Artistic Dress Movement Definition

The Artistic Dress movement and its successor, Aesthetic Dress, were fashion trends in nineteenth-century clothing. Artistic dress was loosely fitted and comparatively plain, often with long puffed sleeves, made from fabric in muted colours derived from natural dyes and ornamented with embroidery in the art needlework style. It stood in extreme contrast to the tight corsets, hoop skirts, bustles and lavish ornamentation of mainstream fashion of the period.

The Artistic Dress movement and its successor, Aesthetic Dress, were fashion trends in nineteenth century clothing.

Artistic dress

Dante Gabriel Rossetti and other members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood were conscious archaizers, emulating the work of the "old masters" and chosing 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.

Aesthetic dress

Aesthetic 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 Anerica in 1882.

Influence on mainstream fashion

From 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.

References

Elizabeth Aslin, The Aesthetic Movement: Prelude to Art Nouveau, 1969, ISBN 0236176013.

Related Dress Topics:

Victorian Dress Reform

Skirts / Dresses

The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/artistic_dress_movement). 11/2/04

Pre-Raphaelite Origins and a Loose, Plain Alternative

The Artistic Dress movement was a fashion trend in nineteenth-century clothing, and its starting point was painting rather than the fashion trade. 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. Those studio gowns did not stay in pictures: the styles were then adopted by the painters' wives and models for everyday dress, which is how an artistic preference became a wearable movement. The resulting dresses were loosely fitted and comparatively plain, often with long puffed sleeves, and that looseness was the point. The body was not forced into a fashionable silhouette but allowed to fall under soft, flowing fabric, so the dress followed natural form instead of reshaping it with rigid structure underneath.

Materials and decoration carried the same values. Artistic dresses were made from fabric in muted colours derived from natural dyes, and they could be ornamented with embroidery in the art needlework style. Muted natural colour separated the style from the bright synthetic aniline dyes of mainstream fashion, and hand embroidery separated it from lavish applied ornament. Artistic dress was an extreme contrast to the tight corsets, hoop skirts and bustles, bright synthetic dyes and lavish ornamentation seen in mainstream fashion of the period. In the 1860s it became popular in intellectual circles and among artists for its natural beauty, and it reinforced their social ideals of quality materials, respect for the work of the hands, and the purity of medieval design. The dress was therefore an argument worn on the body: about craft, about history and about how clothing should fit. Wearing it signalled membership in a circle that valued handwork and medieval purity over commercial fashion, which is why the style spread first through studios, drawing rooms and intellectual society rather than through ordinary shops.

Aesthetic Dress and Influence on Mainstream Fashion

Its successor, Aesthetic Dress, carried the look forward in the 1880s and 1890s. Aesthetic dress carries on many of the external characteristics of Artistic dress, including 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 held that the arts should provide refined sensuous pleasure, a direct rejection of the reverence for simplicity and handwork propounded by William Morris. In practice Aesthetic dress encompasses a wide range, from the Japonnaise gowns and Kate Greenaway-inspired children's smocks of Liberty and Co. to the velvet jackets and knee breeches of Oscar Wilde's aesthetic lecturing costume for his speaking tour of America in 1882. The shared thread through all of these forms is beauty of fabric and line without tight structure, pursued for pleasure and effect rather than for moral instruction.

From artistic circles, Artistic and Aesthetic dress spread to fashionable ones, and their influence outlasted the movements themselves. 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. That sequence matters for fashion history because it shows reform dress affecting the mainstream not by replacing it at once, but by softening it step by step: looser fit, lighter corsetry, simpler line and more beautiful fabric gradually became acceptable outside intellectual and artistic circles. The movement is also closely linked to Victorian dress reform, which shared its opposition to tightlacing and restrictive construction and argued for clothing that allowed freer movement. Read together, Artistic dress, Aesthetic dress, the tea gown and early Poiret form a continuous loosening of nineteenth-century dress that leads directly into twentieth-century fashion, and they explain why a style that began as a painters' medieval revival is still cited as a turning point in how modern dress developed.

Common Questions

What was Artistic dress?

Artistic dress was a nineteenth-century style of loosely fitted, comparatively plain dress, often with long puffed sleeves, made in muted colours from natural dyes and ornamented with art needlework embroidery.

Who promoted Artistic dress?

Dante Gabriel Rossetti and other members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood promoted the style. They dressed their models in long flowing gowns loosely inspired by the Middle Ages, and the styles were adopted by the painters' wives and models for everyday dress.

How did Aesthetic dress differ from Artistic dress?

Aesthetic dress of the 1880s and 1890s kept the rejection of tightlacing, simplicity of line and emphasis on beautiful fabrics, but at its core Aestheticism rejected the moral and social goals of Pre-Raphaelitism in favour of refined sensuous pleasure.

Artistic Dress Movement