The House of Worth: Portrait of an Archive - Hardcover

De La Haye, Amy; Mendes, Valerie D.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1851777741 ISBN 13: 9781851777747

Publisher: V & A Publishing, 2014

Synopsis

  Legendary British-born designer Charles Frederick Worth (1825–1895), with enormous talent for design and promotion, built his fashion house into an empire during the last quarter of the 19th century―the first busi­ness of its kind with global reach. His company, through his heirs, endured until 1952, when his great-grandson retired. Profusely illustrated, this astonishing book explores Worth’s success in the realm of haute couture after 1890. Hundreds of photographs selected from the V&A’s unique archive of more than 7,000 official house records capture the Worth style and offer valuable insights into the daily routine at Maison Worth in Paris. Images and text tell the intriguing story of these creations, providing historical context and describing Worth’s inter­national clientele of elegant women of wealth and power.

About this title

About the Author:

Amy de la Haye is Professor of Dress History and Curatorship, Rootstein Hopkins Chair, London College of Fashion. Valerie D. Mendes, formerly head of Fashion and Textiles at the V&A, is a freelance fashion and textiles historian.

Review:

'a seminal text' Mary Frances Gormally, Fashion Theory, 2016

About this edition

• Publisher: V & A Publishing
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1851777741
• ISBN 13: 9781851777747
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 176