The Impact of Dress Reform on Fashion

THE IMPACT OF DRESS REFORM ON FASHION

Clearly, all efforts toward reforming dress had a lasting influence. The loose, Turkish-style trousers worn for the exercises became part of the archetypal gymnasium suit worn at colleges and high schools well into the mid twentieth century. And trousers remained quite acceptable and appropriate for hiking, biking, and many other recreational activities as well. The loose full trouser style occasionally sees revival as fashion today. Reform underwear--knit union suits, shirts and drawers--continued to be offered by stores and mail order catalogs. The drop seat union suit still provides a warm under layer for skiing and other winter sports.

Reform styles as fashion was not a novelty on the continent of Europe. Wertheim’s Department Store in Berlin had a dress reform department, which was run by 1903. And as early as 1901, a fashion magazine published in Vienna, Wiener Mode, illustrated various reform style gowns along with more fashionable dress. They clearly drew on the language of the artistic reformers, calling these dresses the "new style", "Empire Style" or "Empire Reform Style".

It is clear that even before 1909 the idea that women could wear loose-fitting artistically inspired clothing in public was a reality. Women not only became accustomed to wearing more comfortable clothing in their homes and during physical activities, but they also began seeing actresses, dancers, and opera singers wearing simpler artistically designed dresses on stage and in public. These entertainers sought out two of the most celebrated avant-garde designers in the early twentieth century, Paul Poiret and Mariano Fortuny.

These designers were acquainted with the gowns created by the German and Viennese artists and architects, as well as the artistic reform dress promoted by the Liberty Company. Fortuny’s Delphos dresses and Poiret’s Directoire models offered to the public in 1907 were similar to other artistic styles inspired by the Greek ideal. While these two men are often credited with freeing women from corsets, they were not the innovators. Rather, they were simply nourishing the seed that had been planted by the artistic dress reformers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The Empire, high-waisted, silhouette was dominant between 1909 and 1915. Gowns were often constructed of layers of soft, drapable and sometimes transparent silk fabrics, not unlike those imported and manufactured by the Liberty Co. in London. Other couture designers whose gowns reflect the reform style include Jacques Doucet and Lucille, and in the teens Vionnet and Chanel.

- Patricia A. Cunningham, PhD

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