Augusta Lundin Swedish fashion designer Country: Sweden

Biography of Augusta Lundin

Augusta Lundin, born in 1840 in Kristianstad, Sweden, was a Swedish fashion designer and is considered to be the first Swedish fashion designer as well as the first renowned designer in Sweden. Coming from a family of tailors, Lundin became involved in fashion at a young age due to her family's occupation and quickly began making strides in her career.

Before opening her own atelier in 1867, Lundin worked in millinery workshops and fashion stores in Stockholm. Once a year, Augusta would travel to Paris to learn about fashion and soon adopted the French method of creating each part of a garment, successfully implementing the technique in her native Sweden. In 1886, Lundin designed the so-called "reformed dress," a loose-fitting dress without a corset or crinoline, fulfilling an important commission from society's upper echelons who sought a more health-conscious clothing option for women.

Among her clients were Selma Lagerlöf, the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, Josephine of Leuchtenberg, the wife of Oscar I, the King of Sweden and Norway, and other distinguished clients from around the world. King Oscar II would gift Lundin's gowns to the ladies-in-waiting at the royal court as Christmas presents every year. In 1892, Lundin was appointed as the official tailor to the royal court.

Augusta established a reputation as a good employer and was an honorary member of the Tailors' Society (1880). Recognizing that seamstresses often suffered back and eye injuries due to their work, she advocated for the implementation of a 12-hour workday and two weeks of summer vacation for all employees. Such an approach by an employer was unique for that time period. She employed several women who worked for her until 1910. After her death in 1919, her company passed into the hands of her siblings' children.

In the 1920s, the company faced difficulties due to the growing trend of simplification in the fashion world and the production of women's toiletries. It was eventually closed in 1939.