Designs by Worth and Other Haute Coutures Part I

Thanks to all who have posted all the lovely photos.  The hard work shows. 

Funny, as I looked at all the pictures of Worth creations posted by the wonderful GD Ella and others, I kept thinking of Diana and the Emanuels creations she wore early in her career as a princess-to-be and as a princess such as the black satin ball gown and her wedding drees. 

I wonder what Charles Worth himself would have created for a young Diana, Princess of Wales.

TampaBay

Thanks to all who have posted all the lovely photod.  The hard work shows. 

Funny, as I looked at all the pictures of Worth creations posted by the wonderful GD Ella and others, I kept thinking of Diana and the Emanuels creations she wore early in her careeer as a princess-to-be and as a princess such as the black satin ball gown and her wedding drees. 

I wonder what Charles Worth himself would have created for a young Diana, Princess opf Wales.

TampaBay

I really don't think that the Emmanuels can be compared to Worth.  Worth really was an artist and an innovator when it came to fashion.  I'm really not sure what he would have made of the wedding dress that they created for the Princess but I suspect that he would have been less than impressed.  The bodice of the wedding dress is very basic in cut, and the skirt and train are impressive only in terms of the quantity of fabric used.  Worth spent many long hours attempting to create beautiful and unique toilettes for functions at the French Court in the 1860's, using a very limited colour palette of white, with trimmings of silver and gold and all of which had to be luxurious and sophisticated in cut and ornament - quite a tall order.

 I am quite confident that his flair and imagination would have created a bridal toilette that would have been infinitely superior......

I love this dress!  The fringe along the bottom of the polonaise-type-thing is lovely.  Perfect for a promenade.

The beadwork here is absolutely sublime.  Having done some beading on outfits myself, I can appreciate the time and patience entailed in hand sewn details such as these.  Amazing.

Thanks GDella for also including pictures that show the inside of these garments.  It's so interesting to see the 'architecture' behind these beautiful clothes!

I really don't think that the Emmanuels can be compared to Worth.  Worth really was an artist and an innovator when it came to fashion.  I'm really not sure what he would have made of the wedding dress that they created for the Princess but I suspect that he would have been less than impressed.  The bodice of the wedding dress is very basic in cut, and the skirt and train are impressive only in terms of the quantity of fabric used.  Worth spent many long hours attempting to create beautiful and unique toilettes for functions at the French Court in the 1860's, using a very limited colour palette of white, with trimmings of silver and gold and all of which had to be luxurious and sophisticated in cut and ornament - quite a tall order.

 I am quite confident that his flair and imagination would have created a bridal toilette that would have been infinitely superior......

Amen and hallelujah to that. 
In the annals of fashion history, the only reason the Emanuels would be mentioned at all would be because of the work they did for Diana, and not because the work itself was particularly noteworthy, but because of who wore the garments.  You really cannot begin to compare them with the likes of Worth, or any of the other truly great designers of the 19th and 20th centuries - Chanel, Schiaparelli, Dior, St. Laurent, Lagerfeld, Galliano, Lacroix...they're just not in the same league at all.

I really don't think that the Emmanuels can be compared to Worth.  Worth really was an artist and an innovator when it came to fashion.  I'm really not sure what he would have made of the wedding dress that they created for the Princess but I suspect that he would have been less than impressed.  The bodice of the wedding dress is very basic in cut, and the skirt and train are impressive only in terms of the quantity of fabric used.  Worth spent many long hours attempting to create beautiful and unique toilettes for functions at the French Court in the 1860's, using a very limited colour palette of white, with trimmings of silver and gold and all of which had to be luxurious and sophisticated in cut and ornament - quite a tall order.

I am quite confident that his flair and imagination would have created a bridal toilette that would have been infinitely superior......

I thoroughly agree! Diana's wedding gown was not the loveliest wedding gown in recent history. The huge skirt and the narrow train didn't go well together and the skirt looked unkempt. Compare it with Fabiola's gown, or Constanza Habsburg's, or Queen Paola's, or Princess Grace's (!). or Crown Princess Mary's, etc., etc., etc.

