Ada Nettleship (born Adaline Cort Hinton; 1856 – 19 December 1932) was a British dressmaker and costume designer known for working at the forefront of the Aesthetic dress style and the rational dress movement.

Personal life

Adaline Cort Hinton was born in either Whitechapel, London or Middlesex, the daughter of surgeon

James Hinton James Hinton may refer to: * James Hinton (musician) (born 1988), American musician known as The Range *James Hinton (surgeon) (1822–1875), English surgeon and author * James E. Hinton (c. 1937–2006), American cinematographer *James Myles Hinto ...

and Margaret (Haddon) Hinton. Her siblings included the mathematician

Charles Howard Hinton Charles Howard Hinton (1853 – 30 April 1907) was a British mathematician and writer of science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and ...

and they grew up in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

. She married the British painter

John Trivett Nettleship John Trivett Nettleship (11 February 1841 – 31 August 1902) was an English artist, known as a painter of animals and in particular lions. He was also an author and book illustrator. Life He was born in Kettering, Northamptonshire on 11 Februar ...

, with whom she had three children: Ida, Ethel and Ursual. Their oldest daughter,

Ida Ida or IDA may refer to: Astronomy * Ida Facula, a mountain on Amalthea, a moon of Jupiter *243 Ida, an asteroid *International Docking Adapter, a docking adapter for the International Space Station Computing *Intel Dynamic Acceleration, a techn ...

, became an artist and the first wife of British painter

Augustus John Augustus Edwin John (4 January 1878 – 31 October 1961) was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain: Virginia Woolf remarked that by 1908 the era of John Singer Sarg ...

. Her grandchildren included

Caspar John Admiral of the Fleet Sir Caspar John (22 March 1903 – 11 July 1984) was a senior Royal Navy officer who served as First Sea Lord from 1960 to 1963. He was a pioneer in the Fleet Air Arm and fought in the Second World War in a cruiser taking ...

who became First Sea Lord.

Career

Nettleship established herself as a dressmaker in London, expanding from an earlier specialisation in embroidery. Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth

Notable clients included the soprano

Marie Tempest Dame Mary Susan Etherington, (15 July 1864 – 15 October 1942), known professionally as Marie Tempest, was an English singer and actress. Tempest became a famous soprano in late Victorian light opera and Edwardian musical comedies. Later, sh ...

, and the actors

Ellen Terry Dame Alice Ellen Terry, (27 February 184721 July 1928), was a leading English actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born into a family of actors, Terry began performing as a child, acting in Shakespeare plays in London, and tour ...

Winifred Emery Winifred Emery (1 August 1861 – 15 July 1924), born Maud Isabel Emery, was an English actress and actor-manager of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was the wife of the actor Cyril Maude. Born into a family of actors, Emery began ...

Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 or 23 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including '' La Dame Aux Camel ...

, and

Mrs Patrick Campbell Beatrice Rose Stella Tanner (9 February 1865 – 9 April 1940), better known by her stage name Mrs Patrick Campbell or Mrs Pat, was an English stage actress, best known for appearing in plays by Shakespeare, Shaw and Barrie. She also toured th ...

. In 1884, she made

Constance Lloyd Constance Mary Wilde (née Lloyd; 2 January 1858 – 7 April 1898) was an Irish author. She was the wife of Irish playwright Oscar Wilde and the mother of their two sons, Cyril and Vyvyan. Early life and marriage The daughter of Horace Lloyd, ...

's wedding dress for her marriage to

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

. She made other dresses for Lloyd as well that helped to set the new Aestheticist fashion for looser, more flowing garments with theatrical touches such as lace, embroidery, or

brocade Brocade is a class of richly decorative shuttle-woven fabrics, often made in colored silks and sometimes with gold and silver threads. The name, related to the same root as the word "broccoli", comes from Italian ''broccato'' meaning "embos ...

. One of Nettleship's most well-known works is a theatrical costume made for Ellen Terry in 1888 when she was playing the role of

Lady Macbeth Lady Macbeth is a leading character in William Shakespeare's tragedy '' Macbeth'' (). As the wife of the play's tragic hero, Macbeth (a Scottish nobleman), Lady Macbeth goads her husband into committing regicide, after which she becomes quee ...

. Designed by

Alice Comyns Carr Alice Vansittart Comyns Carr (née Strettell; 1850–1927), was a British costume designer whose work is associated with the Aesthetic dress movement. Family Alice Vansittart Strettell (referred to in succeeding sections as "Carr") was a daug ...

and crocheted by Nettleship to simulate a soft chain mail, the dress was oversewn with more than 1000 beetle wings to create an iridescent effect. The idea for this costume probably came from two earlier Nettleship designs: an 1886 dress and an 1887 hat for Constance Lloyd that were oversewn with iridescent green beetle wings. The American artist

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...

painted Terry in the Carr-Nettleship dress in 1889. The restored costume is on display in Terry's home,

Smallhythe Place Smallhythe Place in Small Hythe, near Tenterden in Kent, is a half-timbered house built in the late 15th or early 16th century and since 1947 cared for by the National Trust. The house was originally called 'Port House' and before the River ...

, near

Tenterden Tenterden is a town in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. It stands on the edge of the remnant forest the Weald, overlooking the valley of the River Rother. It was a member of the Cinque Ports Confederation. Its riverside today is not ...

in Kent. Nettleship collaborated with Carr to make a dress for a production of ''

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

'', and she created a dress for the play ''Henry of Navarre'' that Terry complained was almost unbearably heavy due to the use of steel panniers and extensive oversewing with jewels. She also costumed Terry as Cordelia in ''

King Lear ''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane an ...

'' (1892), Guinevere in ''King Arthur'' (1895), and Imogen in ''

Cymbeline ''Cymbeline'' , also known as ''The Tragedie of Cymbeline'' or ''Cymbeline, King of Britain'', is a play by William Shakespeare set in British Iron Age, Ancient Britain () and based on legends that formed part of the Matter of Britain concerni ...

'' (1896).

Rational Dress

Nettleship's adventurous designs in the Aesthetic dress style — especially those for Lloyd — were admired by the London avant-garde, and in 1883 her work was included in a landmark exhibition by the

Rational Dress Society The Rational Dress Society was an organisation founded in 1881 in London, part of the movement for Victorian dress reform. It described its purpose thus: The Rational Dress Society protests against the introduction of any fashion in dress that e ...

. Among the items she presented was a "Ladies Walking Costume" that included trousers, a feature that allowed for radical shortening of the overskirt, thereby reducing the weight of the entire ensemble. This was more than two decades before European women started wearing trousers in public. Nettleship's designs were generally regarded as too eccentric by the wider public and often subjected to ridicule in the press and in private letters.

Death

Ada Nettleship died on 19 December 1932 at her home 45

Weymouth Street Weymouth Street lies in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster and connects Marylebone High Street with Great Portland Street. The area was developed in the late 18th century by Henrietta Cavendish Holles and her husband Edward Ha ...

, London.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nettleship, Adaline Cort 1856 births British fashion designers British costume designers 1932 deaths People from Brighton Hinton family Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery