Charles Frederick Worth

Born in Bourne, Lincolnshire, England, Worth made his mark in the French fashion industry. He worked at several prosperous London drapery shops before moving to Paris in 1846. He was hired by Gagelin and Opigez, well-known Parisian drapers. While working in their shop, he married one of the firm's models, Marie Vernet. Marie would model shawls and bonnets for prospective customers. Worth made a few simple dresses for his wife and customers started to ask for copies of the dresses as well.
Worth gave his customers luxurious materials and meticulous fit. Rather than let the customer dictate the design, as had previously been dressmaking practice, four times a year he displayed model dresses at fashion shows. His patronesses would pick a model, which would then be sewn in fabrics of their choice and tailored to their figure. Worth was sufficiently fashionable that he had to turn away customers. This only added to his éclat. He completely revolutionized the business of dressmaking. He was the first of the couturiers, dressmakers considered artists rather than mere artisans.
Metromuseum
CHARLES FREDERICK WORTH (1825-1895), the famous dressmaker, was born at Bourne, Lincolnshire, in. 1825. His father, a country solicitor, having lost his money in speculation, Charles was sent to London as an apprentice to Swan & Edgar, drapers. Thence, in 1846, he went to Paris, without capital or friends, and after twelve years in a wholesale silk house he began business as a dressmaker in partnership with a Swede named Dobergh. His originality and skill in design won the patronage of the empress Eugenie, and, through her, of fashionable Paris. After the Franco-German War, during which he turned his house into a military hospital, his partner retired, and Worth continued the business, which employed 1200 hands, with his two sons John and Gaston - both naturalized Frenchmen. For more than thirty years he set the taste and ordained the fashions of Paris, and extended his sway over all the civilized and much of the uncivilized world. He died on the 10th of March 1895.