Artistic Dress movement
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Jane Morris (The Blue Silk Dress) by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1868. |
The
Artistic Dress movement and its successor,
Aesthetic Dress, were
fashion trends in
nineteenth century clothing.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti and other members of the
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood were conscious archaizers, emulating the work of the "old masters" and choosing romantic, medieval subjects. They dressed their models in long flowing gowns loosely inspired by styles of the Middle Ages. These styles were then adopted by the painters' wives and models for everyday dress. Dresses were loosely fitted and comparatively plain, often with long puffed sleeves; they were made from fabric in muted colors derived from natural
dyes, and could be ornamented with embroidery in the
art needlework style. Artistic dress was an extreme contrast to the tight
corsets,
hoop skirts and
bustles, bright synthetic
aniline dyes, and lavish ornamentation seen in the mainstream fashion of the period.
In the
1860s, artistic dress became popular in intellectual circles and among artists for its natural beauty; it also reinforced their social ideals of quality materials, respect for the work of the hands, and the purity of medieval design.
More images:
Early artistic dress: Symphony in White No. 1 by Whistler, 1862; contrast with
Mainstream fashion of the era: fashion plate from Godey's Ladies' Book 1861The young May Morris by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1872Aesthetic dress of the
1880s and
'90s carries on many of the external characteristics of Artistic dress (rejection of
tightlacing, simplicity of line, and emphasis on beautiful fabrics), even though, at its core,
Aestheticism rejected the moral and social goals of Pre-Raphaelitism. The Aesthetes' belief that the Arts should provide refined sensuous pleasure was a direct rejection of the reverence for simplicity and handwork propounded by
William Morris.
Aesthetic dress encompasses a range of modes, from the
Japonnaise gowns and
Kate Greenaway-inspired children's
smocks of
Liberty & Co. to the velvet jackets and knee breeches of
Oscar Wilde's "aesthetic lecturing costume" for his speaking tour of America in
1882.
See also*
Victorian dress reform*
Victorian fashionFrom artistic circles, artistic and aesthetic dress spread to fashionable ones. The delicate, lightly-corsetted
tea gowns of the turn of the century echo the lines of late aesthetic dress, and in their turn pave the way for the early
Art Deco creations of
Paul Poiret.
*
The Souls*
Victorian fashion*
Victorian dress reformElizabeth Aslin,
The Aesthetic Movement: Prelude to Art Nouveau, 1969, ISBN 0236176013.
*
Aesthetic Dress*
The Aesthetic Dress Movement at Fashion-Era*
Pre-Raphaelite Ideals and Artistic Dress*
Reforming Fashion, 1850-1914: Politics, Health, and Art, Ohio State University
