by Kaybe Wong
When we talk about the female fashion designer, you may think about some well-known designers, such as CoCo Chanel, Vivienne Tam and Vivienne Westwood. However, there was also a talented fashion designer whom we have forgotten about, and she is Emilie Flöge.
You may not have heard her name before, but you may see Gustav Klimt’s painting The Kiss (Figure 1.) and many people believe that the kissing couples in the painting are Klimt and Emilie Flöge.
Flöge was a dress designer, she started up the Schwestern Flöge fashion house with her two sisters in Vienna in 1904.[2] However, “this partnership was unusual at a time when Austrian women did not often venture into business.”[3] From here, it shows that women were not active in the workplace or have their own business. And I believe that it was because sexual stereotyping occurred at that period of time, which means “all domestic and caring work within the family is denoted as ‘women’s work’, whilst waged work in the public domain is classified as ‘men’s work’.”[4] People thought that women should stay at home and do housework while men should go to work and earn money to raise the family and that’s why it was polarised when three women had their own business.
Although Flöge was a talented fashion designer, her works were not accepted by the public. It was because her works were influenced by the feminist movement, her designs were more focus on functional and comfortable. For instance, in the Figure 2., it is a dress designed by her, she avoided the constraining bodices but used a long, loosely design cutting, which was easy and comfortable to wear.
Flöge’s design might be identified as “bad taste” at that time, but after nearly a century, her designs do influence a famous fashion brand in 2015 (Figure 3.), which is Valentino, and her design is identified as “good taste” now. From here, it shows that “what is considered good taste is socially constructed,” [6] people in the past thought Flöge’s design was bad taste, but it does not mean her design is a bad design. It was just because the fashion trend at that time was tight dress and constraining bodices but Flöge’s design was different and opposite, which is loosely dress without constraining bodices.
I think Emilie Flöge is an amazing female fashion designer, because of her unique thinking and bold design. However, she is forgotten by the world. When I was doing research on her, I found out that there are many articles and information about the relationship between Klimt and her, and more focus on Klimt’s paintings but not much about Flöge’s designs. And I feel sad about that because while Klimt’s paintings were so popular, but Flöge’s talent and designs was unknown and unrecognised in the fashion history, and she surely deserves attention just like CoCo Chanel.
[1] “The Kiss Painting – Google Search”, Google.Com, Last modified 2019, https://www.google.com/search?q=the+kiss+painting&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi9hP_spMfhAhWXMt4KH
[2] Fischer, Wolfgang G. “GUSTAV KLIMT & EMILIE FLÖGE.” Art Book 1, no. 2 (1994): 38.
[3] Powell, Nicolas. “Emilie Floge and Her Lover Gustav Klimt.” Apollo (Archive : 1925-2005) 116, no. 246 (1982): 112-14.
[4] Bruce, and Lewis. “Women Designers — Is There a Gender Trap?” Design Studies 11, no. 2 (1990): 114-20.
[5] “Emilie Flöge Dresses – Google Search”, Google.Com, Last modified 2019, https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=9M6uXJrJGoevmAWk5blo&q=emilie+fl%C3%B6ge+dresses&oq=Emilie+Fl%C3%B6ge+&gs_l=img.1.0.0i19j0i30i19j0i8i30i19j0i30i19l6j0i5i30i19.910411.910411..911697…0.0..0.189.189.0j1……1….2j1..gws-wiz-img.0WF13bDxBBE#imgrc=cMDbmORVL85hwM:.
[6] Christoforidou, Despina, Elin Olander, Anders Warell, and Lisbeth Svengren Holm. “Good Taste vs. Good Design: A Tug of War in the Light of Bling.” The Design Journal 15, no. 2 (2012): 185-202.
[7] “Emilie Flöge”, Jiemian.Com, Last modified 2015, https://www.jiemian.com/article/330056.html.
Design Practices 