Charles Frederick Worth

The Fashion World

Who is Charles Frederick Worth? Have you ever heard of him? How is he connected to “The Fashion World”?

Charles Frederick Worth was born on 13th October, 1825, in Bourne, Lincolnshire, to William and Ann Worth. William was a solicitor who was described as a “dissolute” and who ruined the family financially, eventually leaving Ann without financial support and impoverished. Charles went out to work at eleven years of age at a printer’s shop. When a year had passed by, he moved to London to become an apprentice at the Swan & Edgar department store in Piccadilly. Seven years later, the leading British textile store, Lewis & Allenby, employed Charles.

Charles moved to Paris in 1846, with just £5 in his pocket and speaking no French. He became employed as a sales assistant at Gagelin-Opigez & Cie in 1852, the same year his mother, Ann, died in Highgate, London. Gagelin-Opigez & Cie was a prestigious Parisian firm that sold silk fabrics to the Court dressmakers, and they also supplied Cashmere shawls (which was an ubiquitous accessory) and ready-made mantels. Here Charles met his wife Marie Vernet in 1851. Charles started to sew dresses to compliment the shawls at Gagelin. His expert tailoring impressed the store’s clients and eventually Charles was allowed to open a dress department and this was Charles’ first official entrance into the world of dressmaking.

An article in The Times stated: “The young Worth, full of ideas, was having such a success at Gagelin’s that it was felt…