From "When Worth was King", by Anne Hollander

In calling himself an artist he invoked the new authority of the artist as prophet and visionary.

'Art for the sake of art" was a new countercultural slogan among the painters of the avant-garde, who opposed the formulae of official art and the careers it assured. Beautifully rendered salon paintings on mythological themes were being challenged by scenes of uncompromising reality executed with a painterly directness that showed respect for the importance of the medium and the subject. The independent artist, who was scornful of any success that smacked of artistic compromise, became a new hero. As in any commercial and conventional age, creative imagination was a rare commodity. Worth capitalized on this. In calling himself an artist he invoked the new authority of the artist as revolutionary prophet and pure-minded visionary, when in fact he functioned as an official decorator paid to produce delicious confections for the rich. His photograph in later life shows him in a soft velvet cap and fur-lined robe, a costume worn (like Wagner's similar outfit) in imitation of Rembrandt, the great hero of artistic self-determination. Worth had come a long way from the dry-goods counter.

In fact, as an artist, Worth was a wonderful designer. He worked in a new medium - the complete image of the dressed woman, not just her dress. Far from ordering him to come to them, the great ladies often went to his atelier before the ball to put on their downs, receive the final touches, and submit to his approval, confident that his eye was clearer than their own. He had a gift not just for good tailoring and for embellishing feminine looks but also for understanding advanced trends in modern design. Although he had no part in the revolutionary new vistas opened up and illuminated by Monet and Degas, his works do bear the unmistakable flavor of what was to become Art Nouveau during the decade in which died. His mature designs show a sinuous harmony among all elements of each costume, a rhythmic clarity of applied decoration, a new and dynamic asymmetrical use of old motifs.