Fashion History of The Aesthetic Dress Movement

What Was the Aesthetic Movement?

In the mid-Victorian era 1870-1880 a group of talented artists, poets, writers and some actors were known as the Aesthetes. The painter and designer William Morris and architect Voysey designed houses together. They were fastidious about every detail from wallpaper and furniture, to window and fireplace proportions and choice of curtains.

William Morris designed textiles and embroideries and produced them through his company Morris and Co. Many of his original flowing organic designs are still used by Sanderson and Co. (Recently Sanderson's designs was bought out.) Today although the colouration is more suited to modern living.
Left - The designer craftsman artist and writer William Morris.

The Aesthetic movement which they led was a revulsion to what they saw as ugly machine made products of the Industrial Revolution and to certain artefacts seen at the Great Exhibition of 1851. This ranged from a distaste felt for the ugliness of false veneers to the crudeness of aniline dyes and the over working of Victorian imagery. It ignored the fact that those on low incomes wanted to be able to have cheap goods that imitated upper class elegance and which could only be made by cheap mass methods.

Aesthetic dress may also have been a revulsion to the over use of the sewing machine which allowed excessive embellishment of dresses simply because it could achieve over trimming more easily.

Aesthetes were often vegetarians. Those within the movement were often early animal welfare rights campaigners. They objected to the use of feathers on hats and the use of whole dead birds as a hat ornament. Modern vegetarianism has its roots in this movement.

Pre-Raphaelite Influence

The Aesthetes were influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite paintings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Edward Burne Jones who idealized medieval life in imaginary ethereal scenes. The women in the painting appeared to wear no corsetry and the freedom and naturalness of this was admired by the Aesthetes. To blend and suit these surroundings it was felt that some reform in style of dress was needed and among artistic people it was known as Aesthetic dress.

Pre-Raphaelite dress by Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1886.

In contrast the second type of reform in dress came from those who thought medical reasons were why women's clothing needed reform. Both types of clothing were available from Arthur Liberty's shop in London.