Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from how stuff works. Hey, brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, it's hard for me to imagine myself
Speaker 1: or most of my friends and neighbors, let alone someone
Speaker 1: like Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, designing their own dresses.
Speaker 1: But that's what all women did. As recently as the
Speaker 1: nineteenth century, royalty and commoner alike, there had never been
Speaker 1: such a job as fashion designer. Then Charles Frederick Worth
Speaker 1: arrived on the seed and created old coutour literally translated,
Speaker 1: it means high dressmaking, and the fashion design industry was born.
Speaker 1: Old coator refers to garments created for a specific client.
Speaker 1: Fashion houses such as Chanelle and Christian Dre are official
Speaker 1: coatur establishments because they meet specific requirements, which include designing
Speaker 1: made to order clothes for private clients via more than
Speaker 1: one fitting, having a full time staff of at least fifteen,
Speaker 1: and presenting collections of at least fifty original designs to
Speaker 1: the public twice annually. Worth came up with the idea
Speaker 1: of fashion designers and fashion houses in the middle of
Speaker 1: the nineteenth century. An Englishman born in eighteen five, Worth
Speaker 1: worked for textile merchants as a young adult, where he
Speaker 1: learned all about fabrics and dressmaking. He eventually relocated to Paris,
Speaker 1: where he secured a job with company that sold luxury textiles.
Speaker 1: Itching to design his own garments, Worth approached management with
Speaker 1: a novel idea, create a new department within the company
Speaker 1: dedicated to designing and producing dresses, and allow Worth to
Speaker 1: be the designer. It doesn't sound shocking today, but management bulked.
Speaker 1: Dressmakers were not well regarded back then, and mail designers
Speaker 1: were virtually unheard of, but eventually, in eighteen fifty one,
Speaker 1: they agreed. Soon Worth was heralded as a talented tastemaker
Speaker 1: and clients sought his opinion on fashion. In eighteen fifty eight,
Speaker 1: Worth left the textile company and, together with Otto Baubat,
Speaker 1: opened his own company, the Parisian based House of Worth.
Speaker 1: His designs typically featured lavish fabrics and trimmings. Not surprisingly,
Speaker 1: he also obsessed over proper fit. Soon Orth, who considered
Speaker 1: himself an artist, began insisting clients accept his vision and
Speaker 1: designs even if they disagreed. Although some deemed him a
Speaker 1: bit of a tyrant. Client's acquiesced, and the profession of
Speaker 1: fashion designer as we know it today was born. Worth
Speaker 1: dissolved his partnership with Boulbairt in eighteen seventy one, and
Speaker 1: 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. Ohen Worth died in
Speaker 1: eighteen ninety five. Sons Gauston, Lucien and Jean Philippe took
Speaker 1: over the operation. At first business was good, but the
Speaker 1: powerful House of Worth began losing its footing during the
Speaker 1: twentieth century. The House of Paklin acquired the business in
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty, and by nineteen fifty two the Worth family
Speaker 1: was formally out of the business when Worth's great grandson
Speaker 1: Jean Charles retired, but the House of Worth wasn't quite dead.
Speaker 1: The business was bought and sold several more times over
Speaker 1: the years, resuming cotour operations in the late nineteen sixties
Speaker 1: and again in the early twenty teens. Many of Worth's
Speaker 1: garments are still around today, and fashion buffs can see
Speaker 1: them at museums all around the world, including the Costume Institute,
Speaker 1: which is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as
Speaker 1: well as London's Vienna Museum and the Museum at f
Speaker 1: i T. Today's episode was written by Melanie red Zki
Speaker 1: McManus and produced by Tyler Clang in association with fashion
Speaker 1: historians April Callaghan and Cassidy Zachary of the podcast Dressed
Speaker 1: to hear more about Worth and here from guest Highland Booker,
Speaker 1: lead designer for the Worth Fashion House in the late
Speaker 1: nineteen sixties. Tune into Dresss episode Founding Father of oaktre
Speaker 1: Charles is Frederick Worth. Available on Apple Podcasts or wherever
Speaker 1: you find your podcasts, and of course, for lots more
Speaker 1: on this and lots of other smart topics, visit our
Speaker 1: home planet, how Stuff Works dot com.