Worth at the Petit Palais because it’s worth it
Until September 7, the Parisian museum is retracing the little-known story of the inventor of haute couture through, among other things, 80 models from the Second Empire to the 1930s, in exceptional condition.
His contemporaries were called Nadar, Louis Vuitton, and Louis Cartier. They have all gone down in history. Charles Frederick Worth has more or less been forgotten. Yet, this Englishman who arrived in Paris in the mid- 19th century, to whom we credit the creation of haute couture, headed one of the largest clothing workshops of his time, dressing the most influential elegant ladies of the Second Empire and the richest heiresses on the American East Coast. " Only unlike other luxury houses born during the same period, Worth was sold in 1954 to Paquin, which closed its doors for good in 1956. The archives, customer files, and paintings have largely been lost," recalls Raphaële Martin-Pigalle, curator and chief heritage curator at the Petit Palais, which is hosting the exhibition "Worth, Inventing Haute Couture," presented in collaboration with the Palais Galliera until September 7, 2025.
This very first retrospective dedicated...
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