Tamera Brown
FCS 494
9/27/16
Assignment #3
Charles Frederick Worth was the first world famous French fashion designer.
He was the first to create and employ the principles of design and fashion that
would be called haute couture. His contributions to the world of fashion are
impeccable. He was the first designer to use living women as models and one of the
very first to host fashion shows to showcase his designs to customers. After the
death of Worth’s father at the tender age of eleven, he lost everything and was
forced to work to help his mother support the family. In 1845, Worth moved to Paris
and found work at a fabric and dress shop, owned by a Maison Gagelin. Gagelin
employed young women to model his garments and accessories and eventually
Worth fell in love with one of the models, Marie Venet. They would go on to marry
and have two sons, Gaston and Jean-Philippe. Worth began to design several simple
and elegant gowns for his wife to wear, and soon customers were asking Worth to
make gowns for them; Gagelin began to get skeptical of Worth’s intentions. Denied a
partnership with his former employer, Worth broke out and started his own ladies’
dress shop, Worth and Bobergh in 1858.
Coco Chanel was born Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel. She is known for her
trademark suits, the “little black dress”, and timeless designs that are still popular
today. She is a revered style icon still famous for her simple yet sophisticated outfits
paired with great accessories, such as several strands of pearls. Her early years were
anything but glamorous. After the death of her mother, her father put her in an
orphanage. Raised by nuns, she learned to sew – a skill that would lead to her life’s
work. She earned the nickname “Coco” during her brief career as a singer. Chanel
herself said that it was a shortened version of cocotte, the French word for “kept
woman”. In 1925, she introduced the Chanel suit with collarless jacket and well–
fitted skirt. She helped women say goodbye to the days of corsets and other