Home›History›Charles Frederick Worth and his dress for Princess Sissy.

Charles Frederick Worth and his dress for Princess Sissy.

By Olga Sidorova

June 9, 2021

13905

One of the most beautiful women of her time with a tragic fate.

Elizabeth of Bavaria, Empress of Austria, Princess Sissi - what was the name of her family.

Living in luxury, possessing wealth and power, she had a delicate vulnerable soul. She appreciated freedom, wrote poetry, painted, loved horseback riding and travel.

Being fabulously beautiful, she wanted to keep her youth longer. She carefully looked after herself: masks, lotions, special baths and physical exercises. Sissy's pride was her long, thick hair that fell almost to the floor.

Her fate was dramatic.

Elizabeth survived the death of her children and loved ones, and she herself died at the hands of a terrorist.

And Sissy also had the gift of foresight, predicting many events and destinies ...

Once in a dream the ghost of her deceased cousin came to her and told her about her fate: "... your soul will leave through a tiny hole in your heart ..."

And so it happened - the empress died at the hands of an anarchist, who killed her with a dagger blow to the chest. The thin blade went 8 cm into the heart ...

Баварская Императрица Австрии Франц Ксавер Винтерхальтер 1865г.

She looks at us half-way from the most famous portrait painted by Franz Xaver Winterhalter in 1865.

A wide and low neckline, sloping shoulders, a wasp waist, a fluffy skirt create the image of a fragile and graceful beauty. A silhouette similar to an exquisite flower. Diamond stars shine in brown hair.

Her sumptuous dress for receptions was created by the famous founder of Haute Couture Charles Frederick Worth - a fashion designer who dressed the most noble women of the 19th century.

The dress is made of silk and tulle covered with silver.

Worth called this cut “princesses” (princesse). The bodice of the dress fits the figure tightly. Dropped neckline and sleeves accentuate the sloping shoulders. The cone-shaped skirt on a huge crinoline has an elongated shape, smoothly expands at the back and turns into a train.

The figure in this dress seems taller and slimmer.

The silhouette of the outfits of that time was largely influenced by the Rococo style, the style of Marie Antoinette. This reflects the personal tastes of the Empress of France Eugenie, and Worth was her court tailor.

Charles Worth can be called a revolutionary in the field of fashion.

A native of Great Britain, he became the founder of French haute couture and a trendsetter in the second half of the 19th century.

In his outfits, Worth has always emphasized the plasticity of feminine lines.

It was Worth who reconstructed the crinoline, giving it lightness and flexibility. The structure was made of lightweight metal hoops connected by ribbons. Thanks to this, the designer began to create dresses of unimaginable volumes and styles.

By tightening the waist with a corset and increasing the skirt to a huge size, Worth gave the feminine silhouette stunning shapes!

The waist circumference in those days sometimes did not reach 40 cm, and the diameter of the crinoline was sometimes equal to a woman's height!

Constantly changing the size and silhouette of the crinoline, Worth gradually decided to change the shape of the skirt, removing the excess volume from front to back. Thus appeared bustle... The front of the dress turned out to be flat, and folds and draperies formed at the back.

Another innovation of Worth can be considered dresses in which the top of the dress is separated from the bottom. Replacing the bodice, parts of the sleeves, the collar with others, the lady could change outfits, creating different images.

Worth presented fashion collections every season.

Clients could choose the model they liked and order it for themselves. Lengthy fittings were tiring, and frequent visits to the salon were inconvenient for residents of other cities and countries.

Worth came up with the world's first female figure template - a blockhead! A mannequin was made according to the client's figure, on which the product was adjusted.

All of Worth's dresses were sewn by hand, only thirty percent of the work was allowed to be done on a sewing machine. A label with his name was sewn onto each dress. It was his mark, his signature, but at the same time it was a real marketing ploy that made him stand out from other tailors.

Charles Worth dressed most of the royal courts of that time, he received orders from Europe, the USA, Russia, and even the countries of the East.

In many portraits of noble and wealthy ladies of that time, we can see his luxurious dresses. The outfits sewn by him, including those for Elizabeth of Bavaria, have survived to this day. They are exhibited in museums around the world and continue to inspire everyone's admiration.