The First Fashion Designer — Charles Frederick Worth & His Royal Clientele

Photograph of Charles Frederick Worth | Portrait of The Empress Eugénie (wearing one of Worth's designs), 1854, by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Karl Lagerfeld. Raf Simons. Marc Jacobs. Phoebe Philo…and so on goes the list of the leading fashion designers of today. If you are interested in the fashion industry you know these names, and even if you are just a casual observer of the fashion world chances are you can name off top designers. Whether you are deeply invested in the world of fashion or not you recognize the important role that fashion designer play in shaping trends and inspiring the very things you wear, no matter if they are from Target or Barney’s.

Did you know, however, that there was a time when fashion designers—and fashion brands, for that matter—were not a thing? It’s true! Back in the day there were no department stores to shop from, no all-important creative forces who dictated the trends du jour. Quelle horreur!  So who started this whole fashion designer thing? Who was the one to make that a trend?

For that answer, we turn (of course) to the city of Paris.

Born in England in 1825, Worth spent his early days working as an apprentice for London textile merchants, allowing him to study fabrics while also learning about the contemporary fashion industry. He moved to Paris in 1845 and worked for textile and clothing company Gagelin before beginning his own fashion house, The House of Worth. His success as a prominent fashion designer had much to do with his wealthy and elite patrons, many of whom were nobles and aristocrats.

Perhaps the most important patron for Worth was the Empress Eugénie, wife of Emperor Napoleon III (of the Second French Empire, not to be confused with the short guy who was defeated at Waterloo, according to ABBA). After the reinstatement of an Empire in France there was a heightened demand for luxury goods and extravagant fashions, and Worth was just the man to set the tastes of the French imperial court.

Empress Eugénie in Charles Frederick Worth Designs Portrait of the Empress Eugénie after Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1853 | Portrait of Eugénie de Montijo by Èdouard Louis Dubufe, 1853

Eugénie was known as a trendsetter and tastemaker. The things she wore influenced the entire French Empire, and she preferred the finer things in life. An article from the Chicago Daily Tribune describes her personal style: 

"The Empress usually wore velvet of rich, dark colors, which was particularly becoming to her exquisitely fair complexion…Everything she war was well made and perfectly neat; her hair was beautifully dressed; but, for instance, she liked the comfort of loose garibaldi bodices of red flannel, with a plain black silk skirt, over a red flannel underskirt, all of which was concealed, when she went out, by a handsome cloak and the fur coverings of the open carriages."

Worth’s lavish clothes, thus, were a perfect fit for Eugénie’s personal tastes in fashion, and her patronage ensured Worth’s popularity as a fashion designer in Europe and America. The initial meeting between Eugénie and Worth was the result of the most classic fashion scenario ever: at a ball hosted by the Emperor and Empress, Eugénie spotted a delightful dress on Princess Metternich of Vienna and asked, “Where did you get that!?” Instead of turning to the Emperor and whispering, “That is the ugliest effing dress I've ever seen” she genuinely liked it and demanded to meet the man responsible for such a creation, which happened to be Mr. Charles Frederick Worth! The rest is fashion history.

Dresses designed by Charles Frederick Worth, located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Worth became the main clothier of Eugénie—a daunting task, seeing as how Eugénie wore several outfits a day and could by no means be seen wearing the same thing twice—and helped to spread new trends throughout the world. When Eugénie appeared at the races without a shawl (why would she want to hide her fashionable dress beneath a scarf?) everyone else soon followed suit, ditching their shawls in order to show off their dresses. When Eugénie decided it was time for crinoline to go, Worth came up with an inventive new skirt silhouette and just like that, crinoline was a thing of the past. Together they influenced how the world dressed and helped to move fashion forward. They were a brilliant fashion team, with Eugénie’s powerful influence over the fashion world and Worth’s stubbornness that made his designs so unique. He took Eugénie’s input, but more often than not it was Worth’s designs and his vision that prevailed.

In addition to Eugénie, Worth dressed a number of influential aristocrats throughout Europe, including the aforementioned Princess Metternich as well as Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Louisa, Queen of Sweden, and Queen Maria Cristina of Spain.

Fancy dress costume illustrations found in the House of Worth Archives, now located at the Victoria & Albert Museum

While Worth was not the first man to create a fashion house or create fashion collections, he was the first notable designer who insisted on the autonomy of his designs. He took input from his clientele, but he placed his creative vision and his ability to design lovely clothes above the suggestions of patrons. Today we take the power of the fashion designer for granted; we full-heartedly accept the artistic vision of the designer when we buy clothes off the rack, but it was Worth who ultimately raised the status of the fashion designer from a simple dressmaker to an artistic visionary. Worth was also the first designer to sew his label into his garments, further asserting the importance of the designer.

Today we see an interlocking-C logo on a purse and we instantly assign value to it because we know that the brand Chanel means something. We admire the creative genius of Phoebe Philo of Céline for her ability to create innovative new styles season after season more than we applaud the outfit of a street style star wearing an item from the Céline collection. There’s an important relationship between designer and customer, artist and muse, but today it is the designer, the trendsetter, the tastemaker, who earns the most recognition, and rightly so. All of that is thanks to Charles Frederick Worth and the Empress who put him on the map.

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For more on Charles Frederick Worth and his relationship with Eugénie as well as his influence on fashion, I highly recommend the following articles:

"Remembering the Father of Haute Couture" by Lilah Ramzi, Fashionista.com

"Charles Frederick Worth (1825-1895) and The House of Worth" by Jessa Krick, The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

"Charles Frederick Worth, The Empress Eugénie and the Invention of Haute-Couture" by Courteaux Olivier, Napoleon.org.