tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/the-story-of-10280/articles
The story of... – The Conversation
2014-11-05T03:07:58Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/32169
2014-11-05T03:07:58Z
2014-11-05T03:07:58Z
The story of … the bra
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63287/original/3cbvgmjd-1414648141.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Bras have come a long way in 100 years.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/HO</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This year marks the 100-year anniversary of the first bra patent. Amazingly for the time – 1914 – it was made by a woman in her twenties, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caresse_Crosby">Mary (Polly) Phelps Jacob</a> (nee Crosby).</p>
<p>Polly made her bra initially from two handkerchiefs and some ribbon with the intent to show off her substantial cleavage in a sheer evening gown that had a plunging neckline. The handkerchiefs formed the bra cups and the ribbons formed the straps.</p>
<p>Polly’s young breasts looked <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caresse_Crosby#Invents_brassiere">so appealing</a> in this “lightweight, soft and comfortable bra, that naturally separating the breasts” that all that all her friends wanted one. It was a big improvement from the heavy, stiff, uncomfortable corsets that created a mono-bosom, which women of the day were all wearing. </p>
<p>Polly started making bras for her friends, selling the first for one dollar. This expanded to a two-woman factory, the Fashion Form Brassiere Company in Boston and the first bra patent called: “the backless brassiere” (see below).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63273/original/7dgx7rd6-1414643457.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63273/original/7dgx7rd6-1414643457.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63273/original/7dgx7rd6-1414643457.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63273/original/7dgx7rd6-1414643457.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63273/original/7dgx7rd6-1414643457.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63273/original/7dgx7rd6-1414643457.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63273/original/7dgx7rd6-1414643457.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63273/original/7dgx7rd6-1414643457.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Patent design for a ‘backless brassiere’ by Mary Phelps Jacob.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The company made a few hundred bras and secured orders from department stores, but the business never really took. Polly was persuaded by her husband to close the company and sell the patent, which was bought by The Warner Brother Corset Company for US$1,500 (equivalent to US$21,000 in current money). Warner Brothers went on to make more than US$15 million from it over the next 30 years.</p>
<h2>Bra biomechanics</h2>
<p>Until the 1970s, bras functioned purely for aesthetics, to improve the look of a woman’s breasts under her clothing. The Women’s Liberation Movement of the 1960/70s in America was a catalyst for bra development, despite the stories that the same feminists were burning their bras. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63370/original/8rmsftsx-1414727220.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63370/original/8rmsftsx-1414727220.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63370/original/8rmsftsx-1414727220.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63370/original/8rmsftsx-1414727220.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63370/original/8rmsftsx-1414727220.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=898&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63370/original/8rmsftsx-1414727220.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63370/original/8rmsftsx-1414727220.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63370/original/8rmsftsx-1414727220.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Russian tennis star Anna Kournikova launches the new ‘Shock Absorber’ bra, 2002.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Gerry Penny</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Women’s Liberation Movement lead to changes in the rights of women, one of which was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_IX">Title IX</a> of the Educational Amendments. This banned sex discrimination in terms of funding opportunities within the education system, entitling female students to equal funding opportunities for sport as male students. </p>
<p>The amendment led to increased the involvement of women in sport, which lead to the need for increased breast support and the birth of the sports bra.</p>
<p>It is ironic that one of the first sports bras was made from two jockstraps, especially considering the difference in the average size of a breast compared to the average testicle! Two women, graduate students who were frustrated with poor support during sport, designed the jock-strap bra. Sports bra has come a long way since the 1970s, with the science of biomechanics key in their development.</p>
<p>One of the earliest pioneers of this science was <a href="http://www.amwa-doc.org/faces/christine-e-haycock-md/">Christine Haycock</a>, who conducted a survey of 300 female college athletes in the 1970s to investigate the issues and injuries of female college athletes.</p>
<p>Surprisingly, breast pain during exercise was reported to be problem. This lead her to further investigate breast discomfort during sport and to measure, for the first time, breast movement during running using high speed film. </p>
<p>She <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ358645">found</a> that the breasts moved in a sinusoidal (wave-like) pattern and that breast movement was associated with breast discomfort during exercise. Her research, together with later American female researchers, such as <a href="http://ctr.sagepub.com/content/8/4/55.refs">LaJean Lawson</a>, who performed “road-tests” of the early sports bras in terms of breast movement, and breast and bra discomfort, contributed significantly to the development of sports bras and the notion that they should limit breast movement.</p>
<h2>The future of breast support</h2>
<p>Bras have come a long way in 100 years, but what is the current status of breast support? </p>
<p>Two of the biggest problems now are bra fit and increasing breast size. In order for a bra to support the breasts sufficiently, it must also fit correctly. The best bras on the market will not limit breast movement if they are either too big or too small. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, 85% of Australian women are <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20451452">wearing</a> the wrong size bra. So why are women so bad at this? Some of the issues are:</p>
<ul>
<li>bra sizes are not standardised, so women commonly fit into a range of bra sizes; </li>
<li>the bra sizing system is based on two chest circumference measurements rather than any measure of breast volume; </li>
<li>breast support and bra fit has not been knowledge that mothers have had themselves to hand down to their daughters. </li>
</ul>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63372/original/pcwvk85z-1414727933.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63372/original/pcwvk85z-1414727933.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/63372/original/pcwvk85z-1414727933.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63372/original/pcwvk85z-1414727933.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63372/original/pcwvk85z-1414727933.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63372/original/pcwvk85z-1414727933.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63372/original/pcwvk85z-1414727933.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/63372/original/pcwvk85z-1414727933.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock.com</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>My colleagues and I at <a href="http://smah.uow.edu.au/brl/bra/index.html">Breast Research Australia</a> are aiming to solve these problems by educating women through our free app <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/sports-bra/id584698076?mt=8">Sports Bra</a> which is the only app in the world that contains evidence-based information to help women choose a well-fitted, supportive sports bra that suits their exercise needs. </p>
