Charles Frederick Worth: 5 works

'Charles Frederick Worth, a relative newcomer, became the Empress's favoured couturier at the end of the 1850s.'

'His first model was his young French wife, Marie Vernet, who would often wear Worth's latest creation to a fashionable event to advertise his work.'

'He used references from sketches, historical fashion plates and paintings by famous artists including Titian, Rembrandt, Gainsborough and Sir Joshua Reynolds.'

'He was born in 1825 in Bourne, Lincolnshire, and started working at the age of 12 in a draper's shop in London.'

'Charles Frederick Worth's two sons, Jean-Philippe and Gaston, carried on the high standards of design and technique at the House of Worth following the designer's death in 1895.'