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THE MAGAZINE AUCTION RESULTS
A Worth dress with a bustle €22,950
This dress by Charles Frederick Worth proved to be the gem in the
wardrobe of Marie-Charlotte de Préault (1870-1941), sold on 1 February
at Drouot by the Paris auction house Thierry de Maigret. Estimated at
no more than €2,300, it finally went for €22,950. It wiped the floor with
Jacques Doucet's designs, of which there were several in the collection
of the Marquis d’Aligre's wife. They included a short opera cape of
around 1905 in lavishly embroidered cardinal purple silk velvet with jet
bead pendants, which garnered €9,915. Worth was considered the
father of haute couture in becoming a creator more than a mere
designer. Customers no longer dictated their wishes: he was the one
who now set the tone. An Englishman born and bred, he worked in
London for various drapers while visiting museums and exhibitions
to study the clothes featured in paintings. He opened his own
fashion house in 1855, and through the Princesse de Metternich
became supplier to the Empress Eugénie, the court, and thereby
the whole of Europe. A fine connoisseur of fabrics, he ordered
specific materials, incorporated historical elements into his
designs, and abandoned the crinoline in favour of the
bustle, giving women a new silhouette.
Charles Frederick Worth (1825-1895), c. 1883, evening
dress with bustle in bronze green silk, taffeta and tulle
embroidered with small roses; underskirt with asymmetrical
pouf and flounced train; overskirt in tulle embroidered with
bows; belt in bronze silk velvet.
68 GAZETTE DROUOT INTERNATIONAL I N° 23
Fashion