This 1880 emerald green House of Worth gown belonged to the Morgan family and was most likely worn by Carolyn Fellowes Morgan (1832-1914) or one of her daughters. Carolyn married the prominent banker David Pierce Morgan (1831-1886), and the couple moved with their family from New York to Paris from 1879 to 1883. It is possible that during this period they purchased this House of Worth dress at the fashion house’s original location in Paris. The donor, her great granddaughter, Mrs. Philip Brooks, lived in Darien in the 1950s and ‘60s.

The dress features an elaborately embellished and sequined ivory skirt with a triple-tiered bustle in a contrasting emerald green and gold ribbon. The ensemble is completed by two different green bodices - a velvet evening bodice with a wide, scoop neck and short sleeves, and a long-sleeve green jacket with sequins that match the skirt. The gown is in pristine condition which serves as a testament to the quality and craftsmanship insisted upon by Charles Worth.

House of Worth was created in 1858 by Charles Frederick Worth, who quickly established a reputation for himself and his fashion designs as wearable works of art. Under the favor of Empress Eugenie, the wife of Emperor Napoleon III, House of Worth flourished as wealthy and socially ambitious women alike were drawn to Worth’s showpiece creations. His aggressive self-promotion earned him the titles “Father of Haute Couture” and “the first couturier.” The fashion house’s most successful years flanked 1900, and Worth himself developed a framework for making and marketing clothes that would shape the haute couture industry of the future. He was the first designer to develop a distinct brand logo by sewing his label into each piece of apparel he produced.