{"product_id":"charles-worth-the-englishman-who-invented-parisian-haute-couture-with-the-invaluable-help-of-his-french-wife-marie-and-the-empress-eugenie","title":"Charles Worth, the Englishman Who Invented Parisian Haute Couture: ... with the invaluable help of his French wife Marie and the Empress Eugénie","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEven the French acknowledge this English designer, Charles Worth (1825-95) as the founder of French \u003cem\u003ehaute couture.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e This new biography by the author of \u003cem\u003e1000 Years of Annoying the French\u003c\/em\u003e tells for the first time the full story of Worth's often-underestimated wife Marie, who was his muse, chief saleswoman and the first-ever full-time fashion model.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWriting with the help of the Worth family\u003c\/strong\u003e, Stephen Clarke is able to correct received wisdoms about Charles' and Marie's early life, their methods and their relationship.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCoincides with the \u003cstrong\u003ebicentenary\u003c\/strong\u003e of both Charles Worth and Marie Worth née Vernet. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe story in brief: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e1845: an impoverished Englishman arrives in Paris. Jobless and speaking almost no French, Charles Worth has recently completed an apprenticeship as a fabric salesman in London. After a year of sweeping floors, he gets a job\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eat a chic Parisian fabric shop, where he meets a salesgirl, Marie Vernet, also newly qualified.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe ambitions of this lower-class Anglo-French couple arouse fierce jealousies in snobbish Paris, but together they will lay the foundations of the modern fashion industry: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- Charles invents himself as France's first male fashion designer and dictator of style.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- Marie becomes the first full-time fashion model, on the first-ever Parisian catwalk.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e- They create the first must-have designer label in history, worn by the 19th century's most glamorous women.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Stephen Clarke","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":47286743531756,"sku":"9782958566357","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0684\/1791\/3068\/files\/9782958566357.jpg?v=1770461792","url":"https:\/\/intl.allstora.com\/products\/charles-worth-the-englishman-who-invented-parisian-haute-couture-with-the-invaluable-help-of-his-french-wife-marie-and-the-empress-eugenie","provider":"Allstora","version":"1.0","type":"link"}