<p>We are also conducting research that is investigating the true shape and size of the breasts and torsos of Australia women to improve the bra sizing system.</p>
<p>The other current issue in breast support is the increasing breast size of women. </p>
<p>Larger breasts require greater support from a bra. Over the past 10 years, the average bra size has <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elisabeth-dale/bigger-bra-sizes-and-brea_b_3746305.html">increased</a> from a 12B to a 14C and 25% of bras sold are now a D cup or larger. </p>
<p>So it looks like over the next 100 years, bras will definitely be bigger, hopefully they will fit better and, with the development of intelligent fabrics, they may function very differently.</p>
<p>Lets hope it is an area where women will still lead the way!</p>
<p><br></p>
<p><strong><em>Read more articles in <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/the-story-of">The Story Of</a> series</em></strong></p>
<p><br></p>
<p><em>Are you an academic or researcher? Is there a fashion item – iconic, everyday or utilitarian – you would like to tell the story of? Contact the <a href="mailto:paul.dalgarno@theconversation.edu.au">Arts + Culture editor</a> with your idea.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32169/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deirdre McGhee received funding from the University of Wollongong to develop the Sports Bra App and a grant from IMB Community Foundation to develop a booklet 'Sports Bra Fitness'.</span></em></p>
This year marks the 100-year anniversary of the first bra patent. Amazingly for the time – 1914 – it was made by a woman in her twenties, Mary (Polly) Phelps Jacob (nee Crosby). Polly made her bra initially…
Deirdre McGhee, Researcher and Senior Lecturer, University of Wollongong, APA Sports Physiotherapist, University of Wollongong
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/32806
2014-10-21T19:14:59Z
2014-10-21T19:14:59Z
Jean Paul Gaultier and the true history of the fashion stripe
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62423/original/tgttsc26-1413931266.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The stripe is the mark of the ordinary seaman, never of the officer.
</span> </figcaption></figure><p>The publicity material for <a href="http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/jeanpaulgaultier">The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier</a> exhibition, which opened last week at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), unsurprisingly came decked in stripes. </p>
<p>The blue and white bars of the Breton jersey, worn by French sailors since the mid-19th century and made fashionable by Coco Chanel at the end of the first world war, have dressed promotional films, merchandise, catalogues, and the figures of those invited to the opening. </p>
<p>So, what is the history of the stripe in fashion?</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62308/original/bdn9xwwn-1413848542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62308/original/bdn9xwwn-1413848542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62308/original/bdn9xwwn-1413848542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62308/original/bdn9xwwn-1413848542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62308/original/bdn9xwwn-1413848542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62308/original/bdn9xwwn-1413848542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1035&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62308/original/bdn9xwwn-1413848542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1035&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62308/original/bdn9xwwn-1413848542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1035&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pierre et Gilles, Portrait of Jean Paul Gaultier 1990, painted photograph, 112.0x92.0cm, private collection, Paris.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Pierre et Gilles/Rainer Torrado</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <em>marinière</em> is inseparably associated with Parisian <a href="http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/jeanpaulgaultier/overview/biography">Gaultier</a>, who has repeatedly included it in his fashion collections over a 40-year career. At the same time, together with the beret and neckerchief, the sailor stripe goes shorthand for a style that is stereotypically, parodically French.</p>
<p>The horizontal bands remain the most vivid and playful example of a surface decoration more notable for its banality and ubiquity. </p>
<p>The stripe is seen everywhere from the pinstriped business suit, with its accompanying shirt and tie, to the pastel stripes of our pyjamas and bed linen, to the emblematic blazery of the school uniform and football strip. </p>
<p>We are seemingly at home with the contemporary stripe and its implications of rectitude, comfort, identity and energy.</p>
<h2>The stripe as mark of the social outsider</h2>
<p>It has not always been so. If the wearing of stripes seems a trivial matter, subject to the whims of fashion and the conventions of work and leisure, <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-12366-2/the-devils-cloth">there was a time</a> when to be striped was indeed to be barred, to be marked as socially marginalised or excluded.</p>
<p>Medieval art frequently depicts, and sumptuary laws (that attempt to regulate consumption) often required, the wearing of striped clothing by the criminal, crippled, and insane. It marks those plying dishonourable trades, such as the prostitute and butcher, and those whose employment entails a degree of disruptiveness, such as the minstrel and clown. </p>
<p>In painting and literature, and sometimes in heraldry, its presence is a marker of treachery, rebelliousness, and cruelty.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62313/original/7fq9jjb2-1413852728.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62313/original/7fq9jjb2-1413852728.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/62313/original/7fq9jjb2-1413852728.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62313/original/7fq9jjb2-1413852728.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62313/original/7fq9jjb2-1413852728.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62313/original/7fq9jjb2-1413852728.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62313/original/7fq9jjb2-1413852728.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/62313/original/7fq9jjb2-1413852728.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) demonstration, women dressed in prison-stripe costumes, carrying chains, c1945.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kheel Center</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>All that may seem of another age. Yet the stripe has never quite shaken its earlier connotations of (in-)subordination. If the early modern period sees its gradual social acceptance, it remains primarily the livery of the lower classes and persists in the striped vest of the butler and uniform of the chambermaid. And it is from here, perhaps, that it makes its way out to sea. </p>
<p>For the stripe is the mark of the ordinary seaman, never of the officer.</p>
<p>Until recently, horizontal stripes paired with vertical bars signified the enclosure of the prison cell or the internment of the concentration camp, the memory of which seems recently to have eluded <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/zara-drops-childrens-shirt-after-comparisons-to-nazi-concentration-camp-uniforms-20140828-1099mk.html">an international clothing label</a>.</p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gwen Stefani at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, New York.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Dimitrios Kambouris/Fashion Wire Daily</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We might conjecture that it was its association with the subjugated or disenfranchised that led to the adoption of the tricoloured stripe as symbol of rebellion and liberation during the revolutions in the United States and France.</p>
