1900’s The Rise of Haute Couture

What was the fashion like during the 1900’s - 20’s? According to the book, A History of Fashion - ‘Men wore frock coats and Toppers, women in tiny fitted boleros or jackets which fitted smoothly over the hips and buttocks but were enlarged at the backs by godets – shaped or triangular panels and so long that the owner was obliged to lift them up, crossing streets.’

Haute Couture can trace its steps back to the mid 19th century. A fabric merchant called Charles Fredrick Worth moved to Paris in 1845. He made dresses for his wife and muse and hired young women to wear his dresses in public places.

Quickly he determined to his customers what they should wear and soon accrued a clientele of wealthy women.

Worth’s two sons Gaston and Jean Phillipe entered the family business and in 1868 formed the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, a governing body that still presides to this day.

He implemented bright colours. His exoticism won him headlines and his infamous World Dress inspired by the ballet russes and the Japanese kimono transcended cultures borders.

It can’t be underestimated how important societal changes in the plight for the rights of women and their pursuit of political and sexual freedom, created a movement for more rational clothing. Innovations such as the bicycle inspired designers to adapt their designs to accommodate freedom of movement.

Divided dresses replaced conventional daywear, replacing laces and flounces. The suffragettes was formed in 1903 with the aim of allowing women the right to vote.

Women were no longer seen as ornaments or disposable pleasures when the Great War (First World War) erupted in 1914 and it was all hands on deck. Women were recruited to fill the labour shortage.

Paul Poiret was one of the more forward thinking designers of the day. Poiret shifted the focus away from the strictures and rigours of Corsets and Godot's (which he had studied under established couturier Jacques Doucet) and designed garments that emphasized drape.

Clothes were to become more practical for the workers. Bond street Couturiers began to produce dresses designed for active wear. Skirts became shorter.

The look of the working woman would later serve as the inspiration for Coco Chanel, who eschewed the long form dresses of Poiret citing them as impractical for the modern day.