Corset, English

<p> Corset, English, 1883. Museum no. T.84-1980</p>

Corset
English
1883
Satin, yellow leather, lace, metal fittings
Museum no. T.84-1980
© Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Red satin corset, bound with yellow leather in stripes with a lace trim at the top and a leather panel down the centre with metal loop and stud buttons on the front.

This was the kind of restrictive garment that dress reformers rejected.

Smocked dress by Liberty, England

<p> Smocked dress by Liberty, England, c. 1893-94. Museum no. T.17-1985</p>

Smocked dress
Liberty & Co London, England
1893-1894
Pongee silk, white lace trim
Museum no. T.17-1985
© Victoria & Albert Museum, London

The dress is made of blue pongee silk trimmed with smocking and machine-made lace, full length with a train. It has double puff elbow-length sleeves, trimmed with smocking and frilled edge. It fastens at the back with brass hooks and silk eyes. The bodice is lined with silk twill and well boned. The waist-band fastening is of corded silk with a double-pronged buckle. The skirt is lined with cotton. Artistic dress was quite distinctive. In the late nineteenth century women wore soft dresses with long sleeves, sometimes drawn in at the waist. Tight corsets were not essential but a lightweight corset with minimal boning was worn to support the bust. The skirt could be slightly trained and it hung in folds. There were no hoops or frames to extend it in any way. The waist was often raised and the upper sleeves were puffed. The decoration might be inspired by ancient Greek or Italian Renaissance dress. Lightweight, washable fabrics as well as winter velvets and wools in colours considered to be artistic were popular. In the 1870s lemon, mint green, cream, fawn and salmon pink were favoured, and later in the century soft deep purple and greens were worn.

SKH Erbprinz Luitpold von Bayern

<p> SKH Erbprinz Luitpold von Bayern, about 1914. Museum no. B.102-1993</p>

SKH Erbprinz Luitpold von Bayern
About 1914
Photograph
Museum no. B.102-1993
© Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Photographic sepia postcard of portrait proportions, showing Prince Luitpold of Bayern in aesthetic dress of the type made popular by Oscar Wilde. He wears a loose-fitting single-breasted jacket of dark satin with lace-trimmed collar and cuffs, matching satin knee- breeches, dark stockings, and black patent pumps with large buckles. He is standing by a Louis Quinze sofa in a half-panelled room with an arabesque patterned wallpaper. Artistic men often wore a wide-brimmed soft hat, long hair and sometimes adopted knee breeches. Artistic dress continued to be worn throughout the twentieth century. However, after the First World War, mainstream fashionable dress became less cumbersome and restrictive.

'Quite too utterly utter' songsheet, England

<p> &#39;Quite too utterly utter&#39; songsheet, England, 1881. Museum no. S.34-1993</p>

Songsheet: 'Quite too utterly utter'
Written and composed by Robert Coote
Princess Theatre
English
1881
Colour lithograph (signed Alfred Concanen)
Museum no. S.34-1993
© Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Songsheet 'Quite Too Utterly Utter; A New Aesthetic Roundelay' showing an image of a long-haired artistic man in a velvet jacket, a soft-collared shirt with a necktie, his hands clasped, singing the praises of two large octagonal vases with large plants one of which is a sunflower. The song satirises the Aesthetic Movement of the 1880`s.

Artistic men also wore velvet, which was only worn in fashionable circles for informal garments such as smoking jackets and caps. This style of dress was satirized in Gilbert and Sullivan's opera 'Patience', first produced in 1881. It poked fun at the attitudes of the aesthetes whilst at the same time showing the public the beauty of their art and dress, and promoting the store Liberty in the printed programme. The costumes were all made from Liberty fabric.

Robe by Liberty, England

<p> Robe by Liberty, England, late 1890s. Museum no. T.57-1976</p>

Robe
Liberty & Co
London, England
Late 1890s
Silk and cotton brocade, silk satin, silk plush, taffeta
Museum no. T.17-1985
Made in Liberty's Artistic and Historic Costume Studio for a member of the Liberty family.
© Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Robe of silk and cotton brocade with a silk-satin front panel, silk-plush edgings and a taffeta lining. The puffed sleeves, wide cuffs and velvet edgings is inspired by plain, loose 16th century gowns. The woven sunflower and pomegranate motif was a recurring design on objects associated with the Aesthetic Movement and the subtle tones were popular 'artistic' colours used in both dress and furnishing in the 1890s.

In 1875 Arthur Lazenby Liberty opened the store in Regent Street, London, which is still there today. As well as specialising in importing Far Eastern and Indian goods, the firm commissioned designs from both new and well-established designers and craftspeople. The artistic standard was high and the store was patronized by artists and fashionable people alike. It became internationally renowned for textiles. Liberty's flowing materials were ideally suited to the artistic style, and the name `Liberty silk' became synonymous with the material used by all the dressmakers for this new fashion, whether it came from Liberty or not. Liberty also produced artistic dresses in their Artistic and Historic Costume Studio. These clothes were described as never being out of fashion.

Dress by Liberty, England

<p> Dress by Liberty, England, c. 1894. Museum no. T.56-1976</p>

Dress
Liberty & Co
London, England
about 1894
Velvet, satin-stitch embroidery, iridescent beads
Museum no. T.17-1985
Made in Liberty's Artistic and Historic Costume Studio for a member of the Liberty family.
© Victoria & Albert Museum, London

The dress is inspired by the fashions of the late 15th century and consists of a dark green velvet overdress, with epaulettes, a wide V neckline, a high waist and a full, gathered skirt. It is trimmed with bands of satin-stitch embroidery in paler green silk and iridescent beads. The neckline is filled with a pleated front of green and yellow Liberty Hop and Ribbon damask. The same material is used for the gathered leg-of-mutton sleeves. The gown is lined with green silk and has a yellowish green frill at the hem. The bodice fastens in the front with hooks and eyes and is boned. The back of the skirt is held with tapes and elastic bands. The black satin waistband is marked: 'Liberty & Co Artistic and Historic Costume Studio, 222 Regent St, W.'