#0571 $1,250
Bridesmaid's dress, c.1910
This lovely bridesmaid's dress shows the influence of the Aesthetic Movement on fashion in the early 20th century. The simple high-waisted style, which can be worn without a corset, was favored by the Aesthetes, who wished to free women from the restrictions of 19th century dress.
The dress is fashioned in layers with a golden mesh tunic over an ivory satin satin gown. The neckline, hems, and sleeves of the tunic are trimmed with balls covered with gold silk thread. The satin flowers have mesh centers; the leaves are green fabric.
The dress closes in back with hooks. The skirt forms a graceful short train. The dress can be worn but would also make an important addition to a collection of wedding dresses.
The soft golden hue of the dress and the natural looking floral decoration together look to nature, rather than art, for inspiration. The unaffected, natural style of the dress is irresistible.
The Aesthetic Movement ("art for art's sake") swept through England and America in the late 19th century. The Movement was an all-encompassing river which merged subsidiary streams: earlier, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in painting and later, both the Arts and Crafts Movement and Art Nouveau in the fine and decorative arts.
The Movement was an intellectual and aesthetic reaction against the ugliness of the machine-made products of the Industrial Revolution. Aesthetes held that proportion, balance, and beauty, especially female beauty in motion, were the ideal forms for the artist to work on. More than any other artistic artifact, beautiful clothing can adorn and enhance woman in motion.
The condition is almost excellent. There are a few small mends in the mesh of the skirt. They are difficult to detect against the satin underskirt. The dress is all original and has not been altered.
It measures: 36" bust, 26 1/2" high waist, 28" waist, 38" hip, 13" from the shoulder to the high waist, and 55" from the shoulder to the front hem.