<p>Today we come in all stripes. The emblematic band of provenance and identity, of the coat of arms and national flag, attaches itself to the uniform. The sign of social liminality we bestow on children, while unconsciously acknowledging that an adult swathed in stripes would be, at best, an eccentric.</p>
<p>The deviant stripe of the demi-mondaine, bohemian, or scoundrel crossed the line into popular culture in the 1950s and 60s. And the upright stripe of the 1930s pinstripe suit, armour of the modern warrior, has never been able to free itself from ambivalence, for it is only the changing subtleties of contrast and width that separate the stripes of the Wall Street banker from those of the Hollywood gangster.</p>
<p>Finally, witness the recent appearance on our intimate apparel of the pastel stripe, unable to decide whether it aspires to the purity of white or the vivacity of colour. </p>
<h2>The stripe as cultural marker</h2>
<p>It is hazardous to offer an aesthetic or psychological explanation for the symbolism and ideology of the stripe. </p>
<p>Yet there are clear perceptual differences between the neutrality and inertia of the plain surface, the orderliness of the patterned surface, on which background and foreground are distinguishable, and the pulsation of the striped surface, where no hierarchy of planes is evident.</p>
<p>To follow its lines crossways is to be in perpetual transition. To follow them lengthways is to be in dynamic flight – the reason, perhaps, for their popularity in sportswear.</p>
<p>If the restlessness of the stripe is a sign of disorder, its regularity is the imposition of order. The comb, bookshelf, fence, barcode; all are means of ordering the disorderly. The stripe, in a profound sense, is the inscription of culture itself.</p>
<p>The motley tunic once marked the exclusion and reintegration of the medieval fringe-dweller. Is that now the lot of all of us?</p>
<p><br></p>
<p><em>The National Gallery of Victoria will host a series of public talks on the <a href="http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/jeanpaulgaultier/events/program-highlights">Colourful History of the Stripe</a> on Saturdays October 25, November 1 and 8.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32806/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sean Ryan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The publicity material for The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition, which opened last week at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), unsurprisingly came decked in stripes. The blue and white…
Sean Ryan, Senior Lecturer, RMIT University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/26388
2014-06-26T20:45:30Z
2014-06-26T20:45:30Z
The story of … the supermodel
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52137/original/ym4bwg6f-1403658844.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'We don't wake up for less than $10,000 a day.'</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/David Crosling</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Women, fashion, and glamour are synonymous in the modern era – but in the mid to late 1980s this association intensified into one distinct cultural icon: the supermodel. </p>
<p>While highly professional models with identifiable looks and personalities had existed since the 1950s, (Christian Dior’s favourite was called <a href="https://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&ALID=2TYRYD7Y6O43">Lucky</a>) and celebrity models since the 1960s (think <a href="http://www.twiggylawson.co.uk/">Twiggy</a>), the 1980s version literally superseded their predecessors in stature, stardom, and – most importantly – earning capacity. </p>
<p>The supermodels were an elite and exclusive group. Key figures included Americans <a href="http://www.cindy.com/bio">Cindy Crawford</a> and <a href="http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/biographies/christy-turlington-biography">Christy Turlington</a>, Brit <a href="http://www.vogue.co.uk/person/naomi-campbell">Naomi Campbell</a>, Canadian-born <a href="http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/biographies/linda-evangelista-biography">Linda Evangelista</a> and <a href="http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/biographies/claudia-schiffer-biography">Claudia Schiffer</a> from Germany. </p>
<p>This grouping is not definitive and the term was applied to other high profile models of this generation including Australia’s own <a href="http://www.vogue.co.uk/person/elle-macpherson">Elle “The Body” Macpherson</a> and later notably English model <a href="http://www.vogue.co.uk/person/kate-moss">Kate Moss</a>. A list of very specific characteristics secured the pedigree of the original supermodels. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52158/original/v9jxpygd-1403666939.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52158/original/v9jxpygd-1403666939.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52158/original/v9jxpygd-1403666939.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52158/original/v9jxpygd-1403666939.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52158/original/v9jxpygd-1403666939.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52158/original/v9jxpygd-1403666939.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52158/original/v9jxpygd-1403666939.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52158/original/v9jxpygd-1403666939.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">American Vogue 1991, Peter Lindbergh.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julien</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>First, self evidently, perhaps were their physical attributes. While each supermodel had a distinct “look” (Linda’s old world glamour versus Cindy’s girl-next-door) all of them had bodies of Amazonian proportions. Strong and lean as opposed to slim and diminutive they embodied a powerful, intense and indeed mythical vision of female beauty. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52160/original/mkm6rh54-1403667282.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52160/original/mkm6rh54-1403667282.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52160/original/mkm6rh54-1403667282.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=861&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52160/original/mkm6rh54-1403667282.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=861&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52160/original/mkm6rh54-1403667282.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=861&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52160/original/mkm6rh54-1403667282.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1082&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52160/original/mkm6rh54-1403667282.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1082&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52160/original/mkm6rh54-1403667282.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1082&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Linda Evangelista, photography: Steven Meisel, 1995.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Victor Soto</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Second, as at home on the catwalk as they were in editorials, a supermodel was a supermodel simply by virtue of her market value. Witness Linda’s quip to journalist Jonathan Van Meter:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We don’t wake up for less than $10,000 a day. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Finally real supermodels managed to transcend the world of fashion that had borne them and registered simply as celebrities with all that entailed, including dating movie stars, hosting TV shows, and becoming fodder for gossip magazines.</p>
