Before Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, and long before Gigi and Bella Hadid, there was Marie Vernet, arguably the first model-influencer. Born in 1825, this Clermont-Ferrand native began her career in Paris as a saleswoman at luxury textile shop Gagelin, where she met the Englishman Charles Frederick Worth. At the time, he was just a simple—but talented—clerk. Their meeting set off a personal and professional domino effect for them both: at the store, they proved their good taste and were entrusted with the shop’s highest-end couture goods. They married in 1851 and had two sons, before they embarked on yet another collaboration, one that would change the fashion world forever: In 1858, they founded Maison Worth, which is now considered the first haute couture fashion house. The key to their success? A revolutionary artistic and commercial approach.
At Gagelin, Charles Frederick Worth began by designing outfits for his wife to wear at work and present to customers. This was the birth of models: Marie Vernet would wander the store’s aisles to present the pieces in motion. Gone were the days of wooden mannequins, frozen busts and “lookalikes” confined to the pages of newspapers: dresses never sell better than when women can easily imagine themselves in them. When Worth decided to present four collections a year, thus inventing the famous “seasons” of fashion shows that we know today, Marie was one of the models who wore the creations at dedicated events. Spring-summer, autumn-winter collections— the foundations of Fashion Week are there.
Clothing brought to life
The concept of the “living model,” before reserved for the art world, was extended to fashion in a very literal way. The relationship between the designer and his customers evolved thanks to the Worths’ innovations: Charles Frederick offered his creations for sale according to his production cycle, rather than responding to individual orders and going through the hassle of fabric selection and fittings, as had been customary until then. In short, while the customer remained the queen, the couturier was no longer an executor, and fashion was elevated to an art form.
Until September 7, 2025, the Petit Palais is devoting an exhibition to the prolific career of the father of haute couture. The catalog, published by Paris Musées, quotes an interview in which Charles Frederick Worth asserted: “My invention is the secret of my success. I don’t want people to invent for themselves; if they did, I’d lose half my business.” The text goes on to say, “His wife Marie points to his forehead and says, ‘There, you know, lies the secret of his success!’” According to the website of the town of Suresnes, where the couple built a villa to entertain the Parisian elite, their son Jean-Philippe described his parents’ dynamic in his memoirs: “In the beginning [Marie] was my father’s inspiration, and in the end the store’s celebrity. No customer ever treated her as a ‘supplier’; many, enchanted by her grace and charm, pretended to be her friend.”
The favorite influencer of queens and princesses
A skillful shopkeeper to begin with, Marie Vernet then became history’s first fashion ambassador. You may even call her the first influencer, without the help of any modern digital tool. She represented and embodied the codes of the House of Worth to potential customers, introducing them to her husband’s signature pieces (evening gowns and so-called “drag dresses” for the fancy dress balls popular in Paris at the time), with the aim of securing their loyalty. Marie Vernet extended her influence by wearing Worth’s most beautiful ball gowns to social events, where nobility rubbed shoulders with intellectuals and artists.
Her first fan? Empress Eugénie, won over through her friend Pauline von Metternich, an Austro-Hungarian aristocrat and wife of the Austrian ambassador to France. Empress Eugénie, Napoleon’s wife, saw on Worth the sumptuous ornaments and noble materials worthy of her imperial wardrobe, and made him her exclusive supplier. Eugénie’s wardrobe soon attracted the interest of elegant women from courts all over Europe and beyond, as the wealthiest fashionistas flocked from Japan and America to try on clothes in the couturier’s salon. Worth’s loyal customers included Sissi, Empress of Austria, Countess Greffulhe, Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of the Belgians, Russian Princess Bariatinsky, Italian Queen Marguerite de Savoie, and the star of all stars, Sarah Bernhardt.
Marie Vernet gradually withdrew from public life beginning in 1865, due to her declining health. She continued to run Maison Worth after her husband’s death in 1895, and herself died three years later. The house continued to operate until 1956, thanks to their sons and descendants, who developed ready-to-wear and perfume businesses under the name.
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