Charles Frederick Worth (Inventing Haute Couture)

This is the first fully comprehensive book in many years about the trailblazing designer who created the very concept of fashion as we know it.

The Paris fashion house Worth founded in 1858—eventually run until 1954 by four generations of family—literally invented haute couture which featured individual tailoring and a steady stream of innovative new designs. From the Belle Époque to the Roaring Twenties, the House of Worth was the first must-have designer label in history, worn by the world’s most stylish women. 

Known for lavish fabrics and trimmings, his innovations liberated women from restrictive clothing. He transformed the bulky crinoline, invented the flowing princess line dress, and later shortened hemlines—deemed shocking at first yet quickly adopted as more comfortable. His designs were the first to be showcased by live models rather than on mannequins, thus inventing the fashion catwalk. He was also the first to design maternity and sportswear.  

This impressive, lavishly illustrated monograph—originally released in French to coincide with a major retrospective at the Palais Galliera in Paris and now available in English—features an array of astonishingly beautiful garments and ensembles, many of which are published here for the first time. 

This book also covers the younger generations. Grandson Jacques released the house’s first perfume with Dans la Nuit in a bottle designed by René Lalique.