References
- De Holiandsche Lelie (6 May 1903 ), pp. 875–76. From the first moment, the German/English word ‘reform’ (or the French ‘réforme’) was used in the Netherlands; it was not translated into hervormingskleed- ing, although some puritans suggested this.
- James Frecot, ‘Die Lebensreformbewegung’, in Das Wilhelminische Bildungsbürgertum (Göttingen, 1978 )5 pp. 138–52; A. C. J. de Vrankrijker, Onze anarchisten en Utopisten rond 1900 (Bussum, 1972).
- As far as I know, no reform dress was worn in these colonies (notably the Christian-anarchists in Blaricum and the writer Frederik van Eeden’s colony ‘Walden’ near Bussum). The journalist Henriette Hendrix describes in her booklet Een week in de kolonie te Blaricum (A week in the colony of Blaricum) (Amsterdam, 1901 ) how these colonists were dressed.
- G. Luchtmans, Schoolgeneeskunde en volksgezondheid (’s-Gravenhage, 1900 ). Thus the population as a whole would improve its physical condition. Luchtmans also opposed conservative doctors who relied too much on their dogma and systems. This book was in the library of the V.v.V.v. V. The movement of the improvement of women’s dress can be situated somewhere between the official and the alternative medical circuit. By using their own good sense women could prevent all kinds of problems. Most male doctors found it hard to accept this new assertive attitude. But the first female doctors who started their practice around 1900 were enthusiastic: both as a woman and as a physician they experienced the bad influence of the restricting fashionable dress of that time. Another doctor, the German Heinrich Lahmann, had much influence in the Netherlands with his underwear made of netted cotton, which the Dutch found much more pleasing to wear than Doctor Jaeger’s ticklish woollen stuff. See Dr H. Lahmann, Die Reform der Kleidung (Stuttgart, 1903).
- The idea behind this Exhibition was to show how much work already was done by women and to indicate which professions women also could take up. Moreover, it was one of the festivities celebrating the young Queen Wilhelmina’s accession to the throne.
- S. Groshans, lets over Vrouwenkleeding en Gezondheid (Amsterdam, 1898).
- Gertruida Carelsen already mentioned the German association in 1897 (Belang en Recht (Amsterdam, Î897), p. 47). The Dutch and the Germans held close contacts over the years and the V.v.V.v.V. was a member of the Freie Verein fur Verbesserung von Frauenkleidung in Dresden. See for more information on the German situation: Brigitte Stamm, Das Reformkleid in Deutschland (Berlin, 1976).
- See for example Margaretha Meyboom, Goedkoope reformkleeding (n.p., n.d., c. 1903 ), a series of four small books on cheap reform dress.
- M. Elias, Drie cent in het uur. Over naaisters, féministes en arbeiders rond de eeuwwisseling (Amsterdam, 1984 ). Roosje Vos used to work at De Voorpost, Maatschappij voor Naaisters, also on a co-operative basis and also making reform clothes, but she left because the hierarchy was as rigid as it was in ‘ordinary’ companies.
- Maandblad der Vereeniging voor Verbetering van Vrouwenkleeding (April 1902 ), pp. 41–42. The Moderates, however, remained members of the V.v.V.v.V.
- Maandblad, op. cit. (n. 10) (April 1902 ), p. 34. Schoonheid door Gezondheid was published monthly from April 1902 until 1904.
- These contrasts within the V.v.V.v.V. can be exemplified by two feminists who were wearing reform dress: Annette Versluys-Poelman (1853 –1914), living in Amsterdam, and Welmoed Wijnaendts Francken-Dyserinck (1876–1956 ) from The Hague. Both women were active in votes-for-women leagues and the Society for the Mutual Protection of Women and both were members of the V.v.V.v.V. But Welmoed Wijnaendts Francken was in her social and political choices not as progressive as Annette Versluys and this was reflected in their dress. As far as we know, Annette Versluys wore dresses of simple, functional cut, decorated with modern embroidery, whereas Welmoed Wijnaendets Francken dressed in ‘adapted’ fashionable gowns. She went on wearing fur and flamboyant hats.
- Onze Kleeding (February 1910 ), pp. 19–20.
- P. de Vries, ‘Aile vrouwen zijn moeders. Feminisme en moederschap rond de eeuwwisseling’, in Socialisties-Feministiese Teksten 8 (Amsterdam, 1984 ), pp. 126–48.
