Ada Nettleship

Adaline Cort Nettleship (1856-1932), née Hinton, was a British dressmaker and costume designer known for working at the forefront of the the Aesthetic dress style and the rational dress movement.

Adaline Cort Hinton was the daughter of surgeon James Hinton and Margaret (Haddon) Hinton. She married the British animal painter John Trivett Nettleship, with whom she had three children. Their oldest daughter, Ida, became an artist and the first wife of British painter Augustus John.

Nettleship established herself as a dressmaker in London, expanding from an earlier specialization in embroidery. Notable clients included the soprano Marie Tempest, and the actors Ellen Terry, Winifred Emery, Sarah Bernhardt, and Mrs Patrick Campbell.

In 1884, she made Constance Lloyd's wedding dress for her marriage to Oscar Wilde. 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.

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. Designed by Alice Comyns Carr 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 painted Terry in the Carr-Nettleship dress in 1889. The restored costume is on display in Terry's home, Smallhythe Place, near Tenterden in Kent.

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