Worth: The Birth of Haute Couture

Petit Palais, Paris, FR

7 May- 7 September, 2025

For the first time, the Palais Galliera is joining forces with the Petit Palais to present an exceptional exhibition dedicated to the House of Worth.

Charles Frederick Worth (1825-1895), born in England, was a key figure in the history of fashion and the founder of a fashion house that became the epitome of Parisian luxury. At the origin of haute couture, Worth founded his eponymous house at 7 rue de la Paix, whose history spans four generations and almost a century.

Spread over 1100 m2 in the grand galleries of the Petit Palais, this retrospective brings together more than 400 works – clothing, objects and accessories, paintings and graphics – to create a vast fresco of the creations of the House of Worth, as well as the protagonists who have written its history. It promises to be an exceptional exhibition, given the fragility of the pieces on display, the number of silhouettes (almost 80) and the way in which a world in the making and its legacy are portrayed, based on extensive documentation.

From the Second Empire to the Roaring Twenties, a page of history is being written: that of the invention of the figure of the great couturier and of the mechanisms for creating and marketing fashion that are still in force and whose foundations were laid by Worth at the end of the 19th century.

Exhibition conceived and realised with Palais Galliera Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris

With the support of Chanel

The exhibition’s cultural programme is made possible by the support of Fondation Signature

Find more information online here.

Image: Robe d’intérieur ou tea-gown, Worth, vers 1897
Soie façonnée à fond en satin vert et motifs en velours coupé bleu ; dentelle de coton mécanique ; doublure en taffetas de soie changeant vert et bleu
© Stanislas Wolff

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