Foundation The views of the
Victorian dress reform were made known in Sweden by the book
Dress and Health, which was translated to Swedish under the name (likely by Oscara von Sydow) with an introduction by
Curt Wallis and
Hanna Winge. In February 1885,
Anne Charlotte Leffler held a speech on the subject in the women's club
Nya Idun, and asked Hanna Winge to design a Swedish reform dress; when this was done, Leffler became the first woman in Sweden to wear a reform dress. This created publicity, and in April 1886, a group of women founded the with the purpose of introducing and adapting the Victorian dress reform movement's ideas in Sweden. Many famous contemporary Swedish women were members of the . Among the members were
Anna Hierta-Retzius and
Ellen Key, who acted as its first, temporary chairperson upon its foundation, until a permanent one could be elected.
Activity The society was active in changing public opinion toward a more healthy dress style for women by public lectures, articles and publications. It was given wide support by Scandinavian medical doctors, and
Curt Wallis,
Karolina Widerström and
Lorentz Dietrichson all wrote supporting articles which denounced particularly tight lace
corseting as unhealthy. In 1889,
Queen Sophia invited the chairperson to an official audience and invited her to display the reform dresses designed by Augusta Lundin at
Ulriksdal Palace, and afterward gave the society her formal support, which was publicized as a great success.
Impact While no separate dress reform society was established in the other Nordic nations of Denmark, Finland and Norway, the women's movement in these countries was influenced by the Swedish dress reform society and was also active on the issue. The reform dress of the society was manufactured by
Friends of Handicraft and by the studio of
Augusta Lundin, who dressed her gofers in the reform dress. The reform dress in itself never managed to become popular, although a few radical women such as
Calla Curman,
Sonja Kovalevsky,
Alfhild Agrell and
Anna Boberg wore the reform dress in public. However, the society did achieve some success in regard to the use of corsets on girls. In the 1890s, it was reported that the use of corsets within Swedish girl' schools had diminished markedly, as it was no longer regarded proper for a school girl to wear a corset.
Dissolution In 1890, the association became a part of the
Fredrika Bremer Association. It was considered a natural step for Swedish women's associations at the time to organize under the FBA, but it sorted as a separate entity under the FBA and continued to function independently. After 1896, however, the progressively more simple and comfortable fashions, the introduction of sportswear during cycling and the decrease in tight-laced corsets made the activity of the society diminish. In 1903, it was dissolved. ==Chairperson==