3-082-859 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Advertisement for Elliman's Universal Embrocation, 1895. Woman cyclist in divided skirts/breeches - advert for a muscle rub. '1/1½ [price, one shilling and a penny halfpenny]. "It will have or I will have none". For STIFFNESS - ACHES - SPRAINS - BRUISES'. The Rational Dress Society, founded in 1881 in London, was part of the movement for Victorian dress reform. It described its purpose thus: "The Society protests against the introduction of any fashion in dress that either deforms the figure, impedes the movements of the body, or in any way tends to injure the health. It protests against the wearing of tightly-fitting corsets; of high-heeled shoes; of heavily-weighted skirts, as rendering healthy exercise almost impossible...It protests against crinolines or crinolettes of any kind as ugly and deforming... [It] requires all to be dressed healthily, comfortably, and beautifully...it listed the attributes of "perfect" dress as: 1. Freedom of Movement. 2. Absence of pressure over any part of the body. 3. Not more weight than is necessary for warmth, and both weight and warmth evenly distributed. 4. Grace and beauty combined with comfort and convenience. 5. Not departing too conspicuously from the ordinary dress of the time. From "Illustrated London News", 1895.