<p>The precise cultural circumstances that saw the celebrity cachet of models arise are difficult to discern but it is clear that a number of factors aligned. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52147/original/pdypc3f4-1403663902.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52147/original/pdypc3f4-1403663902.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52147/original/pdypc3f4-1403663902.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52147/original/pdypc3f4-1403663902.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52147/original/pdypc3f4-1403663902.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52147/original/pdypc3f4-1403663902.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1125&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52147/original/pdypc3f4-1403663902.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1125&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52147/original/pdypc3f4-1403663902.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1125&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Casablancas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julian Marques</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Big name celebrity designers such as Versace and Karl Lagerfeld became the figureheads for global conglomerate fashion, the worlds of entertainment and fashion merged through internationalised media networks, and, in Paris, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10196149/John-Casablancas.html">John Casablancas</a> of Elite Model Management championed a new brasher version of the modelling agency. </p>
<p>One of Casablancas’ key strategies entailed marketing his “girls” as a group. This ploy dovetailed nicely with a genre of fashion photography that had been developed in the 1950s – the large cast fashion shoot. </p>
<p>Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s high-end fashion photographers including <a href="http://www.peterlindbergh.com/biography/">Peter Lindbergh</a>, <a href="http://www.vogue.com/voguepedia/Steven_Meisel">Steven Meisel</a> and <a href="http://www.herbritts.com/about/">Herb Ritts</a> developed compelling editorial spreads that featured groupings of supermodels lined up next to each other wearing variations on a theme. In these somewhat disarming images each model seems to trump the beauty of the next resulting in a giddying excess of glamour. </p>
<p>The supermodels faced the 1990s optimistically appearing en masse on the covers of the world’s most influential fashion magazines and attracting lucrative make-up endorsements. But meanwhile the fashion clock was ticking. Not only was grunge replacing glamour as the fashionable ideal the whole image of the supermodel with her perfect beauty was attracting critique from various quarters. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52150/original/ghxjqkyk-1403665084.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52150/original/ghxjqkyk-1403665084.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52150/original/ghxjqkyk-1403665084.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52150/original/ghxjqkyk-1403665084.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52150/original/ghxjqkyk-1403665084.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52150/original/ghxjqkyk-1403665084.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52150/original/ghxjqkyk-1403665084.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52150/original/ghxjqkyk-1403665084.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Karl Lagerfeld is flanked by Claudia Schiffer, 2008.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/ Soeren Stache</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite the fact these women were without exception naturally beautiful they became emblematic of an idea of falseness and artifice often associated with fashion. Moreover the fact that they traded on their appearance, and made previously unheard of amounts of money for merely “being beautiful” was frequently interpreted as morally corrupt. </p>
<p>Finally and most ironically, as the “reality” of their lives was exposed through increased media exposure (failed marriages, bungled career moves, and the like) their very humanity seemed to work against them. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52157/original/dsr8rf3v-1403666565.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52157/original/dsr8rf3v-1403666565.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52157/original/dsr8rf3v-1403666565.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52157/original/dsr8rf3v-1403666565.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52157/original/dsr8rf3v-1403666565.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52157/original/dsr8rf3v-1403666565.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=919&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52157/original/dsr8rf3v-1403666565.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=919&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52157/original/dsr8rf3v-1403666565.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=919&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cindy Crawford.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">DOS Museum</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The real treachery however came from within the industry. </p>
<p>In the March 1996 edition of US Vogue, an article entitled “Supermodels, the Sequel” was busy promoting four new younger “faces” who were keen to distance themselves from their slightly more experienced counterparts. </p>
<p>While all the interviewees agreed that the supermodels had played an important role in the industry (from which they now profited) none of them wanted to be associated with prima donna behaviour or vacuous self promotion. Aligning themselves instead with notions of reality and groundedness, there was a sense they wouldn’t let the market value of their beauty go to their heads. </p>
<p>For me perhaps the clearest sign that the reign of the supermodel was well and truly over was when <a href="http://www.thebodyshop.com/services/aboutus_anita-roddick.aspx">Anita Roddick</a>, founder of The Body Shop, launched the highly successful “<a href="http://www.printmag.com/editors-picks/the-body-shops-honest-ad-campaign/">honest advertising</a>” campaign in 1998 with the byline:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There are 3 billion women who don’t look like supermodels and only 8 who do. </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52155/original/7bp4sgkb-1403666111.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52155/original/7bp4sgkb-1403666111.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52155/original/7bp4sgkb-1403666111.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52155/original/7bp4sgkb-1403666111.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52155/original/7bp4sgkb-1403666111.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52155/original/7bp4sgkb-1403666111.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52155/original/7bp4sgkb-1403666111.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52155/original/7bp4sgkb-1403666111.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">bodyshop.com.au</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While the campaign won widespread support and turned Broddick’s fortunes around, I find it unfortunate that its logic comes at the cost of ostensibly pitching eight of the world’s successful and beautiful women against the rest. </p>
<p><br></p>
<p><strong><em>Read more articles in <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/the-story-of">The Story Of</a> series</em></strong></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26388/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathleen Horton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Women, fashion, and glamour are synonymous in the modern era – but in the mid to late 1980s this association intensified into one distinct cultural icon: the supermodel. While highly professional models…
