FIDM Museum Blog

Smocked frock

Between the 1750s and the late 19th century, rural Englishmen wore voluminous smocks when working outdoors. Usually made of rough homespun, most smocks had long, full sleeves and ended at mid-calf. Though entirely functional, smocks often featured decorative embroidery around the cuffs, bodice or neckline. Called smocking, it was more than mere decorative embellishment. Because smocking consisted of stitches passed over areas of gathered fabric, it created stretch in an otherwise non-stretch garment, allowing for more freedom of movement. This was important for those living in rural areas, as manual labor was an undeniable fact of life.

In what could be considered an early example of work-wear influencing fashion, both smocks and smocking became an important part of fashionable dress beginning in the 1870s. Smocks were adopted by those artists and bohemians interested in alternative styles of dress. Decorative smocking appeared on garments worn by women and children, such as the young girl's day dress of pink silk seen below. Here, smocking stitches create the bodice, peaked waistline and fitted cuffs.

Day dress
Attributed to Liberty & Company, London
c.1893-97
Museum Purchase
2008.25.3

Kimono dressing gown

Japanese styles are always attractive in negligees.-The Delineator, April 1903

Kimono dressing gown
c. 1885
Gift of Anonymous Donor
80.40.1

Bohemian dress for children

Bohemians were figures of both fascination and fun in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A typical Bohemian was often artistically or politically inclined and was willing to step outside the bounds of conventional society. The highest Bohemian ideal was to be true to one's own inner passions, regardless of societal or economic pressures. This interest in nonconformity led Bohemian dressers to a variety of innovative dress styles: non-Western garments, comfortable work or sport clothes, and costumes born of their own imaginations.

Long associated with working artists, the "art smock" attained special prominence in notoriously Bohemian Greenwich Village during the late teens. The loose, unstructured fit marked its wearer as a woman willing to reject the boundaries of fashion and propriety in the pursuit of an "artistic" life. A woman who was willing to wear such a free and easy garment was assumed to adhere to ideals of personal, social and sexual liberation. Smocks could be purchased in several Greenwich Village boutiques, including the Village Store and from the studio of batik artist Alice Muth. The 1922 Greenwich Village guidebook by Anna Alice Chapin noted that it was common to see "girls in smocks of 'artistic' shades-bilious yellow-green, or magenta-tending violet" when visiting the area.