The Beautiful, Soft, Flowing, Modest, Clothing Depicted in the Art of Alfred Emile Leopold Stevens (1823-1906)

The Lady in Pink, 1867
(If you would like to have one of these posters for your home, go to http://lovelywhatevers.blogspot.com/2009/07/art-of-alfred-emile-leopold-stevens.html

Alfred Emile-Leopold Stevens was a Belgian painter who lived from 1823 until 1906. He was from a family of painters, and his children also grew up to be painters.

In these paintings, you can see how he admired the flowing fabric in the feminine dresses of women. Of all the paintings of the past that I have showcased on this blog recently, the artists were men.

I find it interesting that they were so inspired by the beautiful way women presented themselves in that era, and that they wanted to preserve this beauty in paintings. Generations later, many people can look back and see what women wore, and what men admired about their appearance or the things that they were doing.

Today, women look so terrible, with their shaven heads and their unflattering styles, that it would certainly inspire a teacher of modesty to develop a course of study and illustration for women, more than it would inspire a painter. Perhaps we can get women back into following good sense regarding clothing, and once again inspire the masculine men to paint pictures of them for all time, paintings that future generations would not be ashamed to see.

La Plague, Ostende

This painting should capture your interest, in particular, because it depicts a typical scene of the mid-1800's, of women at the beach. Compare this to today's horrid display of shameful nudity on public beaches, so riske' that it is not safe to take a family with children to the beach for a day of wholesome, innocent recreation.

There are many other beach scenes like this in paintings and photographs, to prove that people found it possible to enjoy a day at the sea without parading around in underwear. The heat did not seem to motivate the pre-twentieth-century population to shed everything and publicly swim, or sunbathe in mixed company. As late as the 1960's, preachers were warning their congregations against what was termed "mixed bathing," (the practice of men and women outside of their own families, swimming together in the public). We have come full circle, and now realize the wisdom in this old-fashioned teaching.

Lady at the Window Feeding Birds

The garment in the above painting could easily be reproduced, if only in a simple way, with a one piece shift, sleeves, and ribbon added on the edges. I am still preparing my "line of clothing" with patterns, and favorite paintings to go with them, just to show you how quick and easy it is to make your own clothing. I think one of the mistakes women make when they want to learn to sew, is to pay for an expensive course that makes it a complicated and unhappy experience. The best way to learn, in my opinion is to sit down or recline, and read your pattern instructions, step by step, so that you can get a picture in your mind of what the steps will be. You might have to get someone to show you where your 5/8 inch seam mark is on the machine, or what certain terms mean, or how to mark darts, or how to place the arrows on the patterns on the straight grain of the fabric. You might have to learn the difference between woof and warp, nap and without nap, stretch or woven, natural or synthetic, but you can do a lot by yourself if you will give yourself some leeway to make mistakes. The point is to enjoy it and enjoy the color and choose a print that speaks to your heart in such a way that you would enjoy wearing it.

All Happiness

You can probably see that a woman need not sacrifice beauty for modesty. Indeed, most immodest clothing actually lacks beauty, femininity and sweetness. We are being pulled along by the fashions on the rack at stores, as if we are supposed to dress immodestly. I like what one woman said about her son telling it like it was, when he said he was disgusted by the amount of women with 75% "off" clothing, because there was only one-fourth of it left when they bought it. That is so true.

Another thing I would like to bring up regarding modesty is the idea that covering yourself from head to toe will insure modesty. It will, if it is not tight. Women who wear tight jeans or pants, are not dressing modestly. In public places, such as restaurants, waitresses have to wear horrible, low cut and tight pants, which look okay when you see them from the front, with their apron wrapped around them, but when they retreat, their behinds are at the eye-level of the seated customers.

I think there has been a lot of mocking about dresses and the clothing of the past centuries, but surely, one would have to agree that if you were seated and a woman walked past, her flowing skirt would not have revealed every single unwanted pound and every roll and every fluctuation of the body, or a clear outline of the private areas. Some may say that at least she is covered, but they know what I am talking about.

There are some excellent articles here, and even though the writer speaks from a certain religious view, (I do not belong to her religion), I am sure everyone pick out some very good reasons for modesty.

http://www.traditioninaction.org/Cultural/C001cp.htm

http://www.traditioninaction.org/Cultural/C000rpMannersCustomsClothingIndex.htm

For information on maternity wear of the previous centuries, go here http://www.worldmags.com/magazine/page.ihtml?pid=333&step=4

I think life is just to short to be saddled with the limited fashions today. Women will have to follow the desires of their hearts and go back to the paintings and study them, in order to reproduce the kind of comfortable and modest clothing that complimented nature, and glorified God.

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