Germany

While the roots of Artistic Dress are firmly placed in Britain, it is indisputable that Germany was the important center of Artistic Dress by 1901.  In fact, a more appropriate title for the medium would be its German iteration, Kunsterlische Kleid (but I’m going to stick with Aritistic Dress).

Germany’s prominence in the field was established in 1900, when Fredrich Deneken of the Kaiser Wilhelm museum in Krefeld, with the help Alfred Mohrbutter and Henry van de Velde, organized Ausstellung moderner Damenkostüme nach Künstler-Entwürfen (Exhibition of modern women’s outfits designed  by artists).  This exhibition was covered in the local papers of nearly every German city, a number of Austrian papers, and as far away as New York city (where it was reported in a German language paper).

The seminal nature of this exhibit is revealed in the archives of the Kaiser Wilhelm museum, which holds the correspondence of Dr. Deneken.  For the next 15 years, Deneken received hundreds of requests of information and advice from authors and curators seeking to work on Artistic Dress. Nine exhibitions dedicated to Artistic Dress followed the Krefeld show, six in Germany, two in Vienna, and one in Zurich.1   After 1900, Artistic Dress also began to be featured in the popular applied arts exhibitions held throughout Germany.  (It also appeared in applied arts exhibitions in Turin and Vienna). 

Sixteen books on the topic, including a catalog of the Krefeld show, were published in Germany.  This is the only nation where we find books dedicated to the topic.2 Artistic Dress was so prevalent in Germany, that it regularly appeared in German (and Austrian) fashion magazines, despite the designers’ proclaimed goal of ending the tyranny of that industry. 

There are many possible explanations for the success of Artistic Dress in Germany.  Artistic Dress was closely associated with the growth of the applied arts and with the opportunities afforded women at art and design schools.  As a nation, Germany was fostering such schools.  Artistic Dress had greater success in regions when Reform Movements that supported changes in lifestyle (i.e. vegetarianism, adoptions of “healthy” garments, nudism) were predated it.  Perhaps most interesting and unique to Germany was the role Artistic Dress could play in the rising nationalism of the recently united country and a rivalry with France.  As soon as Artistic Dress was well-known in Germany, there were calls for a rebranding campaign.  It was proposed that Artistic Dress become Deutsche Mode (German fashion) and that the adoption of this Deutsche Mode could free German women from the stranglehold that French fashion had on them. To the modern reader at first reading, the scheme seems as silly as the name change from “french fries” to “Freedom Fries” in the US House of Representatives cafeteria after France expressed opposition to the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. It seems less ridiculous when one considers what was going on in France at the time. What passed as Artistic Dress there was a gown that differed from garments in the fashion pages only by the overt likeness of its embroidered decoration to contemporary applied arts.  (See France page.) 


1 This is only a partial list, based on press reports of specific exhibitions.  Organizations that promoted Artistic Dress had regular exhibitions sponsored by their clubs and Artistic Dress was also on show at artists’ festivals and gathering.  Reports on the annual “At home” and “Conversazione” held by the Glasgow School of Art provide ample information on the Artistic Dress worn by participants and in displays of student work.

1894
An Exhibition of Hygienic and Artistic Dress, Cavendish Rooms, London

1900
Ausstellung moderner Damenkostüme nach Künstler-Entwürfen, Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld
 Die Ausstellung moderner Kunst-Stickereien, Großherzoglichen Zentral-Stelle für die Gewerbe, Darmstadt

1901
Kunstgewerbliche Ausstellung für Bekleidung,  Leipzig
Internationalen Kunstausstellung, Dresden
Opening Exhibition of the Artists’ Colony, Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt

1902
Ausstellung für die neue Frauentracht, Hohenzollern-Kunstgewerbehaus, Berlin
Ausstellung deutscher künstlerischer Frauenkleidung, Wiesbaden
Prima esposizione internazionale d’arte Decorativa moderna, Turin

1903
Moderne Frauentracht, Kunstgewerbehaus, Berlin

1904
Reformkleid-Ausstellung, Vienna
Exhibition of the Dress Designers’Society, Doré Gallery, London
Ausstellung künstlerischer Frauen-Kleider, Warenhaus Wertheim, Berlin

1905
Ausstellung gesundheitlicher und künstlerischer Kleidung für Frauen und Mädchen, Berlin

1906
Das Kunstgewerbe auf der Nürnberger Ausstellung, Kunstgewerbehaus, Nuremberg
Esposizione di Milano,

1906
Dritte deutsche Kunstgewerbeausstellung, Dresden

1908
Die Ausstellung München 1908, Munich

1910
Ausstellung von Reformkostümen, Zurich

1911
Die Internationale Hygiene-Ausstellung Dresden, Stadtrath, Dresden
Die Kunst der Frau, Secession, Vienna
Die Wiener Werkstätte Modelschau, Vienna

1914
Werkbundausstellung, Farbenschau, Cologne

 

2 Below is a list of contemporary books that focus on the topic of Artistic Dress. See bibliography for reference to the scores of  articles and Reform Dress books that cover Artistic Dress. 
Margarete Bruns,  Der Stil unserer Kleidung:  eine ästhetische Studie  (Minden:  Bruns, 1908).
Hedwig Buschmann, Hedwig Buschmann's neue Frauentracht  (Berlin:  Hedwig Buschamnn, 1911).
Jaeger, Julie and Isolde von Wolsogen, Italienische Renaissancegewänder umgestaltet für neue Frauentracht von Julie Jaeger und Isolde von Wolzogen. vol. 1. (Jena:  Eugen Diederichs, 1910).
Jaeger, Julie and Isolde von Wolsogen, Italienische Renaissancegewänder umgestaltet für neue Frauentracht von Julie Jaeger und Isolde von Wolzogen. vol. 2. (Jena:  Eugen Diederichs, 1911).
Doris Kiesewetter und Hermine Steffahny, Die deutsche Frauenkleidung (Berlin: Paul Quack, 1904).
Heinrich Lahmann,  Die Reform der Kleidung (Stuttgart, 1903).
Alfred Mohrbutter, Das Kleid der Frau (Darmstadt: Alexander Koch, 1903).
Anna Muthesius, Das Eigenkleid der Frau (Krefeld: Kramer & Baum, 1903).
Heinrich Pudor, Die Frauenreform-Kleidung.  Ein Beitrag zur Philosophie, Hygiene und Aesthetik des Kleides (Leipzig:  Hermann Seemann, 1903).
Emil Reichel, Die Frauenkleidung (Leipzig.  Quelle & Mener, 1912).
Carl Heinrich Stratz, Die Frauenkleidung und ihre natuerliche Entwicklung (Stuttgart, 1904).
Adolf Thiele, Zur Philosophie der neuen Frauentracht (Leipzig, 1903).
Henry van de Velde, Die künstlerische Hebung der Frauentracht (Krefeld: Kramer und Baum, 1900).
Maria von Wartenberg, “Das moderne verbesserte Reformkleid.  Eine Modeplauderei fuer nachdenkliche Frauen”  in Renner's Künstler und Eigen-kleid-Bericht. vol. 1. Renner's Reform-Kleider (Dresden:  Renner Modenhaus, 1908); 22-23.
Max von Boehn,  Bekleidungskunst und die Mode (München:  Delphin-Verlag, 1918).
Jeannie Watt,  Das Zukunftskleid der Frau.  Die Gesundung der Frauen-Mode.  Praktische Ratschläge und genaue Anleitung zur Selbst-anfertigung [sic.] von Reformkleidern mit Schnittübersichten und reichligen Illlustrationen (Berlin-Leipzig:  W. Vobach , 1902).