Exhibition : Worth. Inventing Haute Couture

At the Petit Palais

Until September 7th, 2025.

From one palace to another. Indeed, the Petit Palais, with the exceptional contribution of the Palais Galliera – Paris Fashion Museum, is presenting until September 7 an event exhibition dedicated to the historic and iconic first fashion house, Worth. Arrived in Paris in 1846, it was in 1858 that the Briton Charles Frederick Worth (1825-1895) founded the first fashion house in Paris and, followed by many others, revolutionised fashion. If for a long time tailors created models at the request of their clients, Worth devised an inverse system. The models will now be made in advance and presented in collections according to seasonal cycles so that customers can obtain them. In this Second Empire, where Paris is a showcase for Europe, the luxury of creations is in full swing; fashion magazines, models, and fashion shows are developing and captivating the greatest, such as the wife of Emperor Napoleon III, Queen Victoria, or Empress of Austria Sissi. On a journey of more than 1,100 m², the visitor discovers a retrospective of 400 pieces of clothing, accessories, and art objects that bear witness to this great period of fashion, which extends from the Belle Époque to the aftermath of the First World War. More than sixty years during which the house "Worth & Bobergh" and then "Worth" at 7, rue de la Paix in Paris dressed the most elegant women of the Capital. The exhibition traces the beginnings of the illustrious house before highlighting the prestigious and wealthy clients,

crowned heads and aristocrats, who will wear its creations. For it is soon an international clientele that will flock around its models evolving from the crinoline shape to a more fitted, streamlined, and refined dress, added with a train for the evening, available in day or ball gowns, also adorned with capes and opulent coats. The exhibition, enriched with filmed documents, immerses the visitor in the creative whirlwind of fashion houses and

also caters to the younger audience through interactive and playful devices. In partnership with the House of Chanel, this journey through time reveals the legacy of a pioneer of Parisian elegance.

Robe d’intérieur ou tea-gown, Worth, vers 1897 © Stanislas Wolff