Kathleen Horton, Senior Lecturer, Fashion, Queensland University of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/26241
2014-06-19T20:56:01Z
2014-06-19T20:56:01Z
The story of … the handbag
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51626/original/3zmb8t96-1403155000.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Whether fashionable or functional, the handbag – and what it contains – is intensely personal.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Chanel 2.55, Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Under attack from a flock of killer crows, Tippi Hedren in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 thriller <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056869/">The Birds</a>, pauses to collect her handbag. It’s an instinctive gesture that many women would recognise. For a mere “accessory”, the handbag does a lot. </p>
<p>It’s been called a survival kit, an investment, a precious object. It can be practical and utilitarian or luxurious and frivolous, mass-produced or hand-crafted. For some, it is the ultimate in commodity fetishism, a status symbol that confers belonging. Others get by without one at all. But whether fashionable or functional, the handbag – and what it contains – is also intensely personal.</p>
<p>In medieval times, men hid their purses in the folds of their clothes. Women hung theirs from a belt-like rope called a girdle, along with other things they might need – rosary beads, a book of hours, a sweet-smelling pomander or, maybe, a dagger. Over the ensuing centuries, the girdle was replaced by pockets, which, in turn, were replaced by the reticule. </p>
<p>These little bags were carried in the hand and, often beautifully embroidered, made a common gift between lovers or friends. A point not lost on contemporary satirists or, indeed, Freud who later likened a purse or handbag to the vagina.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51573/original/xpbmdsfg-1403141861.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51573/original/xpbmdsfg-1403141861.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51573/original/xpbmdsfg-1403141861.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1186&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51573/original/xpbmdsfg-1403141861.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1186&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51573/original/xpbmdsfg-1403141861.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1186&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51573/original/xpbmdsfg-1403141861.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51573/original/xpbmdsfg-1403141861.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51573/original/xpbmdsfg-1403141861.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chatelaine, 1765-1775, Victoria and Albert Museum.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the 19th century, along with reticules, purses and muffs, women also wore a chatelaine, a belt not dissimilar to the girdle, from which could be hung little items, both decorative and functional. </p>
<p>All these forms of carrying things spoke of a feminine world that was defined by domesticity and presumed that, at least, the upper class woman had little to carry and not far to roam or, if she did, that servants and porters would always be on hand. </p>
<p>The arrival of the handbag in the late 19th century, writes English fashion historian <a href="http://www.arts.ac.uk/research/research-staff/a-z/professor-claire-wilcox/">Claire Wilcox</a>, indicated a societal shift and “symbolised women’s new found freedom and independence”. Whereas the chatelaine with its items on display was worn in the privacy of the home, the handbag was worn in public. Here, what a woman carried needed to be concealed.</p>
<p>Fashion and function competed and merged from the start. Early in the 20th century, large bags or briefcases with shoulder straps were a sign of women’s increasing modernity and participation in the workplace. But it didn’t take long for the luxury bag to appear. And as fashion decreed coordinating handbags with every outfit, crocodile, antelope, seal, and ermine were enlisted to add pizazz to the more common leathers in morocco and kidskin. </p>
<p>For night, pretty satin, velvet, embroidered or fine mesh bags were worn. And, by the 1920s, jewelers were making lavishly jeweled purses, such as <a href="http://www.cartier.com/maison/living-heritage/cartier-collection/3/4">one by Cartier</a> set with diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and pearls. Anything that could be used was and as the century progressed handbags in chrome, bakelite and transparent lucite all had their fashion moment.</p>
<p>During the second world war, gas mask bags were transformed into something modish and gay, but in the 1950s, handbags got serious. This was the decade that saw the arrival of individual handbag designs that would have lasting fashionable and cultural significance. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51586/original/x7cvfc75-1403143349.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51586/original/x7cvfc75-1403143349.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51586/original/x7cvfc75-1403143349.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51586/original/x7cvfc75-1403143349.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51586/original/x7cvfc75-1403143349.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51586/original/x7cvfc75-1403143349.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51586/original/x7cvfc75-1403143349.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Glomesh bag.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Nguyen</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Chanel’s quilted and gold chained “2.55” bag (named for the month and year of its release), Louis Vuitton’s monogrammed “bucket bag” (originally for champagne), the “Kelly” from Hermès (after Grace Kelly, of course) and Gucci’s bamboo handled bag all remain global bestsellers today. </p>
<p>Back then, these luxury bags were beyond the reach of the average woman but fashion magazines encouraged women to buy the best they could afford. As a sign of good grooming, writes Wilcox, the handbag was “a real telltale, open or shut”.</p>
<p>Playing on the notion that you can tell a lot about a woman by her handbag, from the 1970s, the Australian company Glomesh ran <a href="http://bessgeorgette.com/blog/2013/03/13/whats-in-your-vintage-glomesh-handbag/">a memorable campaign</a> that invited celebrities to reveal the contents of their Glomesh bag. The handbag had now come full circle and everything was on display. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51627/original/8jdhw42t-1403155508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51627/original/8jdhw42t-1403155508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51627/original/8jdhw42t-1403155508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51627/original/8jdhw42t-1403155508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51627/original/8jdhw42t-1403155508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51627/original/8jdhw42t-1403155508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1086&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51627/original/8jdhw42t-1403155508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1086&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51627/original/8jdhw42t-1403155508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1086&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bob Hawke and Margaret Thatcher at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Vancouver in 1987.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/ supplied by the National Archives of Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In contrast to the glitzy, designery, disco-dancing showpieces worn by the <em>beau monde</em> were the ethnic-inspired, patchwork and sturdy leather bags worn by the likes of Germaine Greer. Such bags aligned the wearer with multiculturalism, anti-materialism and working class utility and matched the anti-fashion rhetoric of feminism. But as the decade moved on, feminism’s often competing narratives of political engagement and personal empowerment came up against fashion and, in the world of handbags, the latter was always going to win.</p>
