: it was his acquaintance with Marie Augustine Vernet, his future wife and inspirational muse, that made his breakthrough. But we will get there.
Worth proves to be an excellent salesman as well as a great fabric expert and has all the makings of a career. In fact, after five years, he became head of the tailoring department of the Gagelin boutique and, in 1853, an equal partner with the other two owners. Things seemed to be going well, but after a few years, the moment of break came: Worth was ready to strike out on his own and in 1858 opened his atelier at 7 rue de la Paix.
Charles Frederick Worth and Marie Augustine Vernet: Let the Revolution begin
Charles Frederick Worth and Marie Augustine Vernet, together, are the architects of a real revolution in the universe of fashion as it had been conceived until then. Charles was already a respected tailor in mid-nineteenth-century Paris, but the real turning point was the result of a move as shrewd as it was daring on the part of Marie Augustine. Aware of the power of word of mouth among high society women, the designer’s wife decides to sell two dresses to the Princess of Metternich at a ridiculous price – almost a gift. The princess chose to wear one of them to the ball at the Tuileries, the main venue of the Parisian elite. Her dress, beautiful and different from the usual, caught the attention of the most influential woman of the French jet set: Empress Eugénie de Montijo, wife of Napoleon III, Emperor of France from 1852 to 1870. Charles Worth, from then on, became the court tailor and official supplier to the Empress of France.
Charles Frederick Worth became the most important and popular stylist among the ladies of the Parisian Gotha and, with him, there was a clear reversal of perspective: whereas before it was the women, aristocratic or upper-class, who commissioned the textile artisans, choosing the fabrics and creating the models, now it was the stylist who proposed the clothes and, therefore, dictated the fashion.
Our Charles is also responsible for two of the most important innovations the fashion world has seen: the first concerns the division of collections according to season; the second refers to the use of ‘living models‘ rather than mannequins, as was traditional up to that time – his wife Marie is considered the first model in history. Charles Worth, in essence, invented fashion shows.
In 1868, he was one of the founders of the Syndicale de la Haute Couture (Chambre Syndicale de la Couture), a collective fashion decision-making body, of which today some 100 of the world’s most important fashion houses, including Balenciaga, Balmain, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Versace, are members. This apparatus also has the power to decide who can use the term ‘haute couture‘ and who cannot, based on compliance with the requirements we have mentioned.
Charles Frederick Worth died in 1895, and the administration of his maison, the House of Worth, passed into the hands of his wife Marie and son Gaston. The second son, Jean-Philippe, on the other hand, followed in his father’s artistic footsteps: in 1903, he created the famous Peacock Dress for Mary Victoria Curzon, wife of the Viceroy of India and therefore Viceress. The fashion house was officially sold to the French fashion house Paquin in 1953.
Haute couture on show: Charles Frederick Worth’s dresses at the Petit Palais in Paris
From 7 May to 7 September – we hypothesise that the choice of 7 is due to the street number where he opened his atelier, 7 rue de la Paix – in the splendid setting of the Petit Palais in Paris, the first exhibition dedicated to the inventor of haute couture and his House of Worth maison will take place. For the occasion, we are talking about more than 400 objects from the most important museums in the world, from the Palazzo Pitti in Florence to the Metropolitan in New York, passing through the Victoria and Albert in London: paintings, accessories and above all clothes designed and created by Charles Worth dating back to the historical period between the Second French Empire (1852-1870) and the first post-war period.
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