Fabiola of Aragon:

Constanza Habsburg


Paola of Lombarda:


Grace of Monaco:


Princess Margaret:


Crown Princess Mary:

Just as a side note, in the thread on Modern Designers and their Muses (or the title is something very similar to that) I supplied photos of many of the modern day royal wedding dresses--basically the last decade or so. There have been some really lovely gowns and some not so much but a real variety in the styles chosen.

I think that it is worth adding that the finish on Diana's gown seemed to be less than one would expect from such an important commission.

Compare Diana's dress to the one worn by Sarah, Duchess of York.  Two completely different dresses of course, but Sarah's dress, IMO, was so superior.  The cut was clean and sharp, the fit precise and the detail delicately executed and with significance.  I know that the Emmanuels have attributed drastic weight loss to the imprecise fit of Diana's gown but I can't see how they can justify the rather messy interpretation of such a romantic style.  Its genesis must be the styles of the late 1850's, early 1860's, hauled over in a very careless 1980's way that suggests that neither Emmanuel really understood to any degree the origin of the style.

A very messy dress and train; silk taffeta needs to be mounted on to silk organza and then lined to give it weight and to make it behave and hang.  I suspect that was another technique of which the Emmanuels were ignorant...........

I would have to say that the great temptation for any designer is to focus on the dress instead of the person and I think the Emmanuels did this in spades in Diana's case.  It had "here is the last virgin in England" written all over it and what actually could have been really quite pretty - even if it wasn't tops in the execution and finish - came out staid and fussy.  If she had to go bouffant, Princess Margaret's or Princess Grace's dresses were great models for chic and elegant combined with a Big Skirt.

 

I know my good friend Martyn will like this! (It has 2 interests--the Duchess of Devonshire and high fashion.)

Paris’ House of Worth fashioned a gown for the wife of the 8th Duke, Louise, Duchess of Devonshire, to be worn at Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee Ball, held at Chatsworth in 1897. The gown was made to transform the Duchess into Zenobia, the warrior queen of Palmyra. A concoction of cloth of silver, cloth of gold, brilliants, gemstones, and embroidered with more metalwork, the dress has a peacock feather fan motif at the hem and a train of turquoise velvet embroidered with gold.



This was the description in the Lafayette archive:

"Costume: "...The skirt of gold tissue was embroidered all over in a star-like design in emeralds, sapphires, diamonds, and other jewels outlined with gold, the corners where it opened in front being elaborately wrought in the same jewels and gold to represent peacocks' outspread tails. This opened to show an underdress of cream crepe de chine, delicately embroidered in silver, gold, and pearls and sprinkled all over with diamonds. The train, which was attached to the shoulders by two slender points and was fastened at the waist with a large diamond ornament, was a green velvet... and was superbly embroidered in Oriental designs introducing the lotus flower in rubies, sapphires, amethysts, emeralds, and diamonds, with four borderings on contrasting grounds, separated with gold cord. The train was lined with turquoise satin. The bodice was composed of gold tissue to match the skirt, and diamonds, and the front was of crepe de chine hidden with a stomacher of real diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. Jewelled belt. A golden crown incrusted with emeralds, diamonds and rubies, with a diamond drop at each curved end and two upstanding white ostrich feathers in the middle, and round the front festoons of pearls with a large pear-shaped pearl in the centre falling on the forehead." (The Times, 3 July 1897, p 12c)."

and the dress in b&w



I love seeing it in color! It's apparently at Chatsworth, whether on public display or not, I don't know.

The designer was M. Comelli (designer for Covent Garden Opera House) but it was actually made by J P Worth.

More Worth gowns:

"This dress was created by Charles Frederick Worth using a woven chrysanthemum pattern; off-white silk satin dress with large velvet sleeves; lace decoration on cuffs and collar."