<p>In the 1980s with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan setting the tone, power, money and logos reigned. Handbags took on an identity of their own as consumer icons and became “defiantly expensive”. Then came the “It Bag”, defined by Tom Ford as “you gotta have it or you’ll die”.</p>
<p>Known in the industry as trend bags, they helped rescue haute couture brands from the brink and, according to the authors of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Handbags-Lexicon-Style-Valerie-Steele/dp/0847822303">Bags: A Lexicon of Style</a>, became “central to the image (and finances) of major fashion concerns”. </p>
<p>Waiting lists for iconic bags like the Hermès Birkin grew longer and counterfeiting got better. By 2008, faking it was so rife that <a href="http://www.notcot.com/archives/2008/04/lvs-war-on-coun.php">Louis Vuitton set up a mock bag market</a>, manned by black, hoodie-wearing streetsellers, outside the Brooklyn Museum to sell well-heeled consumers the real thing for real prices with the fake frisson of illegality.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51625/original/4cn3df9f-1403154434.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51625/original/4cn3df9f-1403154434.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51625/original/4cn3df9f-1403154434.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51625/original/4cn3df9f-1403154434.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51625/original/4cn3df9f-1403154434.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51625/original/4cn3df9f-1403154434.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1076&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51625/original/4cn3df9f-1403154434.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1076&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51625/original/4cn3df9f-1403154434.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1076&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Angie Harmon, carrying a Louis Vuitton handbag.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/">shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When a sales assistant failed to recognise Oprah Winfrey last year, US$38,000 handbags <a href="http://business.financialpost.com/2013/08/09/a-38000-handbag-for-worlds-ultra-rich-like-oprah-astronomical-cost-of-accessories-is-the-real-deal/">made world headlines</a> and it became impossible to deny that the designer handbag industry was serious business. In China alone, where it is possible to speak in terms of “handbag wars”, the industry is worth billions, says <a href="http://www.businessoffashion.com/daily-digest/handbag-wars-great-luxury-divide">The Business of Fashion</a>. </p>
<p>In China, the handbag’s upward growth may have been momentarily stalled by a crackdown on corruption and the practice of giving luxury gifts to officials but, in Hong Kong, the wonderfully named <a href="http://yeslady.com.hk/en/">Yes Lady Finance Co. Ltd</a> still accepts designer handbags as collateral.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, open any glossy magazine and you’ll see the supremacy of the handbag in action on page after page of ads for Coach, Versace, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Chanel and a myriad of others where the model and her designer clothes are almost incidental. </p>
<p>In the millennial age, the relationship between subject and object has gone awry and it’s not us but the handbag that is doing the wearing. Dismissed to the background, we have become a mere accessory.</p>
<p><br></p>
<p><strong><em>Read more articles in <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/the-story-of">The Story Of</a> series</em></strong></p>
<p><br></p>
<p><em>Are you an academic or researcher? Is there a fashion item – iconic, everyday or utilitarian – you would like to tell the story of? Contact the <a href="mailto:paul.dalgarno@theconversation.edu.au">Arts + Culture editor</a> with your idea.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26241/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen de Perthuis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Under attack from a flock of killer crows, Tippi Hedren in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 thriller The Birds, pauses to collect her handbag. It’s an instinctive gesture that many women would recognise. For a…
Karen de Perthuis, Lecturer, UNSW Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/26498
2014-06-04T20:24:33Z
2014-06-04T20:24:33Z
The story of … the military jacket
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50208/original/9x7dd5y7-1401857931.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Beatles' bright costumes can be seen as cheeky nostalgia for an empire in decline.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jeremy Chan</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fashion and war don’t seem an obvious pairing, but the military jacket is a fashion staple. It may take the form of a double-breasted dress uniform with brass buttons and epaulettes, trimmed in rock star braid, or it may be a khaki combat jacket, worn with Doc Martens and a scowl.</p>
<p>Here I explore how these two forms of the military jacket were frogmarched into fashion.</p>
<p>One of the most enduring of military jackets is the elaborate regimental dress uniform with its rows of horizontal gold braid across the front and gold tasselled epaulettes on the shoulders. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50211/original/fvcczwf2-1401858156.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50211/original/fvcczwf2-1401858156.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50211/original/fvcczwf2-1401858156.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=671&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50211/original/fvcczwf2-1401858156.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=671&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50211/original/fvcczwf2-1401858156.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=671&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50211/original/fvcczwf2-1401858156.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=843&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50211/original/fvcczwf2-1401858156.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=843&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50211/original/fvcczwf2-1401858156.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=843&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cornet Henry John Wilkin, a British Hussar from the Crimean War, 1855.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Its origins are the 18th century <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussar">hussars</a>, the Hungarian light horse troops. Their pelisse, or braided outer coat, was high-collared with fur cuffs and fur lining. Although <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Five_Centuries_of_American_Costume.html?id=easYAAAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y">designed for pomp rather than comfort</a>, this uniform became the model for many forms of military dress uniform. </p>
<p>The tailored style, fur detailing and braid trims of the dress uniform found their way into women’s clothing almost from the beginning, with 19th-century fashionable women wearing clothing <a href="http://jsh.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/1/105.full.pdf">inspired by officers’ uniforms</a>. It may have begun as a way to show solidarity with their officer husbands, but the jackets were also very flattering. The braid and brass was bold yet decorative, bringing a certain <em>frisson</em> through being a feminine reworking of styles from a resolutely masculine vocation.</p>
