Charles Frederick Worth was born in Bourne, Lincolnshire in England in13th October 1826. His father, William Worth and a solicitor deserted the family after going bankrupt. His mother, therefore, started working as a housekeeper. Though he had always wanted to be a printer, he was forced by the circumstances to take a job. He joined the fabric shop "Swan and Edgar", and later started working in another shop called Lewis and Allenby". This is where he gained his knowledge of and experience with fabrics.
When he was twenty years old, he left London and went to Paris, where he found employment at the fashionable drapery house, Gegelin and Opigez. Here his knowledge of fabrics increased, and he also studies bookkeeping, and became proficient in the art of salesmanship. This shop is also where he met Marie, who was one of the store's models, and was soon to become his wife and bear them two sons.
At that time, lady's clothing was made by dressmakers who neither designed them nor introduced new styles, but just followed their clients" specifications. Styles were just copied from magazines or other places, and it was up to the client to dress elegantly. This is the aspect of the fashion world Worth changed drastically, and became known for as the "Father of Haute Couture". He designed gowns made of muslin for the store model, Marie, to wear. When people noted the perfect fit and elegance of his design, they asked to have a dress made up like that using any of the store's fabrics.
Worth, in 1958, who was a junior partner in the shop by this time, proposed expanding the shop to include high quality made-to-measure clothes. However, his employer refused, and Worth left the shop to open his own with a Swedish partner, Bobergh, called Worth et Bobergh. .
Worth knew that in order to attract the support of wealthy clients, he had to become known in court circles, especially the French court, since that was the most influential, lead by fashionable Empress Eugenie.