Charles Frederic 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 1858eventually run until 1954 by four generations of familyliterally invented haute couture which featured individual tailoring and a steady stream of innovative new designs.From the Belle poque to the Roaring Twenties, the House of Worth was the first must-have designer label in history, worn by the worlds 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 hemlinesdeemed 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.