<p>Long after the kinds of wars the hussars fought had ended, fashion and the military jacket met again, when the shop <a href="http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/i/robert-orbach/">I Was Lord Kitchener’s Valet</a> on Portobello Road in London’s Notting Hill began selling antique military uniforms. Eric Clapton was the first rock star to buy from the shop, followed by John Lennon and Mick Jagger. Jagger purchased a red Grenadier guardsman drummer’s jacket and wore it performing on <a href="http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/i/robert-orbach/">Ready Steady Go</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MEWYOt3bxNI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Rolling Stones - Paint It Black (Ready Steady Go).</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Jimi Hendrix, himself a former soldier, famously purchased an antique hussar’s uniform that dated back to the 1850s. Many of Hendrix’s most iconic photographs have him wearing it, bare-chested beneath and with wild hair, a universe away from the upright officer who must have worn it 90 years prior. </p>
<p>Around the same time, military regalia made an eye-popping appearance in Sgt. Peppers-era Beatles. Designed for their mock Edwardian-era military band, their acid bright costumes can be seen as cheeky nostalgia for an empire in decline.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50194/original/gtj6ybgh-1401855483.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50194/original/gtj6ybgh-1401855483.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50194/original/gtj6ybgh-1401855483.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50194/original/gtj6ybgh-1401855483.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50194/original/gtj6ybgh-1401855483.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50194/original/gtj6ybgh-1401855483.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50194/original/gtj6ybgh-1401855483.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50194/original/gtj6ybgh-1401855483.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jimi Hendrix at the amusement park Gröna Lund in Stockholm, Sweden, May 24, 1967.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From there, the many variations of the original hussar’s pelisse became a rock and roll trope. <a href="http://www.posh24.com/photo/1404653/michael_jackson_red_military_j">Michael Jackson</a> wore many forms of it in his stage costumes. He was the King of Pop, so he dressed the part, posing like royalty in scarlet dress uniform with gold tassels and braid.</p>
<p>Adam Ant, Chris Martin from Coldplay and Rihanna have all worn variations of the dress uniform, adding another layer of history to the military jacket. Fashion designers from Lagerfeld to Givenchy have offered versions. Wearing it now conjures up not only the pomp and ceremony of another world, but also a subversive, rock-star hedonism.</p>
<p>No doubt the uniform Hendrix wore while serving in the US army was far-removed from the 1850s cavalry jacket he wore as a rock star. But the humbler khaki jacket of the troops has also been absorbed into fashion. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50200/original/3hnm6kqh-1401857201.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50200/original/3hnm6kqh-1401857201.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50200/original/3hnm6kqh-1401857201.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50200/original/3hnm6kqh-1401857201.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50200/original/3hnm6kqh-1401857201.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50200/original/3hnm6kqh-1401857201.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50200/original/3hnm6kqh-1401857201.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50200/original/3hnm6kqh-1401857201.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jackson at the White House being presented with an award by President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan, 1984.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1940s Britain, the regulations imposed under the wartime <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Wartime_Fashion.html?id=6Z_ekmT6JW0C&redir_esc=y">Utility Clothing Scheme</a> meant fashions become boxier and less embellished through necessity. The amount of fabric and style of garment were tightly regulated, and extraneous details such as pocket flaps were banned. As women joined the war effort, they wore uniforms just as the men, and these styles found their way into civilian clothing. </p>
<p>Well after the war ended, the utilitarian styles of the troops were embraced in a very different spirit by youth subcultures. Fashion theorist <a href="http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bloomsbury/jdbc/2008/00000012/00000002/art00013">Elizabeth Wilson recalls</a> how in the 1970s, army surplus gear:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>was de rigueur if you were in the “alternative” Left, a “Libertarian”, feminist, anarchist or general revolutionary.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This grittier form of the military uniform can be seen as an anti-establishment protest in punk, 90s grunge, and “crusties’” styles.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50222/original/c6fdfhbq-1401859421.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50222/original/c6fdfhbq-1401859421.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50222/original/c6fdfhbq-1401859421.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50222/original/c6fdfhbq-1401859421.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50222/original/c6fdfhbq-1401859421.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50222/original/c6fdfhbq-1401859421.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50222/original/c6fdfhbq-1401859421.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50222/original/c6fdfhbq-1401859421.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtney Emery</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Drawing on this, high fashion and fast fashion alike regularly trip out versions of the khaki military jacket. The 2000s saw <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3086669.stm">“glamourflage” versions</a> (a confection of glitter and fatigues) hit catwalks and shopping centres, while on our TVs we watched the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. </p>
<p>Now the protest first associated with wearing army surplus gear has slipped away, and khaki jackets and “camo” prints are just another fashion style.</p>
<p>Season to season, military jackets are reinvented, and references to combat fatigues, storybook soldiers and rock stars are all mixed up and made new again. </p>
<p>In new iterations, as a recent <a href="http://www.vogue.com/archive">US Vogue</a> declares, military jackets are “blasting into the future, with moulded shapes, sci-fi accessories, and Jedi-warrior attitude”.</p>
<p>And so fashion will no doubt keep on co-opting the grit and glamour of military uniforms, both real and imagined.</p>
<p><br></p>
<p><strong><em>Read more articles in <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/the-story-of">The Story Of</a> series</em></strong></p>
<p><br></p>
<p><strong><em>Are you an academic or researcher? Is there a fashion item – iconic, everyday or utilitarian – you would like to tell the story of? Contact the <a href="mailto:paul.dalgarno@theconversation.edu.au">Arts + Culture editor</a> with your idea.</em></strong></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26498/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alice Payne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Fashion and war don’t seem an obvious pairing, but the military jacket is a fashion staple. It may take the form of a double-breasted dress uniform with brass buttons and epaulettes, trimmed in rock star…
Alice Payne, Lecturer in Fashion, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland University of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/27013
2014-05-29T20:37:57Z
2014-05-29T20:37:57Z
The story of … tweed
