Artist: Charles Frederick Worth
Museum: Kunstgewerbemuseum (Berlin, Germany)
Technique: Cotton
The slender silhouette, a decisive influence of haute couture founder Charles Frederick Worth (1825-1895) and displayed by this déshabillé, prevailed around 1880. This one piece dress in princess line has a high-necked, fitted bodice with stand-up collar. The front is close to the body while the rear protrudes over the buttocks in a distinctive, almost horizontal puff, so-called second bustle or Cul de Paris, known as strapontin in Paris. The strong horizontal emphasis of the buttocks is balanced by the verticality of the richly decorated, front opening of the dress. The set petticoat of honey-coloured silk satin, in line with tastes of the time, is trimmed in a lavish cinnamon lace framed by long satin ribbons laid into bows in two different tones of yellow. The highly set long sleeves are also richly decorated with top ruffles, satin ribbons, an identical lace border adorns the stand-up collar. For this dress C. F. Worth chose a luxurious dark-blue silk velvet woven with floral bouquets in autumnal tones. Wealthy Americans, ladies of the European court and important stage artists such as Sarah Bernhardt counted among the customers of this exclusive fashion house. Worth sketched a déshabillé, worn by Bernhardt in the third act of Sardous’s 1883 “Fédora”, that has a strongly resembles our house frock.
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