I saw this post about what would have the weird sister in Dracula be wearing and the OP wrote in tags that they would be lounging in Aesthetic tea gowns and I couldn’t have agreed more, so obviously I needed to sketch them. Think of this as a part two for my sketches about some of the characters in 1897 clothing.
I did more historical fanart so here’s my references again, if someone’s interested in that. I’m planning on writing an in depth post about the Aesthetic Dress Movement and other Victorian counterculture movements related to it like Arts and Crafts and Reform Dress movements, but I thought I could do a little explanation of it here.
Aesthetic or artistic movement was a larger art movement opposing industrialization and rejecting moralistic art to opt for “art for art’s sake” with very close ties to Arts and Crafts movement, which was socialist anti-industrial art movement. Oscar Wilde was the most well know participant of the movement. Aesthetic dress followed the same principle emphasizing natural beauty and handwork instead of industrial production. Aesthetic dress rejected the mainstream strict silhouette and embraced flowing shapes, nature imagery, natural materials and dyes and medieval influence in style and craft techniques. For example smocking, a medieval decorative pleating technique, was very popular among the movement. Artistic dress took other historical influences too, though Medievalism was at the core, like Watteu pleats from Rococo fashion, empire waistline and flowing shapes inspired by antique Greece. Aesthetic dresses were simple, often with limited color palette and with few decorations often emerging from the construction methods themselves.
Aesthetic movements roots are in the 1850s when Arts and Crafts movement first took shape, but it started to gain traction and it go it’s name too in 1870s. At first there was a lot of resistance against the movement and it’s radical ideas of fashion and beauty in mainstream, but there was a shift when Liberty of London (Liberty & Co), a very famous and influential department store for design history, hired a proponent of Artistic Dress as their dress department consultant in 1884. The tea gown had already been born in 1870s from the wrapper as a more presentable house dress but still very comfortable. From the beginning it was influence by Aesthetic dress, but Liberty & Co really popularized the Aesthetic tea gown. By 1890s Aesthetic dress had become mainstream. Aesthetic influence is very clear in the 1890s fashion. The huge mutton sleeves, the very high collars, the simpler designs with much less decoration than 1870s and ‘80s, the nature motifs came all from Aesthetic dress. Though of course the ideals of anti-industrialism, anti-consumerism, natural materials and hardwork were not incorporated into the mainstream fashion that was more industrialized and consumerist than ever. Aesthetic dress still was going strong thorough 1890s and beyond though.
This is an Aesthetic tea gown by Liberty & Co from 1897. Very medievalist with the long sleeves and gathered waistline. Also very typical earthy green color.
An Illustration of Aesthetic dress from 1905. It’s sure several years later than the book is set, but it’s still pretty similar to the designs from 1890s as the movement was all about what we would call today slow fashion.
This aesthetic tea gown is from 1895. It also has the empire silhouette, loose pleats and a earthy pink.
