LAS Group slide show - Victorian Era

1. The Dream Team

2.  THE BEGINNING
◦ Born into wealthy family, father a
lawyer and mother came from
wealthy family
◦ Father was a gambler though and
became an alcoholic which led to
constant gambling
◦ Forced Charles to start working and
living on own!
◦ First job was at a printer = hate!
◦ Found job working in textiles =
LOVE!!

3.  Paris
◦ Got a job at the department store Gagelins
◦ Met his wife Marie Vernet (an accessory model) here
◦ Ended up becoming a dress maker at Gagelins
◦ Proposal of pre-made dresses = declined

4.  New Beginning
◦ Became the French couturier after leaving Gagelins
◦ Opened his shop on Rue da la Paix
 Hired the best seamstresses in the business

5.  Crinoline
◦ Some believe he invented
but others think he just
perfected it… we will never
know which one is right
◦ What made Worth’s crinoline
design different?
 He made the dresses from
expensive fabric –
silk, satin, lace
 Very detailed design
◦ Just as fast as he brought it
into style Worth brought the
End of Crinoline

7.  Worth never really liked the crinoline and
looked for ways to “dethrone” it as he said.
 Just as fast as he brought it into style Worth
brought the End of Crinoline
 Princess
◦ Not nearly as big as crinoline
◦ More practical
◦ Did not require women to wear as many
undergarments
 “Age of Worth”
◦ Became famous so quickly that the 1860’s are now
know as this.

9.  Bustle
◦ Not as big as crinoline
(about size of Princess)
◦ More practical
◦ Required to not wear as
many undergarments
◦ Lighter = cheaper to make
◦ Easy to make different
designs

10.  Half-crinoline was brought into style.
 This dress is a mixture of the previous 3
dresses in a way.
◦ Not nearly as big as crinoline but is larger than the
princess or bustle
◦ Much more practical
◦ Women had to wear as many undergarments still
though.
◦ Was not nearly as practical as the Princess dress.

12.  Made designers dresses more affordable to
not just the upper-class
◦ Even though most of his clients were of this
 Dresses seemed to emphasis the female body
in new ways...
 After Charles Worth’s death his shop was
continued to be ran by his sons. Plus many of
his contributions have influenced style today.

13.  Slide 2: N/A. Charles Frederick Worth Adult. Sublime. Web.
13 Dec. 2011
 Slide 4: N/A. Worth’s Store in Paris. Rdujour. Web. 13 Dec.
2011
 Slide 5: N/A. Purple Crinoline. 1865. Metropolitan Museum
of Art , New York. Artstor. Web. 13 Dec. 2011.
 Slide 6:N/A. Orange Crinoline. 1868. Metropolitan
Museum of Art , New York. Artstor. Web. 13 Dec. 2011.
 Slide 8: N/A. Gold Princess Dress. 1887. Metropolitan
Museum of Art , New York. Artstor. Web. 13 Dec. 2011.
 Slide 9: N/A. Gold Bustle . 1888. Metropolitan Museum of
Art , New York. Artstor. Web. 13 Dec. 2011.
 Slide 11: N/A. Half Crinoline w/ train. 1888. Metropolitan
Museum of Art , New York. Artstor. Web. 13 Dec. 2011.

14.  He is considered the father of Haute Couture-
high fashion
 He was at the top among French Designers
 He was known all around for his work
 Many of his contributions have influenced the
fashion world today

15.  In the latter half of the 19th Century, much
like today, the clothing a woman wore were
crucial to establishing and retaining social
status. Therefore their wardrobe was
extensive.
 Charles Frederick Worth created gowns for
every occasion.

18.  Worth was the first designer
to create high fashion gowns
that cater to pregnant woman.
 Today’s high fashion
designers design maternity
clothing and often make
custom pieces for pregnant
women.

20.  Charles Frederick Worth was the first fashion
designer to organize and show an entire
collection of dresses to a client in advance.
 This is still practiced today, and is even seen
in movies like “The Devil Wears Prada.”

22.  Just about every piece of clothing found today
has a tag on the inside with the name of the
designer of the store it came from. This
concept was adopted from Charles Frederick
Worth. He was the first designer to sign his
name to his work by using a label.

24.  Charles Frederick Worth’s work even inspired
a new couture line that debuted in 2011.

25.  http://www.fashionwindows.net/2010/03/worth-haute-couture-spring-
2010/
 http://ckhall.com/inspirations.htm
 http://forums.thefashionspot.com/f116/1825-1895-charles-frederick-
worth-27982-6.html
 http://myhatbox.wordpress.com/2011/04/26/the-house-of-worth/
 http://www.stylehive.com/bookmark/item-20074-charles-frederick-worth-
trained-ball-gown-1890s-at-heavenofgownscom-14900-item-ref-20074-
the-most-grand-of-all-ball-and-evening-gowns-ever-to-be-presented-or-
offered-on-the-open-109374
 http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1994.462a,b
 http://monjio.tumblr.com/post/244556484/charles-frederick-worth-via-
chicago-history
 http://www.zimbio.com/100+Most+Influential+People+in+Fashion/articles/
220/Fashion+Influential+46+Charles+F+Worth

26.  However, some
people, like Oscar
Wilde, were less
attracted to the
practical elegance of
Worth’s designs, and
more interested in an
overly aesthetic
fashion.

27.  Oscar Wilde was born October 16, 1854 to Sir
William Wilde, a well- renowned doctor, and
Jane Francesca Elgee, a respected poet and
journalist, in Dublin, Ireland.

28.  He was raised in a more upper class family
then he would end up living in as a writer
 Oscar Wilde was ridiculed by his detractors
for his eccentric and foppish clothing, which
reflected what was known as Victorian
Dandyism.
 The Dandyism movement was intended to
elevate the artificial above the natural.

30.  Wore clothes almost as a parody of the upper
class.
 Essentially a modern day hipster
 Obsessed with personal appearance
 The opening lines of Oscar Wilde's "Phrases
and Philosophies for the Use of the Young"
(1894) state, "The first duty in life is to be as
artificial as possible,"

31.  His obsession with the aesthetic self, and
remaining unmoved by criticism of his attire
creates a very specific picture of the man that
we continue to see in modern day dandies

32.  Slide 27: Oscar Wilde. N.d. Photograph.
Britlit WikiWeb. 5 Dec 2011.
<http://britlitwiki.wikispaces.com/file/view
/Oscar_Wilde_(1854-
1900)_188_unknown_photographer.jpg>.
 Slide 29: Cludon, David. The World of Oscar
Wilde. David, Sept. Web. 5 Dec 2011.
<http://www.gallimauphry.com/PD/wilde/
wilde.html>.