'', by John Singer Sargent, 1889. Terry is wearing the Carr-Nettleship iridescent dress. As a costume designer, Carr was associated with the
Aesthetic dress movement and its championship of looser, more flowing garments with theatrical touches such as lace and embroidery. It was rumored that she was the inspiration behind the comic figure of "Mrs Cimabue Brown" that the cartoonist
George du Maurier invented to mock the Aestheticists in some of his drawings for
Punch magazine. For two decades, Carr was actor
Ellen Terry's chief costume designer, succeeding
Patience Harris. Carr began consulting with Terry and Harris in 1882, but the two designers' tastes didn't align well, and Harris resigned in 1887 following disagreements over costumes for the plays
Henry VIII and
The Amber Heart. The latter became the first production on which Carr had primary responsibility for Terry's costumes, though her influence is clear in designs as early as the 1885 production of
Faust. Carr and Terry continued working together until 1902, when Terry left the
Lyceum Theatre. One of Carr's best-known works is a costume that used beetle wings to create an iridescent effect worn by Terry as
Lady Macbeth in the
Shakespeare play
Macbeth. It was designed by Carr and crocheted by dressmaker
Ada Nettleship to simulate a soft chain mail with also something of an effect of serpent scales. Nettleship had used beetle wings in some of her earlier designs, and this dress employed over 1,000 beetle wings. The restored costume is now on display in Terry's home,
Smallhythe Place, near
Tenterden in Kent. The American artist
John Singer Sargent painted Terry in the dress in 1889. Sargent was a friend of Carr and painted her portrait around the same time. Carr later collaborated with Nettleship to make another dress for Terry, this time for a production of
Henry VIII. In 1895, she collaborated with the artist
Edward Burne-Jones on costumes for a production of the play
King Arthur starring
Henry Irving. == Writings ==