What happened to all those once-worn Worth gowns? 

What a delightful story and I can just picture the Farmer's daughters traipsing around in these gorgeous unsuitable gowns lol

Some of the gowns made their way to the Alaskan interior as well; there is an automotive museum in Fairbanks which displays period clothing next to the vehicles and in the collection are several Worth gowns.

That's not surprising. My great-grandmother had a cousin who was a maid to a wealthy family, and would get packages of clothes from her. She would pick them apart and remake them for her daughters (my grandmother and her sisters) because the styles were too fussy for them. People didn't necessarily treat their help well by today's standards, but they understood that help was easily replaceable, good help wasn't. It's better to give your maid a few dresses that you aren't going to wear again than have her steal your jewels and silver.

Tidbit: Perfume was vulgar to proper Victorians. Some suits had wood & velvet buttons for a small amount of unubtrusive perfume! I saw some of these wood-velvet buttons upcycled into earrings once, wished I got them. 100+ yrs later, could smell the scent!

That’s so funny it reminds me of a very funny story that happened to me and my roommate. My roommate Raymond is a storage locker purchaser he bids on peoples abandoned lockers then he takes all the stuff home and sells it on eBay or at garage sales. One such time he purchased a locker that came from a drag queen. The entire locker was filled with these extravagant beaded gowns in size 14 or larger and all these big shoes and purses. He tried to sell them online but had no luck and they were taking up so much room in my garage I told him he had to get rid of them, so we had a garage sale and we live in a predominately Hispanic neighborhood. Raymond put all the dresses and shoes on a rack and we opened for business. Before too long I noticed a little Hispanic woman who came with her whole family to the sale and she started going through the gowns we marked them to 1$ a piece just to get rid of them and she grabbed them up by the handful and stacked them on her husbands lap. She bought all of them at least 40 cocktail dresses and shoes and when she was paying I asked what she was going to do with them and she told me that she buys them all and sends them to her relatives in Mexico, all I could think of was some rural little Mexican village on Sunday mass with all these Mexican ladies dressed up in these big beaded drag queen cocktail gowns marching through the town square thinking about how fabulous they all looked. Very funny, thought I would make you laugh.

Well at least the gowns weren't going to waste! And I had no idea that loud dresses = wealth, so that was an interesting tidbit. :)

My husband's Great Grandmother wore a Worth gown when she was presented at Court in late c19th. We're trying to find out what happened to her wardrobe. Possibly given to the house staff or taken to India when she moved there.

Nowadays us common folk travel to the Goodwill and Thrift shops in the rich neighborhoods

No one: The fisher family: let's wear a ball gown to church #redefining Sunday best since... a while ago

🥰 *A (possibly haunted?) 16th century Inn with a library full of lovely, random old books?! Lock the door and throw away the key- I'm in heaven!!* 😄

Also the personal account by Deborah Mitford Cavendish about how they took some of the donated clothing, that was too fancy for the needy working folk, for themselves, only to have to hide when they found themselves at the same function as the donator 😯😧

This makes me want to write down the stories of my grandparents and great aunts and uncles... we may have more ways to preserve things now, but I don’t think there’s much emphasis on rural Manitoba in the 40’s... a hundred years from now it may be interesting, haha.

You have one of the most soothing voices I’ve ever heard

It wasn't only the clothes that would be given to the staff but also furniture. It's how we have on the family a beautiful plate dresser which was made on the beginning of the 20th century and my Great grand mother got has a wedding present from her employer. I remember as a children playing with feather that were used to decorate hat and which came also from the same source.

Hotels with libraries...that's so nice!

What a fantastic story! I was laughing throughout just imagining the rolling and bulging eyes at Sunday service. They're not just words on a page, they are wonderful recollections of memories that send the imagination back in time. That a box of such expensive treats from overseas could spark such emotion and excitement was captivating. I'm so glad you shared this experience. Thankyou!

I would imagine that after they'd been well worn every scrap of material would be repurposed for other clothes, furnishings, lampshades, bags, rugs etc

Reminds me of scenes from the Kate Winslet movie “The Dressmaker”, when the ladies of the “town” were wearing these grand outfits to work in the general store.

