查尔斯.弗雷德里克.沃斯(CHARLES FREDERICK WORTH,1825—1895)

巴黎高级时装业的创始人，1825年出生于英国。1858年，他留在.德.拉.派大街创建了自己的时装店。他把新设计的衣服让工作室的漂亮姑娘穿起来想顾客展示推销，开创了服装表演(作平发展形式)和时装模特儿(新的职业)的先河；他还创立了自己选购衣料,自己设计,在自己的工作室里制作,雇佣专属自己的时装模特儿每年向特定的顾客举办作品发表会等一系列独特的经营方式，从而形成了现在巴黎高级时装业的原型。他还是第一个想美国和英国的成衣厂商出售设计的设计师，他的成就引来许多设计师的效仿。巴黎逐渐形成高级时装行业，确立"世界时装发源地"和"世界流行中心"的国际地位。

Ball gown, ca. 1872

Charles Frederick Worth (French, born England, 1825–1895)

Silk

Gift of Mrs. Philip K. Rhinelander, 1946 (C.I.46.25.1a-d)

The silhouette suddenly deflated in the 1870s, from a broad dome to something more akin to a right triangle. This silhouette developed in part because of the need to absorb the voluminous skirts, which had been worn over the domed cage crinoline. The solution was to pull the excess fabric behind and create a bustle which was elaborated with trimmings and supported with steel or cane hoops that projected backwards from the body. The waistline during this period was still in approximately natural position, but the torso overall had taken on a new shape in the advent of the spoon busk. Curved outward over the abdomen, the spoon busk allowed the fullness of the belly to be expressed below a compressed waist. The rounded lower torso in combination with a supported bust above formed a curvaceous hourglass silhouette.

Worth rarely scrutinized or adapted forms from the East. More often, he was an instrument of a Western taste that was projected globally via imperialism; for instance, he is said to have created 250 dresses on commission from Empress Eugénie for her appearances at the opening of the Suez Canal in 1868. But in this unusual example from his oeuvre, he emulated Middle Eastern enamels. The gown was worn by Mrs. William De Forest Manice, the donor's grandmother, at both the French and English courts during the reigns of Napoleon III and Queen Victoria. When worn on such occasions, the dress had a detachable brocade train, since destroyed.