Browse Exhibits (1 total)

For many years Vienna 1900 has been a topic of much interest with considerable thought dedicated to the architectural, artistic, and intellectual production of the time. This exhibit hopes to explore women's fashion around this period, a topic often mentioned, but not given the same consideration as other research areas. In fin-de-siecle Vienna a movement of reform dress was growing supported by such figures as Emilie FlÖge, Gustav Klimt, and members of the Wiener Werkstätte. The corset was eliminated and loose, free-flowing forms took their place. However, despite such interest and intiative by these notable persons of the time, many women continued to live out their lives in corsets, seeing reform dress as a disturbing trend and misguided folly. And so began years of struggle between the two as the "Reformkleid" or reform dress, as it was called, came to symbolize women's liberation and emerging feminism.