© Stanislas Wolff ©Petit Palais ©
Le Petit Palais calls on the most historic of fashion houses to dress itself in sumptuous creations and other never-before-seen items! For its latest exhibition in collaboration with le Palais Galliera, titled Worth: Inventer la haute couture, the museum halfway between the Seine and the Champs-Elysées presents more than 400 clothes, paintings, and other sketches, from the house that gave birth to fashion as we know it today. Tip: rush over to discover this first retrospective tailored to perfection on the Maison de couture Worth, available from May 7 to September 7!
And Haute Couture was!
If the fashion world is today a real economy, it is undoubtedly thanks to the Maison Worth that we owe it. At the head of the latter, Charles Frederick Worth, who will transform the landscape of French and international couture. His name, he signs it on his creations at the cutting edge of fashion. He does not wait for orders to invent and produce: he is an artist, not a mere craftsman, and his label is found on his designs, like great painters who sign their names in a corner of their works. He sets up the seasonality of collections, trades the heavy crinoline for the bustle, surprises with the uniqueness of his pieces. To ensure their appearance, it's his wife who will take on the role of first living model. At 7 rue de la Paix, he installs the house “Worth & Bobergh”, before becoming sole couturier in 1870 and gaining prosperity through the World’s Fairs or through his closeness with the imperial couple under the Second Empire. His upholsterer style will from then on be recognized, praised, and requested by High society. For the Princesse de Metternich, he is a star rising in the firmament of fashion. Even better: Queen Victoria, fond of English fashion, will accept that a Worth branch sets up in London! Before him, fashion wasn’t truly. After his time and that of his dynasty who took turns continuing the House until 1956, fashion is Haute Couture.
An exhibition with style
If at the dawn of our century one more easily remembers houses like Cartier or Louis Vuitton, with which it has nonetheless collaborated, it is the Maison Worth that set up the codes of Haute Couture. For a century, the entire family rolled up its sleeves to keep the name of Worth alive, as proved by this retrospective where the scenography makes art and textiles speak to one another. Among the grandest pieces to go admire, we find the coronation dress of Sissi, the Empress of Austria (and the real one, not Romy Schneider's!), the court coats of Franca Florio, or even the dazzling Byzantine dress of the Comtesse Greffulhe that made all the press of the time chatter. In the final rooms, we marvel at the new golden age of the House and its considerable expansion during the Années folles, thanks to the founder’s grandsons, including Jean-Charles, whom we discover in the expo through nudes signed Man Ray. Opposite, perfume bottles from the clothing brand, last product that still remains today from the Maison.
Worth made wedding dresses, evening gowns, cross-dressing costumes, tea gowns and capes and coats its specialty, and it shows, throughout this retrospective high in couture. At le Petit Palais, we explore not only the History of fashion but also the History of its capital. A must-see!
Worth, Inventer la haute couture. From May 7, 2025 to September 7, 2025.
Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm and late openings until 8pm on Friday and Saturday
Also, discover the best exhibits this Spring and what to watch in may on streaming platforms.
