Park. Worth’s dress designs were displayed and won a gold medal. This was
an honour for Gagelin and the entire French delegation. After this event,
Gagelin began advertising Worth’s designs in fashion magazines. Four years
later, in 1855, Worth’s designs won another first-class medal at the
‘Exposition Universelle’ in Paris. He had become an established dressmaker
and Gagelin eventually realized his great value.
Worth, also recognizing his worth to his employers, requested a job
promotion, possible partnership with the company, better working condition
for his then pregnant wife Marie-Augustine, and the opportunity to rent one
of the spare rooms at the store premises. He was refused all his requests. He
realized that his time was Gagelin was over and he decided to leave the
company to start his own business.
Worth and Bobergh (1858–70)
Charles Worth partnered with another dissatisfied employee at Gagelin, the
Swedish Otto Bobergh, and together they raised the capital to start their fash-
ion business. Their first store, Worth & Bobergh was opened at no.7 rue de la
Paix, close to the Jardin de Tuileries in Paris, in 1858. Their strategic location
in the centre of Paris meant that they were close to other dressmakers but,
more importantly, to luxury apartments and the potential wealthy customers
who lived in them.
Worth continued to design and make clothes in his signature simple and
perfect cut style, while going through the challenges of a new start-up busi-
ness with Bobergh. Their big break came almost as an accident a year later
through the wife of a prominent novelist Octave Feuillet. She was to attend
an imperial reception hosted by Emperor Napoleon and Empress Eugenie and
was disappointed with the dress made by her dressmaker. In desperation she
went to Worth for a solution at the last minute. Worth not only created a
perfect dress for her on the same day (which was unheard of) but also gave
her make-up as a complementary product. During the reception, Empress
Eugenie noticed the dress and asked for the name of the couturier. When told
that he was an Englishman, she was appalled and even amused at the thought
of a male dressmaker. Although she didn’t immediately patronize him, she
didn’t forget the dress or its maker.
At the beginning of their business venture, little business came the way of
Worth & Bobergh and they became desperate for exposure. Worth under-
stood that one of the quickest and most effective ways to rise in prominence
as a dressmaker was through celebrities. He searched for the right candidate
who was both influential in the fashion society and a friend of Empress
Eugenie. He found his answer in high society lady Princess Von Metternich,
wife of Austria’s Ambassador to France and a close friend of the Empress.
Worth and Bobergh sent Marie Worth to her with an album of their designs.
Von Metternich was impressed with the designs and ordered two dresses
chapter 2 53the history of luxury fashion branding