Afternoon dress 1890s

This afternoon dress, by the House of Worth, epitomizes late 19th-century high fashion. Dresses such as this were designed to be seen in the semi-private sphere of the home, and worn during visiting hours. The House of Worth was the first to present garments designed and made in advance, rather than created on commission for a specific client. As such, the fashion house is credited with inventing what we now call haute couture. This transition marked a shift in the relationship between dressmaker and client, reflecting broader changes in gender roles and the burgeoning consumer culture of the time. While the dress is visually striking, its elaborate design also speaks to the constraints placed on women of the era. The restrictive silhouette, heavy fabrics, and impractical embellishments would have limited the wearer's movement and reinforced societal expectations of femininity and status. How did the wearer negotiate these tensions between adornment and confinement, self-expression and social expectation?