That Time the Ladies of the House of Worth Meme I Made Broke the Internet

The last 72 hours have been a bit wild.

Like everyone else, this quarantine has been hard. I’m a writer, and during times like these, I want to be producing clever, delightful, marketable works of great import. But instead, I’ve found myself sharing memes and glued to social media to cope.

A few days ago, I was joking around with Lauren Harris on Facebook about some of the quarantine memes we were seeing, and she said someone should do one with fashion from the House of Worth.

You may have no idea what the House of Worth is — I figured not many people would. The House of Worth was the fashion house of the 19th and early 20th centuries. If you’ve spent any time at my blog, or met me in person, you know I have a monstrous affinity for fancy dresses, and the House of Worth has not only served as a major inspiration for my fictitious fripperies but also inspired the name of one of the characters in These Marvelous Beasts, Worth Goodwin.

So, well, I thought I’d make this meme. I mean, sarcasm and fancy dresses? I didn’t want to think too hard about it. Memes work by being surprisingly simplistic. So I found some lovely fashion plates from the House of Worth, added some cheeky commentary and in between conference calls, I threw it up on the internet, not thinking that anyone outside my geeky little corner would find it amusing.

Well… 10,000 Facebook shares, totally trending on Twitter, and plenty of news coverage in mainstream media later… I guess I was wrong about that.

Here’s a few highlights:

I did make a follow-up, with the lads, as well.

This makes me glad on a number of fronts. Mostly because, well, sharing things is cool. Knowing that people find joy and identify with you is pretty rad. I write for a living, and nothing I’ve ever done has had this kind of a reach. And quite frankly, this is so SUPER ON BRAND FOR ME that it’s kind of hilarious. Things kind of suck right now… but this definitely doesn’t.

For the record, I’m totally Clarissa. And I am having a jolly time, all things considered.