#charles frederick worth

Worth Gowns

I feel like every single dress historian has tackled the topic of Worth gowns at some point so let me be no different. I keep seeing so many people wanting to make one themselves and looking to find their Worth gown that I wondered, maybe I can do that too.

Obviously, I’m by far not as skilled as all of these other amazing, talented artists (I mean, just look at Cathy Hay recreating the Peacock Dress) but maybe once I’ve made some Victorian gowns I’ll get the hang of it and maybe, I’ll feel like I can do it.

But today I sat down and thought I could make it a mission to look at photos of as many Worth gowns as I could possibly find and maybe find one for a future project.

But first, if you’ve never heard of Charles Frederick Worth, he’s basically the father of haute couture and the first fashion designer in the modern sense. He founded the House of Worth which existed from 1858 up until 1956. Worth gowns have the name Worth stitched onto the inside of the waistband either like this

or like this

For now, I just looked through the collection of the Met Museum but there are still sooo many more gowns to find.

So now I would like to present to you some of my favorites and/or ones that I thought were particularly interesting.

First of all, we have this beautiful early 1860s lavender dress with two bodices, one for day wear and one for evening wear.

When I hear people talk about Worth gowns it’s mostly about 1880s or 90s dresses so when I found out that the House of Worth was already founded in 1958 I was very surprised because I didn’t actually know that. That’s why I wanted to include this dress, because early Worth gowns are not something that are mentioned a lot.

Next up there’s this seemingly ordinary dress.

It looks so ordinary I would’ve never guessed it was made by Worth! But then again, it’s a morning dress so it’s sort of understandable why it’s not as extravagant as the rest.

Then I stumbled across this interesting, very experimental-looking dress.

It’s almost as if an 18th century Polonaise and an 1880s dress had a baby.

Now, let’s get to my favorites! It’s really hard to decide which one’s the most beautiful one so I’m going to mention them in no particular order.

There’s this champagne-colored beauty with actual pearl tassles!

And once you take a closer look you’ll see that there’s pearl trimming around the neckline and it actually looks like pearl lace. Incredible.

Then there’s this gorgeous 1902 floral gown.

The way the flowers separate from the rest and are used as appliqué on the lace is just stunning.

Next up, we have this beauty.

I don’t really know what it is that I love about this gown, it’s everything. The way the colors aren’t the same but match perfectly, the gold patterns, the train…

And finally, we have… I think if I had to choose one this would be it, so maybe I did end up putting them in order of my preference. Oh well.

This is an 1882 evening dress, but I’m just gonna say… imagine this as your wedding dress. Not that I’d want to get married in it, but just… a hypothetical wedding with this hypothetical wedding dress, it’s giving me just enough fae vibe to feel like you’re in a Disney movie but not too much to make it too tacky.

So this concludes today’s search for The Perfect Worth Gown. If I had to recreate one, I’d probably choose the mermaid one, the green and blue one, just because I feel like that’s the most doable one of them. But ironically enough I picked almost only 1880s dresses, which is my least favorite Victorian fashion decade. Guess I might get myself a bustle after all to recreate a Worth gown.

hello I made a whole late victorian dress out of plaid and recycled denim to make a REALLY oblique werewolf reference, but I’m really proud of making something entirely without commercial patterns!!! Included the Worth suit I modeled it on.

I ran out of time to add the gigot sleeves or the furry bits that would make it more wolfy, but that can come later!

awoo