Such a fascinating book could of listened to you read the entire book . I'm so amazed they where only worn twice these ladies definitely had lots of money . I am also pleased they where re used and I can only imagine the look on people's faces when they saw the family wearing them to church lol probably thought they had suddenly become wealthy lol

Thank you for this interesting info!!! Glad someone could use and enjoy those valuable garments!!! It's not just people of the 21st century who are wasting, but it comes from way back! AND these garments were so valuable!! Any hand made article is precious, it's been put together stitch by stitch by loving hands!!

Bernadette put me on to your channel, but this was such an interesting excerpt! Thank you for sharing! Also, you have such a lovely voice you should read more often :-)

This reminds me of when my mother-in-law owned a bridal shop & would send outdated ie ‘last year’ flower girl/junior bridesmaid dresses to my girls. I got so many that I sent them to friends’ children & my little niece. Not exactly Worth but still struck delight in a lot of little girls’ hearts🤩🤗

So much fun to hear those personal accounts! Thank you for sharing!

My grandmother was a tailor born in 1901 she said that as part of her work she spent one day a week week doing detailed work and other days doing fast things for more money.

I just stumbled across this video and he you are, whispering this charming anecdote to me. Thank you so much. Now I can imagine myself an impoverished English girl wearing undeniably glamorous and hideously expensive clothing 200-odd years ago. What fun! How could I not subscribe?

I love stories like this. A little bit of history.

🤔 I have ALWAYS wondered what happened to all of the Worth gowns. That is a marvelous story- thank you so much for sharing!😂

Very interesting. And your voice is wonderful for reading. I felt like a little girl sitting on the edge of her chair waiting to hear what's next. 😇 (Of course I've always had a great imagination.) THANKYOU

Fascinating. I’m Lincolnshire born and of Irish parents. My Irish grandmother worked in America for 9 yrs before returning to Ireland to marry. Grandma worked for a wealthy Philadelphia family as a nanny. Her mistress allowed grandma to send off to Ireland her and her children’s castoffs. I can imagine the excitement in rural Ireland when these parcels of grand clothes arrived. I know they were probably not worth but they were of much better quality than my ancestors would have been familiar with.

I remember when my sister and I were teenagers our mother found a new charity shop; one very wealthy contributor had a passion for beautiful Laura Ashley dresses, which she wore only once or twice before giving them to the charity shop. They fitted me and my sister perfectly, so in spite of coming from a relatively impecunious family we had the most gorgeous dresses to strut our stuff in! I’m a great-grandmother now, but I will never forget the envious looks we used to get!

That would make antiquing in the area even more interesting to see if you could spot bits of Worth silk that have been made into lamp shades and other things. I would imagine as long as they've been separated from their volatile Stoke linings but the fashion silk on top would actually keep rather well

Sounds like maybe the loud dresses helped women show their wealth and their “Worth”. 😉 Thanks for sharing! Fascinating to hear about!

Great story and knowing that is truly an account by someone who knew is even better! 😃💚

Wonderful story! You made my day!

This is priceless! Victorian largesse and frugality in a single story. Thank you, Cathy.

Wow! It makes me think of Downton Abbey.

Someone please take photos & other reproduction of that book! And others there & in similar places. That library seems like a pure bliss & treasure to me! I live near the Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina, US. My great-grandfather owned some of the land that the Biltmore Estate is on, and like other people around here, he sold the land to Commodore Vanderbilt, and also was given a job working as a dairy farmer on the property for a while. We have a picture of my grandfather, if it's still around, at about age seven or eight in his little tweed knickerbockers and golf cap in front of the hardware store which is now a restaurant near the estate. Unfortunately the Vanderbilts are associated with extremely nefarious goings-on, but nevertheless the history is exquisite and valuable. I adore this video, you & your channel, the way you think & your projects!! 💛💕💛

Your voice always sounds lovely, but so cool to hear it kick in full gear when you start laughing at 6:43

Such a beautiful story!Thank you for sharing with all of us.I also had wondered and had no idea where their lovely "cast offs" went to! Those girls and ladies must of had so much fun.

What a wonderful find. Thank you.

I found it very interesting that she “bought” the second hand gowns that were discarded, which implies that rather than throwing them away or giving them away they were selling their used gowns.

What happened to the Worth gowns? Well, as soon as they left his shop they were *Worth-less...* Thank you for coming to my Tedtalk.

Oh clever Aunt Kate, bless her!

You truly never know where you will find something fabulous. A woman i worked with wrnt to lunch at a pub. On the way back she walked past a "junk" shop and went inside. She was engaged and had no wedding dress yet. Inside she found the most gorgeous cream colored beaded sheath style evening gown..just breath taking..there were beaded heels to match..The fit was.perfect. Inside was a sewn in tag from the designer with the woman's name and it was made for the Obama ball when he won the second term .

THAT was a Lovely snippet of past " history " !!! Thanks sòooo much !!!♥️

what a wonderful treasure to find, that book. thank you for sharing. so much history

What a nice surprise to find this book. Thank you for sharing...

My father started recording my grandfather and grandmother's stories when they were in their 60's.. Now I think I need to go visit and take a listen. Maybe I will finally find out why my hillbilly grandmother had proper tea every day. - Cat

Absolutely delightful and ohhhh to have been a fly on the wall when those boxes would arrive filled with the lovely dresses and other bits!!!😍😍😍😍

Loved this as it is in line with book I so enjoyed: Rose: A life in service to Lady Astor 😍

Thank you for sharing such a lovely story...

Thank you so much for sharing this little account of the book you’re reading! I love those kind of history tellings🤩🤩🤩💃🏻

Thank you for sharing these thoughts. So many times we just do not know what happened, and this gives us a window into the times.

What a fascinating find! Thank you for sharing. To this day women often sell their well kept and seldom worn clothes in high end consignment shops. Fashionable women who can’t afford these items or who are happy to find a good deal love these shops. These shops are usually in bigger cities like New York or small places like Palm Beach. I live in Miami Beach and there are three consignment shops and each one carries different price points. The shop owner inspects everything carefully before they accept items and often reject things the think won’t won’t appeal to their customers or that are too worn. More similar to the account you read is this fashion industry secret: Fashion PR firms that represent ready to wear designers send clothing to celebrities in hopes that their clothes will be photographed being worn by that celebrity. Those garments are handed out, worn or not, to friends and family or people who work for them depending, of course, of the quality and style of the clothes. The times have not changed so much for those who can’t be seen in the same clothes more than a once or twice. Sadly I think this habit of not wearing clothes more than a few times has trickled down to the mass market. This is why we have low quality “disposable” clothing at stores like H&M. It’s fodder for landfills and so many young designers are creating more ethical clothing which are well made and meant to be kept season after season...or how clothing was made and worn for most of history.

I haven't been to the UK in many years, but I remember that delightful series of books being sold. It is delightful hearing you "stage whisper" in that library. It is funny watching a waiter walking to and fro in the background. You are our mystery host, and about to offer us "clues." Just discovered your channel. I will be sharing this on Pinterest on a couple of my boards. Worth gowns were truly exquisite. I never realized they produced so many gowns! Of course, you'd have to own all the right corsets and undergarments to squeeze into them. I used to do a lot of historic performing professionally. Before that I loved wearing antique outfits -- I was very fortunate to fit into them, and loved these outfits. I'd wear them to do self-portraits, as well as to art openings and dances. Well, I'll get back to watching the rest of your video! My best wishes, Dianna (and Grayson, looking over my shoulder) Maryland, US

I love how your voice got super confident in the end!

Oh my goodness! I just found you and this is LOVELY! Thank you Miss Cathy.

Thank you for sharing this information. I can only imagine the stir that that going about town/to church would have cause the first few times these dresses were seen in public. History is so much fun!

What a great find! Treasure, Cathy.

My grandmother (born in 1897) was such a skilled seamstress. Unfortunately, I didn't inherit that skill. I can sew with store bought patterns, but nothing even close to what she was able to do. Love your videos of all the beautiful work you do.❤

Our western Canadian city museum has a Worth wedding gown (1890s, I believe) in the archives. I believe they have other Worth gowns too, but I don't know the history of them. I got to look at the wedding gown when studying design. The stitching/tailoring was astonishing. I remember the upper back and chest were very curved out to my modern eyes. The gown was simply gorgeous.

What FUN. I would have had the time of my life opening Up a crate of FABULOUS Worth designs .

This was just so lovely and relaxing to hear! While you were reading this I felt in peace, like if I were a little kid and my auntie was telling me a story to get through a storm or something like that. Thank you for this lovely bit of joy in this hard times of quarantine that we're going through because of COVID19, it made it a lil easyer.

Wow, what treasure! For that family as well as for is that you found these accounts! Thanks for sharing!

I love how excited you get about the things you're clearly passionate about. "I'd listen to you read the phone book" comes to mind. Not because of an accent, but the passion, interest and particular inflections you give to everything you care about.

Absolutely marvelous! Thank you for sharing that with us Cathy!

Such an amusing and charming story about the fate of the Worth gowns. Thank you for sharing this.

☺️ I loved this little story time so much, I had a goofy smile on my face the whole time. Thank you 💕

Interesting fact. I do agree with the grand-mother who had enough sense to know that, however tempting it might have been, wearing these garments in a small rural town was somewhat out of place

Oh Kathy! Thank you for sharing this wonderful story! And yes it totally made me smile 😊

I love this! Especially how excited you are about it.

Oh can you imagine? More fantastic than the best Christmas morning!

Thanks for sharing this, it's lovely to hear first hand accounts to mesh out the fashions seen in museums and in art works. That must have been quite the farming village!

Just amazing. Thank you for bringing me on the journey. Hugs from Halifax

I grew up in Lincolnshire as a child. 🥰🇨🇦🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

I love journals, I ordered the book from Amazon. Thanks for the book review it was most entertaining.

I absolutely love this kind of video.

Oh what a wonderful find! Thank you for sharing this unexpected end of the story for at least some of those wonderful gowns. Gloria 🐂

How lovely to have a library in a hotel. And what a treasure you found with such an interesting account of historical clothing.

What a fun and fascinating story! Thank you so much for sharing!

This is all very interesting. Thank you for sharing. I love your enthusiasm.

Such a delightful story. Thank you for sharing it.

Thank you for sharing. The story was delightful. Sending lots of love ❤ from sunny 🌅 Arizona 🌵 USA 🗽

Bits of history can be found in little known books if only people would continue to read and nourish the mind. So many fill their empty hours just watching the telly instead of reading a good book.

I had no idea loud clothes where a thing, let alone a sign of wealth. Please help me and remind me of this because it's definitely worth remembering for future projects!

Wonderful! Thank you for sharing

OMG Cathy! This is fantastic!

ROFLMAO That is too funny!!! Its amazing the books you can find when you aren't really looking for them!

Thank you!!! So appreciated.

This is HILARIOUS! It’s so reminds me of when my daughter bought a real Chanel purse for $5.00 at a local thrift store! Whomever discarded it didn’t value it!

What a great find!

i love a good book its hard to find them but if you do its worth the wait and i love getting lost in a story.

What a beautiful bedtime story. Thank you for sharing. ❤️

I have that very book! I bought it when I was in the UK years ago based off the cover, and was so pleased to read about Kate Fisher on the plane ride home! All of the stories are charming, but Kate was by far my favorite for obvious reasons. Thanks Cathy!

Fascinating story.

I bought the book... I think I’ve read it in the 70s...quite honest about people and life ...enjoying it and have had more than a few laughs while reading. I did not understand it back then, so my eyebrows are quite far into my hair line. : )

What a lovely book to come across like that, really made me smile.

I added this book to my amazon list after watching this video a couple of weeks ago... my copy arrived two days ago, thank you for recommending/sharing a tidbit from the book! I can’t wait to get my head thoroughly planted in the pages haha

What a great find!! THANK YOU for sharing it!

This is so interesting! Thank you for sharing!!!