- Maandblad, op. cit. (n. 10) (December 1901 ), p. 11.
- Among his works distributed by the library of the V.v.V.v.V. were C. H. Stratz, De kleeding van de vrouw (Amsterdam, 1900 –01) and C. H. Stratz, De schoonheid van de vrouw bij verschillende rassen (’s-Gravenhage, 1902).
- Inge Goldhoorn, ‘Reformkleding voor kinderen’, in Carin Schnitger, Reformkleding in Nederland (Utrecht, 1984 ), pp. 71–97. The V.v.V.v.V. had developed a clothing system for children.
- S. Kern, Anatomie en noodlot (Baarn, 1977 ), pp. 18–22, and Philippe Perrot, Werken aan de schijn. De veranderingen van het vrouwelijk lichaam in de achttiende en negentiende eeuw (Nijmegen, 1987), p. 161. A naked or undressed woman was seen as a work of art, of timeless beauty like a Greek goddess, but a woman dressed in a corset was the erotic ideal. Under the influence of the light and air therapies by the German ‘Naturärtzte’ more and more people had an eye for the beauty of the human body. In 1901 Paul Schultze-Naumburg published Die Kultur des Weiblichen Körpers als Grundlage der Frauenkleidung, a work that had a lot of influence. From this period on, body culture was important for those who did not only want to be healthy but also beautiful. Schultze-Naumburg too presented classical Greek sculptures as the standard for a beautiful body.
- J. Blok, et al., ‘Het verbod van het onderzoek naar het vaderschap en de dubbele moraal’, in Socialisties-F eministiese Teksten 1 (Nijmegen, 1978 ), pp. 142–46.
- J. Rutgers, Rasverbetering en bewuste aantalsbeperking (Amsterdam, 1905 ), Marie Rutgers-Hoitsema was an active member of the V.v.V.v.V.
- Many of these women became members of the Rein Leven Beweging (Pure Life Movement) in 1901. Their device was abstinence before, outside and even, whenever possible, within marriage. It was a radical way to protect women against ‘male lust’ and to ameliorate the human race: victims of heredity should not procreate children.
- More about this problem in Carin Schnitger, ‘Hoedsters van het nieuwe mensenras. Enige kanttekeningen bij de sociale betekenis van reformkleding’, in Textielhistorische bijdragen 31 (Utrecht, I99i)5 PP-130–50.
- Most of the pupils came from the lower middle class. The school fee was levied according to the ability of the parents to pay and each year some free places for the impecunious were offered.
- Margaretha Verwey, Het handwerk als kunstuiting (’s-Gravenhage, 1909).
- Carin Schnitger, Reformkleding in Nederland (Utrecht, 1984 ), pp. 36–62.
- Henry van de Velde, Die Künstlerische Hebung der Frauentracht (Krefeld, 1900 ); Maria van de Velde, Album moderner, nach Künstlerentwürfen ausgeführter Damenkleider (1900); Alfred Mohrbutter, Das Kleid der Frau (Darmstadt, 1903–04).
- Batik was considered to be as artistic but less time-consuming than embroidery. The technique was brought to Holland by artists who studied it in Indonesia, a Dutch colony at that time. See for beautiful examples by J. A. Loeber the Maandblad, op. cit. (n. 10) (December 1908 ), pp. 12–13.
- Marie Thierbach, Abformungskleider (Karlsruhe, 1913).
- Clothes had to be an expression of the individual, so ideally a woman designed her own dress. See for this subject also Anna Muthesius, Das Eigenkleid (Krefeld, 1903).
- In an interview with a former pupil of the Trade School, Mrs C. Laroo-Marinus, it became clear that many girls who had passed their examinations at the school, were very self-conscious about their extra qualification and did not accept just any job in a work room.
- From 1903 until 1910 the number of members of the V.v.V.v.V. fluctuated between 2,000 and 2,500. In 1905 the Netherlands had 5 million inhabitants, of which 1.25 million were adult women: a mere 0.2% of them were members of the V.v.V.v.V. Nevertheless there were no less than three reform magazines in 1903 (the Maandblad, Schoonheid door Gezondheid and Reforme) and several shops throughout the country. It seems to me that not all reform adherents were members of the Society for the Improvement of Women’s Dress.