Dress

Art Nouveau manifested itself in all the arts, and dress design is no exception. The characteristic sinuous line known as a coup de fouet or whiplash is clearly apparent in the S-shaped silhouette of a woman seen in profile, and flows from the high neck typical of the period down to the prominent bust, and from the very narrow waist the line passes to the rear of the figure and curves down to the ground with the train of the dress.

This silhouette is achieved with the help of the corset, which during this period arrived at the most extreme deformation of the body and without which women could not have adopted the posture that maximizes its sinuous line. The body appears to tip from the waist, with the chest thrust forward and the bottom backwards. Under the dress women wore several undergarments, usually of cotton batiste and profusely decorated with lace, ribbons and embroidery: long stockings and a chemise next to the skin, then a tightly laced corset and on top of this a bodice with no other function than to cover the corset, and petticoats fastened around the waist. Over these there was often a kind of underskirt known as a frou-frou, usually of brightly coloured silk, which made a characteristic sound as the wearer walked.

Dress fabrics in this era were often figured, with vegetable motifs in the Art Nouveau style, and dresses were finished with abundant ornamentation in the form of embroidery, lace and other appliqué details. The dress presented here is made of plain fabrics of the highest quality, with a great deal of added ornamentation, notably lace, ribbons and embroidered vegetable motifs. This cream-coloured wedding gown (wedding gowns could also be white or even black, to be subsequently worn on other occasions) is an early piece by one of Barcelona's first fashion designers, Carolina Montagne, who skilfully adapted Parisian fashion to the tastes of her Barcelona customers.