What happened to all those once-worn Worth gowns?

What happened to all those once-worn Worth gowns?

It’s hard for us nowadays to imagine just how grand the House of Worth really was.

So extravagantly rich were some of its patrons that they only wore their impossibly lavish Worth gowns once or twice…

So what happened to these clothes after they were cast off by the hoi polloi? Sure, a few ended up in museums, but you gotta wonder – what happened to the rest?

By chance, I tracked some of the Vanderbilts’ clothes down this week… and in the most appropriate, yet unlikely place. It seems that some of Worth’s work made it all the way back to the county of his birth – Lincolnshire, in the UK – under the most delightfully ridiculous circumstances!

A 1977 book on a dusty shelf in a Cotswolds hotel gives us the full story….

Here are the matching drawers for that beautiful Edwardian chemise

Here are the matching drawers for that beautiful Edwardian chemise

Remember the Edwardian chemise I made earlier this year?

Well, if you keeping hunting around in the Metropolitan Museum archive, you’ll come across a matching pair of drawers (top of page). They’re part of a set containing an identical chemise to mine – the lace is unmistakeable. So obviously I have to make the drawers too.

Real is better than perfect

Real is better than perfect

When I was a little girl, I was conscientious, neat, smart, and capable. Achievement was valued in my world, and the need to impress and be validated became strong. I tried ever harder to keep up, to do well, to maintain the very neatest handwriting.

(I still have very neat handwriting.)

I would listen to the other kids playing outside while I obediently stayed in the classroom to try to finish my work. I fell further behind every day. I was near the top of the class, but I was Too Slow, because every word had to be just right. I learned that my role was to do more and play less than everyone else. A pleaser and a perfectionist were born.

The Edwardian Silhouette Emerges

The Edwardian Silhouette Emerges

Twenty-first century corsetmakers have heard me bang on about this a thousand times, but I will say it again: I’m convinced that there is no such thing as a “modern body”.

This persistent phrase is a symbol of the popular belief that the majority of us who live in 2015 simply cannot achieve the figure of the Victorian or Edwardian woman, who supposedly underwent unimaginable torture – or years of waist training – to achieve THAT controversial figure.

Costume College Gala gown 2015

Costume College Gala gown 2015

Last night I dreamt that I went to dinner at Kedleston Hall, where my hosts turned out to be just as I’d pictured them. Mary Curzon was ever the tall, charismatic lady who had captivated three continents, and her husband, the Viceroy, was a stiff, intelligent, intimidating man whom one instinctively did not want to cross.

The heat of India was oppressive in Derby (it’s a dream, go with it) but as His Lordship discussed political machinations with one of the other guests, my hostess’s interesting conversation made one feel comfortable, valued and welcome. I did not reveal that I had travelled over one hundred years to be there that night, but I felt sure that she’d be amused to learn that I was recreating the grand state dresses that she had considered little more than annoyingly expensive work clothes!

The Corset for the Peacock Dress

The Corset for the Peacock Dress

When I was raising money for Random Acts’ projects in Haiti in 2011, and pledging to make the Peacock Dress in return, I imagined that I would be the maker of the whole outfit, every stitch. However, it’s not going to work out that way, and I’m delighted about that.

Not only because it reduces the workload (hiring Indian specialists to embroider the dress takes about thirty years off, literally) but because the result of any project is so much better when you let go, step back and ask for help from people who know what they’re doing better than you do.