Charles Worth became a legend in his own lifetime, the lad who left Bourne to seek his fortune in London and later Paris where he founded his fashion salon which was frequented by the world’s rich and famous and established a reputation as the father of haute couture.    

Yet most of the books and articles relating to his life and times have been the work of someone else but now a remarkable account of his early career has surfaced which was actually written by himself. 

Worth (1825-1895) wrote it for an American newspaper, the Union and Advertiser at Rochester, New York State, and it was later re-published to mark his death. A copy has survived in the Worth family archives in which he describes how at the age of 13, his parents apprenticed him to a printer in Bourne to learn the trade but added: “I always had a great dislike for the occupation, having an instinctive repugnance to soiling my fingers. I only remained seven months in that position, for the dream of my life at that time was to go to London. Chancing to know a gentleman who was then a solicitor on Parliament Street I wrote to him begging him to find some position for me in the capital and he interested himself in me and induced the dry goods firm of Swan & Edgar to give me a post in their establishment.” 

He goes on: “I remained for seven years. I was always treated with great kindness and consideration by the heads of the house. On one occasion (my health in my youth always having been very delicate) I was attacked with inflammation of the lungs, and owe, I think, my recovery to the watchful care and attention of Mrs Edgar herself. 

“But my position was not one in which I was able to gratify my natural tastes and aspirations. I was kept at desk work and was sent to match samples of goods, or to make payments, or to deposit money in banks. My great delight was in inspecting the cases of dresses, cloaks and bonnets that were sent over from Paris as models, and I used to give hints about trimmings and alterations, etc., which were found to be valuable; and so my opinions came to be frequently consulted. 

“I was wont in those days to talk a great deal to the buyers, who were sent from London to Paris, about matters and things in the latter city. A visit to Paris was then no small undertaking. The actual journey took two days and a half each way, so that the buyers from the house of Swan & Edgar used to consume from sixteen to seventeen days for each visit.  

“Finally, Paris became the goal of my aspirations, as London had formerly been. I used to spend my evenings in the study of French, and whenever any French customers visited the shop I invariably sought them out and tried my best to talk with them.” 

Worth eventually made it to the French capital in 1846 and got a job as an assistant with the leading fashion fabric retailers of the day, Gagelin and Opigez. He worked there for twelve years and it was during that time that his skill as a fashion designer became apparent and he was soon making a name for himself but still listening and learning, 

“At that time the Maison Gagelin did not make dresses”, writes Worth, “it being considered derogatory to the dignity of the house to do so. The few therefore that I supplied were made outside under my supervision, by a dressmaker in my own employ. In fact, my actions were subjected to so many restrictions, and such vehement objections were made to all my efforts to extend the business, that I finally quitted the firm and went into business for myself.” 

It was this momentous decision which led to the establishment of his own salon, Maison Worth, which opened its doors on the Number 7, Rue de la Paix, with a staff of twenty. “This was in the year 1858”, writes Worth. “My partner was a Swedish gentleman, M Bobergh, and the firm continued to be Worth & Bobergh till the Franco-German war which saw inaugurated my house as Worth alone.” 

He was also gaining international recognition for his work and his exhibit at the first Paris exhibition in 1855 was a court train in white moire antique, the ground almost entirely disappearing under embroidery in gold thread and pearls, the pattern of which was his own design. “It represented a series of graduated flounces in gold lace, spreading out in the form of a fan, and even at that epoch of low prices, when $100 was considered an extravagant amount for a lady to pay for a magnificent dress, was valued at $6,000.” 

Worth also tells us that he once made a dress in which 100 yards of silk were used and he also describes another royal innovation: “The hooped skirt was invented by the Empress to conceal the approaching advent of the Prince Imperial, and it was the expected birth of the Princess Beatrice that led to its immediate adoption by Queen Victoria. This was in the year 1855. The amplitude given the skirts of ladies' dresses by the new invention was something extraordinary.” 

Towards the end of the century, the name of this lad from Bourne had spread worldwide but it was in France that his life's work had been celebrated and it was there that he died from pneumonia on 10th March 1895 at the age of 69 when his funeral was an extraordinary testimonial to the reputation he had achieved and the affection in which he was held. Two thousand mourners attended including not only the mayor and civic officials from Paris but also many deputies and senators from the French Assembly and the President of the Republic himself.  

Worth was buried near his home at Suresnes, near Paris, and Marie, his wife of 44 years, was placed in the same grave three years later. But he has never been forgotten and his name remains today as a byword in world fashion which he did so much to modernise and where his influence is still evident.