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Evening Coat | c. 1895

The influence of the Arts and Crafts movement is apparent in this coat, hand-embroidered with sprays of an English wildflower called sweet cicely (Myrrhis odorata). In the 1880s William Morris and other English artists rejected the dominance of the machine in British art and design. Their attempts to preserve the traditional designs and craftsmanship of textiles, furniture, ceramics and architecture created the Arts and Crafts style. Wild flowers were popular motifs, evoking the simplicity and charm of English country life, now vanishing in the face of urbanisation and the industrial revolution. Echoing these concerns, ‘Aesthetic’ dress of the 1870s rejected the fussy and upholstered look of women’s fashion. Although at first ridiculed, many of the decorative features of ‘Aesthetic’ dress were absorbed into mainstream fashion by the 1890s.