Annonces

This design was probably created by Leon Sault for Charles Frederick Worth. It shows an annonces (a bill-poster, advertiser or gazetteer) holding a group of bills advertising a balloon ascent. Around his waist is a leather bag holding further advertisements and bills and he carries a paste bucket and brush. Apart from the bag of advertisments and the glue pail, there is no attempt at realism, with the costume an elaborate creation in yellow and black silk satin and gold-trimmed crimson velvet. Leon Sault was also a theatre and opera designer, so this may have been created for a stage production, although Worth was known to occasionally make masquerade and fancy dress costumes for men. Léon Sault later became a fashion magazine editor, publishing some of his fancy dress costume designs as part of a series titled "L'Art du Travestissment" (The Art of Fancy Dress). His designs included characters such as Mephistopheles and embodiments of concepts such as Astronomy.

During the 1860s, Empress Eugenie of France threw a number of extravagant masquerade balls which required the guests to wear elaborate and inventive costumes that were made up by Worth and other Paris dressmakers. Worth, a relative newcomer, became the Empress's favoured couturier at the end of the 1850s. This made him extremely fashionable, and the rest of the ladies of Eugenie's court also bought gowns from him - and so too did their husbands' mistresses, and anyone wealthy enough to afford Worth's very high prices. As a result, Worth was under great pressure to produce vast numbers of unique, one of a kind costumes and gowns, often at very short notice. This is one of a large number of similar designs and sketches that were given to the V&A as part of the archive and reference collection of the House of Worth, making it extremely likely that it was originally designed for a guest to wear to one of the Empress's magnificent balls.