The House of Worth

The House of Worth: Portrait of an Archive stands as a challenge to the ways we research, write and teach fashion and visual cultural histories. This landmark book invites a wide readership. A work of such magnitude calls for an extended response. Following the framework of chapters set out in this large format, visually appealing book, I consider how, in using the archive images as the basis for their focused case studies, the authors build a detailed portrait of couture garments and clients of the House of Worth. The opening and closing chapters importantly serve to set the House of Worth in 98 years of national and international history. At times, using different research material, I press for extending the frames of reference, risking alternative readings that serve to expand the debates in this text, in Worth studies and in fashion and photographic histories. Finally, I offer a detailed analysis of the 18 archive images included in the book, but not commented on by the authors, of the House of Worth at work in 1927 that forms a necessary compliment to the images of couture garments so carefully scrutinized and evaluated by the authors, serving to extend our understandings of some aspects the politics of haute couture labour. This landmark text stands as a valuable reminder that couture and fashionable dress histories are fluid, unstable, ongoing and full of surprises. \n \n \nKey Words: Fashion: status, function. Atelier Flou and Tailleur. Couture Fabrics – Sources, Patterns. Ready Mades. Couture Labour and Photography. Fancy Dress. Royal Mistresses. British Empire, India. Paris World Fairs. Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture

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• Paris Fashion

  Valerie Steele•Paris Fashion•1998

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