--- description: The book celebrates its 150th birthday this year title: How 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' Stays Modern image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt11b4522aa35fc58e/6987edffcd1bba1bfd6f9423/alice.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Books](/tag/books/) ## Books Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # How _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_ Stays Modern by [Alexandra Bass / Harry Ransom Center](/author/harry-ransom-center/) ## Alexandra Bass / Harry Ransom Center Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 6, 2015 4:00 PM CUT  Cover of 1929 edition Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," illustrated by Willy Pogany. Cover of 1929 edition Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," illustrated by Willy Pogany.Harry Ransom Center by [Alexandra Bass / Harry Ransom Center](/author/harry-ransom-center/) ## Alexandra Bass / Harry Ransom Center Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 6, 2015 4:00 PM CUT  _This post is in partnership with the_ [_Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin_](http://blog.hrc.utexas.edu/ "undefined")_. The article below was originally published on the_ [_Ransom Center’s Cultural Compass blog_](http://budurl.com/1gwl "undefined")_._ The titular heroine of Lewis Carroll’s whimsical classic _Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland_ and its sequel _Through the Looking-Glass_ has changed to reflect the aesthetics of the times outside her fictional word. The fantastical nature of the story allows a certain freedom of temporality: although the narrative was written to occur in Victorian Britain, there are no specific indicators of the year, and the story could just as easily have been set in the twenty-first century. The changing visual depictions of Alice reflect this sense of timelessness. Having a contemporary-looking Alice makes it easy for younger audiences to relate to her and helps to explain _Wonderland_’s enduring popularity. First published in 1865, Sir John Tenniel’s iconic illustrations imagine Alice in a contemporary mid-Victorian pinafore, apron, and stockings. Tenniel’s depiction of Alice was the standard for the rest of the 1800s, but by the turn of the century, when the book went out of copyright, other illustrators reimagined the tale. Bessie Gutmann created Nouveau Alice in 1907, who wears a white, high-necked dress with full, long sleeves; her hair is long, swept up, and adorned with a flower. In the 1920s Alice became a sporty flapper. Willy Pogany’s 1929 illustrations depict a lanky Alice, somewhat older than previous representations, wearing a short, plaid skirt, short sleeve top with a tie at the neck, and knee socks. Her hair is bobbed and boyish, as per the androgynous Jazz Age fashion. Mid-century Alice reverts to the traditional, much like popular culture at the time. Disney released the animated _Alice in Wonderland_ film in 1951, in which Alice dons a blue dress, white apron, and a black ribbon in her hair, very similar to Tenniel’s depiction. Subsequent illustration from the period shows Disney’s influence. During the 1960s and ’70s, Alice adapts to the fashion of the period. One 1970 edition puts an older-looking Alice in a hot pink minidress with a Brigitte Bardot-esque bouffant; another illustration from the same year makes Alice look like she walked off of the set of _The Brady Bunch_, in a floral-accented minidress, knee socks, and long, straight hair. The continued success of _Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland_ is related to its ability to stay relevant and fresh to generations of readers. The story itself is not rooted in any particular temporal setting, and thus Alice has the ability to change her style to look like her readers. Although Alice was created in the Victorian era, she is anything but drab and prim: she is, more than many other literary heroines, thoroughly modern. _See the rest of the gallery of_ Alice _book covers_[ _here_](http://budurl.com/1gwl "undefined") _at the Harry Ransom Center blog_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3844110/alices-adventures-in-wonderland-illustrations-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3844110/alices-adventures-in-wonderland-illustrations-history/"},"headline":"How Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Stays Modern","datePublished":"2015-05-06T16:00:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:04:13.837Z","description":"The book celebrates its 150th birthday this year","url":"https://time.com/3844110/alices-adventures-in-wonderland-illustrations-history/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt11b4522aa35fc58e/6987edffcd1bba1bfd6f9423/alice.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Bass / Harry Ransom Center"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt11b4522aa35fc58e/6987edffcd1bba1bfd6f9423/alice.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"929 edition Lewis Carroll's \"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,\"","caption":"929 edition Lewis Carroll's \"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,\"","creditText":"Harry Ransom Center","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3844110/alices-adventures-in-wonderland-illustrations-history/","name":"How Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Stays Modern"}}]}] ```