"Ivory silk satin dress; silk chiffon bodice with gigot sleeves; skirt with sunbeam and cloud pattern of bead embroidery. Dress created by Charles Frederick Worth "

Gown made by Charles Frederick Worth of Paris for Frances Fairchild of Madison, Wisconsin, 1880

"Frances turned to Worth to make her a court dress so she could be properly presented to the King and Queen of Spain. Worth designed the gown out of her favorite fabric, purple silk velvet, and combined it with lavender peau de soie, a heavy satin, resulting in a stunning dress that Frances cherished until her death in 1924....At the end of 1879 President Rutherford B. Hayes promoted Lucius Fairchild from consul-general in France to envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Spain. Frances, knowing she would be presented to the Spanish royal court, probably ordered her gown from the House of Worth early in 1880. On March 23, the day before leaving for Madrid, Lucius wrote a check to Worth for 1900 francs. At the time, 1,900 francs would have equaled $365 dollars in United States currency (approximately $7,500 in 2006 dollars)....Less than two weeks later the Palace summoned Mr. and Mrs. Fairchild to a private audience with King Alfonso XII, Queen Teresa, and Infanta Isabel, Alfonso's mother. This event was followed by a general full dress reception at the Palace in honor of the King's birthday the next day, quite possibly the public debut of the Worth gown. After their final invitation to the Palace on a month later on December 30, Lucius entered in his diary, "Attended with Mrs. F. in full toggery the opening of the Cortes by the King, Queen & Royal Family," possibly another reference to the garment. Around the time of one of these events Frances had herself photographed in her dramatic dress. "

This dress (which we discussed earlier)



actually set an auction record. The 1888 court dress sold for $101,500, far above the estimate of $15,000-$20,000 back in 2001. The elaborate velvet and satin gown with a 23-inch waist and a 101/2 -foot detachable train, was designed by the world's first couturier, Charles Frederick Worth. The gown belonged to Esther Maria Lewis Chapin (1871-1959), the great-great-granddaughter of Elizabeth Washington Lewis (1733-1797), George Washington's sister. Chapin's father, Col. Edward Parke Custis Lewis (1837-1892) was the American Minister to Portugal under President Grover Cleveland from 1885-1889. It was during this period that Chapin, age 17 or 18, was bestowed with the honor of being presented at court to Queen Victoria wearing this gown. A foreign buyer who prefers to remain anonymous bought the dress.

In addition to the Worth gown, other couture highlights included a Madeleine Vionnet black halter evening dress with brilliantly colored applique roses in velvet clusters of lilac, salmon and magenta that sold for $11,500. The dress is from Vionnet's last collection and was originally illustrated in Harper's Bazaar, September 1938. Another bidder snapped up a classic Fortuny pleated silk Delphos dress for $9,775.

While we're posting Worths, here's some more...

Day dress bodice, undated (looks 1870s):


1888 Princess Mathilde in Worth:


ca. 1889 Worth Dutch tulips gown:


1892 Worth evening dresses by fashion illustrator Sandoz:


1892 Worth gown for Princess Helene:


1893 Worth sky blue dress (imagine what it looked like in color!):


1894 Worth chrysanthemum gown:


1895 cape:


1897:

Some others that were auctioned:

Worth Gold Voided Velvet Evening Gown
French, circa 1905
The princess seamed design of rich silk velvet with voided pattern of leaves and roses in satin, fitted bodice continues into gored skirt and full train, velvet puff sleeves trimmed with three rows of diamante, made over controlling undersleeves with machine lace imitating 17th century Point de Venise a Rose, a flounce of same lace is draped across the shallow U-front neck and gathered center front, silk twill modesty panel inside front neck, side front skirt seams have inverted pleat at hems, foundation of yellow silk twill, size 2/4, petersham labeled: C. Worth/Paris/80340.
Property formerly from the estate of Frances Carroll Brown
Sold to a foreign buyer for $13,145



Worth Coupe des Velours Evening Gown
French, circa 1905
Princess seaming design of pale aquamarine silk satin with rich light jade velvet ribbon and floral garland pattern, the fitted bodice with low round neck and back, front drapery over the bust with machine reproduction late 18th century Point d'Alencon lace laid within and concluding in a kerchief point at left side front, the lace forming short puffed sleeves that end en point over elbow, ruffle around back of neck down center back to conclude in points at waist, silk covered wire supports at caps, the full skirt gored in back, one inverted pleat at hem right front, silk satin foundation with stays covered in silk faille, central front panel lined in silk taffeta, size 2/4, petersham labeled: C. Worth/Paris/80354.
Property formerly from the estate of Frances Carroll Brown
Sold to a foreign buyer for $13,145