Fashion in the 19th century

Accordingly, women were obliged to follow dress codes related to the various activities of the day. The transformation dress was symptomatic of a hectic daily life but also of a desire to not spend too much.

Transformation dress (1870-1872)

Given the increase in the number of daily outfits, this dress is made up of a skirt with two matching corsages, one for the day, the other for the evening. Sometimes even three corsages : afternoon, « petit soir » and « grand soir » are cut from the same fabric as the skirt but differ in the depth of the low neckline, the more or less covering style of the sleeves and more abundant decorations.

Engraved artistic fashion board, Worth's model (1875)

There are only a few Worth creations left, fashion engravings show complicated sets of pleats and stripes, roll-ups, several stages of skirts, spread over projected or wide turning hoop skirts.

Mallarmé considers that Worth is « the author of the sublime daily festival appearing in Paris, Vienna, London or Petersburg ». With him, men began dressing in women's clothing. Worth invented everything, the « look-alikes », foreshadowing models, fashion shows and brands. Indeed, like a painter, he signed his work. With him, the couturier was no longer a supplier but an artist. In elegant salons, he received a prestigious clientele, the Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III, the Princess of Metternich, the Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sissi), the Queen of Sweden, but also the wives of the contractors and bankers and mistresses. Models, presented during shows or private appointments, were redesigned and adapted with extreme care to the precise measurements of the clients. Pitching the presentation of his collections according to a seasonal calendar, cultivated the spectacular side of the business.

Evening dress, Worth (around 1875)

This dress, by the sheer size of its figure and its « tail », by the quality of its satin fashioned lift, characterises well the kind of ostentation sought out for evenings.

Worth was emulated and the trade became organised with the creation, in 1868, of the precursor to the Chambre syndicale de la couture, and protected himself legally in order to protect his creations through copyright and artistic property rights.

Evening dress, Worth (1893-1894)

The term « couturier » was replaced in 1880 with that of « designer goods », « haute couture » was hardly used until 1910. The Haute Couture houses were also big businesses and sometimes, family businesses. As early as the 1870s, the Worth House employed more than a thousand people ; it continued through his sons, integrated into the house long before the death of the founder.

The increased posterior, accentuated with a fold, was abandoned at the end of the century. The Belle Epoque preferred a more slender silhouette and favoured a sinuous line, recurring in contemporary applied arts.

Transformation dress, Jacques Doucet (1900-1905)

This dress, was created by Jacques Doucet, in a house only four buildings away from Worth. It showed a new taste for light fabrics and evanescent colours. The asymmetrical character of the embroidery is inspired by the Japanese style which was, at the time, very in vogue.

Doucet had the intuition to hire two talented creators, Paul Poiret, who then went to work with Worth and then Madeleine Vionnet. These two dressmakers were at the origins of great upheavals, Poiret proposing removing the corset to his customers from 1907 ; Vionnet, initiating the bias cut in the 20s, which became the model to be copied in the 30s.

Fashion cycles accelerated in the 19th century, the appearance of the specialised press, the industrial revolution, and the creation of Haute Couture all contributed.