Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren bob Obam here with an episode from
Speaker 1: our podcasts archives. Not so long ago, clothing fashions came
Speaker 1: and went, but there was no such thing as fashion
Speaker 1: brands or designers. Today's classic delves into how all that
Speaker 1: changed due to one innovator in the eighteen hundreds. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren vog obam here. It's hard for me
Speaker 1: to imagine myself or most of my friends and neighbors,
Speaker 1: let alone someone like Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge,
Speaker 1: designing their own dresses. But that's what all women did
Speaker 1: as recently as the nineteenth century Royalty and common are alike.
Speaker 1: There had never been such a job as fashion designer.
Speaker 1: Then Charles Frederick Worth arrived on the seed and created
Speaker 1: literally translated it means high dressmaking, and the fashion design
Speaker 1: industry was born. Opator refers to garments created for a
Speaker 1: specific client. Ashion houses such as Chanelle and Christian Duore
Speaker 1: are official hook coutur establishments because they meet specific requirements,
Speaker 1: which include designing made to order clothes for private clients
Speaker 1: via more than one fitting, having a full time staff
Speaker 1: of at least fifteen and presenting collections of at least
Speaker 1: fifty original designs to the public twice annually. Worth came
Speaker 1: up with the idea of fashion designers and fashion houses
Speaker 1: in the middle of the nineteenth century. An Englishman born
Speaker 1: in eight Worth worked for textile merchants as a young adult,
Speaker 1: where he learned all about fabrics and dressmaking. He eventually
Speaker 1: relocated to Paris, where he secured a job with company
Speaker 1: that sold luxury textiles. Itching to design his own garments,
Speaker 1: Worth approached management with a novel idea, create a new
Speaker 1: department within the company dedicated to designing and producing dresses,
Speaker 1: and allow Worth to be the designer. It doesn't sound
Speaker 1: shocking today, but management bulked. Dressmakers were not well regarded
Speaker 1: back then and mail designers were virtually unheard of, but eventually,
Speaker 1: in eighteen one they agreed. Soon Worth was heralded as
Speaker 1: a talented tastemaker and clients sought his opinion on fashion.
Speaker 1: In eighteen fifty eight, Worth left the textile company and,
Speaker 1: together with Otto Beaubat, opened his own company, the Parisian
Speaker 1: based House of Worth. His designs typically featured lavish fabrics
Speaker 1: and trimmings. Not surprisingly, he also obsessed over proper fit. Soon, Worth,
Speaker 1: who considered himself an artist, began insisting clients accept his
Speaker 1: vision and designs even if they disagreed, although some deemed
Speaker 1: him a bit of a tyrant. Client's acquiesced and the
Speaker 1: profession of fashion designer as we know it today was born.
Speaker 1: Worth dissolved his partnership with Boubat in eighteen seventy one,
Speaker 1: and the House of Worth was solely his. By this time,
Speaker 1: he counted Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon the third, as
Speaker 1: one of his patrons. Her influence helped boost his career,
Speaker 1: and eventually he was dressing other prominent women of the day,
Speaker 1: including famed stage actor Sarah Bernhardt and opera star Nellie Melba.
Speaker 1: The Englishman's contributions to the field also include being one
Speaker 1: of the first fashion designers to sew his name into
Speaker 1: garments and to create maternity wear. Owen Worth died in
Speaker 1: eighteen sons Gaston Lucien and Jean Philippe took over the operation.
Speaker 1: At first business was good, but the powerful House of
Speaker 1: Worth began losing its footing during the twentieth century. The
Speaker 1: House of Paquin acquired the business in nineteen fifty and
Speaker 1: by nineteen fifty two. The Worth family was formally out
Speaker 1: of the business when Worth's great grandson Jean Charles retired,
Speaker 1: but the House of Worth wasn't quite dead. The business
Speaker 1: was bought and sold several more times over the years,
Speaker 1: resuming cotour operations in the late nineteen sixties and again
Speaker 1: in the early twentyeens. Many of Worth's garments are still
Speaker 1: around today, and fashion buffs can see them at museums
Speaker 1: all around the world, including the Costume Institute, which is
Speaker 1: part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as
Speaker 1: London's Vienna Museum and the Museum at f i t.
Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article who started Coutur
Speaker 1: on how Stuff Works dot com, written by Melanie rod
Speaker 1: Zekie McManus, an association with fashion historians April Callaghan and
Speaker 1: Cassidy Zachary of the podcast Dressed. To hear more about
Speaker 1: Worth and here from guest Highland Booker, lead designer for
Speaker 1: the Worth Fashion House in the late nineteen sixties, Tune
Speaker 1: into Dress this episode founding father of Oak Tour, Charles
Speaker 1: Frederick Worth, available wherever you find your podcasts. Brain Stuff
Speaker 1: is a production of our Heart Radio in partnership with
Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com and is produced by Tyler
Speaker 1: Playing or more podcasts My Heart Radio, visit the heart
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows.