Losing everything, his mother, Mary Worth, was forced to clean houses to support her family, while Charles was also forced to go to work. Apprenticed to a printer but finding the work not to his taste, Worth left after one year and in 1838 went to work as a bookkeeper for the London yard goods firm of Swan and Edgar. Like many such firms, Swan and Edgar supplied ladies with fabric yardage that would be taken to a dressmaker to create one-of-a-kind gowns and other garments. Worth later moved to Lewis and Allenby, London silk merchants, where he stayed until 1845. At Lewis and Allenby Worth learned about textiles. He also observed the social intricacies of fashionable society, and vowed to be a part of it someday. During his time off from work, the young apprentice visited art galleries, where his study of the clothing of past eras would influence his later designs.
After moving to Paris in 1845, Worth found work with a fabric and dress accessories shop, Maison Gagelin. In his shop M. Gagelin employed young women to model shawls, cloaks, and other accessories for his clients. Worth fell in love with one of these models, Marie Vernet, and the two were eventually married.
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