• woman wearing avant garde linen dress printed with 19th century artwork
  • woman wearing avant garde linen dress printed in bold 19th century artwork
  • Person wearing a unique, layered outfit with artistic elements in a studio setting.
  • woman wearing a cotton linen dress with bold artwork print
  • woman wearing a cotton linen dress with bold 19th century artwork print
  • woman wearing a cotton linen dress with bold 19th century artwork print
  • woman wearing a cotton linen dress with bold 19th century artwork print
  • woman holding a fabric clutch and wearing a cotton linen dress with bold 19th century artwork print
  • woman wearing a cotton linen dress with bold 19th century artwork print and holding a matching fabric clutch
  • woman wearing a cotton linen dress with bold 19th century artwork print
  • woman wearing a cotton linen dress with bold 19th century artwork print and holding a matching fabric clutch
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Alice - MEMENTO Dress

Alice - MEMENTO Dress

$570.00 AUD
$570.00 AUD
Sale Sold out
Shipping calculated at checkout.

This made-to-order high quality, reversible dress features a mid-weight, buttery soft natural cotton/linen blend with distressed and frayed seams, printed with the striking artworks of talented 19th century American artist, Alice Pike Barney.

Included with the dress is a matching clutch, fabric-matched mending patches, and a selection of 19th century inspired slow-fashion & sewing activist patches to showcase your support of independent slow fashion. These items are made from the dress offcuts and are included with the purchase of the dress ☺️

This unconventional, striking design will spark conversation, outlast fleeting trends, and remain a treasured wardrobe staple for many years to come.

One size fits most - see garment measurements below:

  • BUST 130cm
  • BICEP 40cm
  • FRONT LENGTH 82cm
  • HIP 140cm

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Alice Pike Barney (1857–1931): An artist labelled a socialite.

In 1880s Paris, Alice Pike Barney did something unimaginable for a woman of her social standing — she chose to take her art seriously.

Born into Cincinnati wealth and married to a railroad fortune, Alice was expected to use her wealth to collect paintings, not create them. Instead, she walked into the studio of Charles Émile Auguste Carolus-Duran, one of the most sought-after portrait masters in Europe, and enrolled as his student. She later studied under James McNeill Whistler, learning of the rules of tonal subtlety and atmospheric restraint, so she could break them with her art.

In November 1901, Alice held her first solo exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Within a week, she was elected vice-president of the Society of Washington Artists. She went on to build Studio House on Massachusetts Avenue — part gallery, part salon, part creative sanctuary — where she hosted artists, writers, and thinkers for nearly three decades where she produced ballets, plays, and tableaux.

And yet much of art history remembers Alice Pike Barney as a patron, not a painter. Her daughter Natalie became famous as a writer and salon hostess in Paris. Her Studio House was donated to the Smithsonian, then quietly sold. Many of her paintings sit in storage. The woman who defied every expectation placed upon wealthy women of her era has been gently reclassified as an eccentric benefactress rather than the artist she truly was.

I hope that in wearing her image and her beautiful artworks, you too will say "I see you, Alice".

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Designed and made by Meg in The Patch, Australia.  All megsmithmakes garments are Ethical Clothing Australia accredited and megsmithmakes is a proud member of Seamless Australia.

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