Swedish Dress Reform Association

The views of the Victorian dress reform were made known in Sweden by the book Dress and Health, which was translated to Swedish under the name Reformdrägten (likely by Oscara von Sydow) with an introduction by Curt Wallis and Hanna Winge. In February 1885, Anne Charlotte Leffler held a speech on the subject in the women's club Nya Idun, and asked Hanna Winge to design a Swedish reform dress; when this was done, Leffler became the first woman in Sweden to wear a reform dress. This created publicity, and in April 1886, a group of women founded the Svenska drägtreformföreningen with the purpose of introducing and adapting the Victorian dress reform movement's ideas in Sweden.

Many famous contemporary Swedish women were members of the Svenska drägtreformföreningen. Among the members were Anna Hierta-Retzius and Ellen Key, who acted as its first, temporary chairperson upon its foundation, until a permanent one could be elected.

The society was active in changing public opinion toward a more healthy dress style for women by public lectures, articles and publications. It was given wide support by Scandinavian medical doctors, and Curt Wallis, Karolina Widerström and Lorentz Dietrichson all wrote supporting articles which denounced particularly tight lace corseting as unhealthy. In 1889, Queen Sophia invited the chairperson to an official audience and invited her to display the reform dresses designed by Augusta Lundin at Ulriksdal Palace, and afterward gave the society her formal support, which was publicized as a great success.

While no separate dress reform society was established in the other Nordic nations of Denmark, Finland and Norway, the women's movement in these countries was influenced by the Swedish dress reform society and was also active on the issue.

El vestido reformista de la sociedad fue fabricado por Amigos de la Artesanía y por el taller de Augusta Lundin , quien vestía a sus asistentes con dicho vestido. El vestido reformista en sí nunca logró popularizarse, aunque algunas mujeres radicales como Calla Curman , Sonja Kovalevsky , Alfhild Agrell y Anna Boberg lo lucieron en público. Sin embargo, la sociedad sí logró cierto éxito en lo que respecta al uso de corsés en las niñas. En la década de 1890, se informó que el uso de corsés en las escuelas suecas para niñas había disminuido notablemente, ya que ya no se consideraba apropiado que una colegiala usara corsé. ^{[ 2 ]}

En 1890, la asociación pasó a formar parte de la Asociación Fredrika Bremer . Si bien en aquel entonces se consideraba natural que las asociaciones femeninas suecas se organizaran bajo la FBA, la asociación se constituyó como entidad independiente y continuó funcionando por su cuenta. Sin embargo, después de 1896, la moda cada vez más sencilla y cómoda, la introducción de la ropa deportiva para el ciclismo y la disminución del uso de corsés ajustados provocaron una disminución de la actividad de la asociación. En 1903, se disolvió.