when did the rational dress society begin to work
1881
title: Rational Dress Society text: and deforming….[It] requires all to be dressed healthily, comfortably, and beautifully, to seek what conduces to birth, comfort and beauty in our dress as a duty to ourselves and each other." In the catalogue of its inaugural exhibition, it listed the attributes of "perfect" dress as: Leading members of the Society were Lady Harberton (who created the divided skirt), Mary Eliza Haweis and Constance Wilde (wife of Oscar Wilde). Woman cyclists, such as members of the Lady Cyclists' Association, were keen advocates of women's right to dress appropriately for the activity, as part of a belief that cycling offered women title: Rational Dress Society text: an opportunity to escape overly restrictive societal norms. In 1889, a member of the Rational Dress Society, Charlotte Carmichael Stopes, staged a coup at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Newcastle upon Tyne, when she arranged an impromptu addition to the programme on the subject of rational dress. Her speech was reported by newspapers across Britain and the notion of rational dress was the biggest news from the meeting. Rational Dress Society The Rational Dress Society was an organisation founded in 1881 in London. It described its purpose thus: "The Rational Dress Society protests title: Florence Wallace Pomeroy, Viscountess Harberton text: Pomeroy became involved in the campaign for dress reform in 1880, after the death of her daughter Aline. In 1883 she became President of the Rational Dress Society (which she possibly co-founded in 1881), which described the attributes of "perfect" dress as: In 1893, "The Guardian" mentioned her "Short Skirts League" whose members would wear skirts of at least above the ground when out walking. In 1898, she founded the Rational Dress League. She was a keen cyclist, and one of her most celebrated moments was when the landlady of the Hautboy Inn at Ockham, Surrey, refused to serve her title: E. M. King text: lecture in Dublin in 1878 on equal suffrage, King appears to have withdrawn from public life between 1875 and 1881. For part of this time she was resident in Dresden, Germany with her daughters. While there she wrote to Florence Pomeroy, Viscountess Harberton in support of her views on dress reform and, on her return to England in 1882, they established the Rational Dress Society with Lady Harberton as president and King as honorary secretary. King resumed her public role with addresses and publications on dress reform and announced that the Rational Dress Society would stage an exhibition in 1883. title: Ada Nettleship text: Ada Nettleship Adaline Cort Nettleship (1856-1932), née Hinton, was a British dressmaker and costume designer known for working at the forefront of the Aesthetic dress style and the rational dress movement. Adaline Cort Hinton was the daughter of surgeon James Hinton and Margaret (Haddon) Hinton. She married the British animal painter John Trivett Nettleship, with whom she had three children. Their oldest daughter, Ida, became an artist and the first wife of British painter Augustus John. Nettleship established herself as a dressmaker in London, expanding from an earlier specialization in embroidery. Notable clients included the soprano Marie Tempest, and the