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49765/original/mf95h8c7-1401347338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Wearing tweed evokes a complex history spanning fashion, class and gender politics.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">JoePhilipson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tweed is a mainstay of traditional tailoring; it is the cloth of royalty and aristocracy, fly-fishers and deerstalkers, bespectacled academics, Doctor Whos, fictional detectives, politicians and leaders of fashion. </p>
<p>Following the thread of this cloth reveals a complex history interwoven with the redefinition of class, gender and fashion from the 19th century to the present. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49382/original/y7x9hf8v-1400917204.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49382/original/y7x9hf8v-1400917204.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=784&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49382/original/y7x9hf8v-1400917204.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=784&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49382/original/y7x9hf8v-1400917204.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=784&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49382/original/y7x9hf8v-1400917204.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=985&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49382/original/y7x9hf8v-1400917204.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=985&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49382/original/y7x9hf8v-1400917204.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=985&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tweed trousers and coats, c.1870.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Tweed is a woollen twill cloth woven in herringbone, checked, covert (speckled) and houndstooth patterns. Tweed originated in rural Scotland and is still produced there. Its name reflects both its weave and its national origins. Initially, “tweed” was a misreading of tweel (the Scots form of <em>twill</em>). This misapprehension was aided by the cloth’s association with the River Tweed. The term quickly took off. </p>
<p>Tweed emerged as a fashionable cloth in the 1820s and 1830s thanks to the celebrity of Scotsmen Sir Walter Scott and Lord Brougham, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, both of whom favoured bold tweed trousers. </p>
<p>Throughout the mid-Victorian period, tweed was popular for country sportswear due to its warmth, breathability and cultural currency. Shooting-jackets, trousers, coats and cloaks were tailored in this cloth. These garments connoted physical strength, endurance and power borrowed from traditional rural masculinity.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49379/original/qt373prd-1400914455.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49379/original/qt373prd-1400914455.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49379/original/qt373prd-1400914455.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49379/original/qt373prd-1400914455.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49379/original/qt373prd-1400914455.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1125&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49379/original/qt373prd-1400914455.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1125&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49379/original/qt373prd-1400914455.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1125&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Men’s and Women’s bicycle suits, 1896.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pinterest, Butterick Patterns</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the 1860s, the shooting-jacket was refashioned as the lounge-jacket. When matched with a waistcoat and trousers, the modern business suit was born. Tweed suits became fashionable for cosmopolitan men as stalwart rural masculinity gave way to modern middle-class professionalism and respectability.</p>
<p>Towards the end of the 19th century, new tweed cycling-wear represented the desire for social, as well as physical, mobility. </p>
<p>Simultaneously, women refashioned their identities in tweed; they adopted its masculine styles and connotations in a challenge to the sartorial and socio-political coding of late-19th-century gendered roles. </p>
<p>The cycling <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Woman">New Woman</a> was an icon of the 1890s. She traded the laces and silks of women’s fashion for tweed “tailor-mades”. This was both a practical choice and a sign of her rejection of late-Victorian femininity. The New Woman cycled the streets in pursuit of independence, education and equality.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49740/original/gdpfx5wf-1401340457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49740/original/gdpfx5wf-1401340457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49740/original/gdpfx5wf-1401340457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=709&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49740/original/gdpfx5wf-1401340457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=709&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49740/original/gdpfx5wf-1401340457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=709&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49740/original/gdpfx5wf-1401340457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=892&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49740/original/gdpfx5wf-1401340457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=892&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49740/original/gdpfx5wf-1401340457.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=892&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sporting tweeds.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Allison Marchant</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the first decades of the 20th century, tweed became conservative once again, with the Prince of Wales’ characteristic check widely fashionable. Tweed’s genteel, even royal, connections also influenced women’s <em>haute couture</em>. </p>
<p>Inspired by the tweed suits worn by her lover Hugh Grosvenor the Duke of Wellington, French fashion designer Coco Chanel began redesigning such garments for women. From 1924, she commissioned Scottish tweed for her collections and tweed dresses, jackets and skirts remain characteristic of the Chanel “look”. </p>
<p>During the second world war, tweed was both fashionable and practical. In 1939, UK-based luxury clothing manufacturer Aquascutum advertised a “three-piece suit for the wartime cycling girl”. Its combination of jacket, trousers and skirt allowed: “a girl … [to] ride to work … in trousers and then change into a skirt”. </p>
<p>This ensemble represented women’s negotiation of traditional gender roles during the war years as they were expected to work and “keep the home fires burning”. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49751/original/9vt9crdm-1401341799.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49751/original/9vt9crdm-1401341799.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49751/original/9vt9crdm-1401341799.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49751/original/9vt9crdm-1401341799.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49751/original/9vt9crdm-1401341799.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49751/original/9vt9crdm-1401341799.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49751/original/9vt9crdm-1401341799.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49751/original/9vt9crdm-1401341799.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1158&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">1960s tweed dress and hat, from The Australian Women’s Weekly, 15 June 1960.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bess Georgette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the 1960s, tweed became radical. The abstract patterns and contrasting colours of check and houndstooth suited the contemporary aesthetic. Women’s mini-skirts and swing coats and men’s flared plaid trousers were tailored in these cloths. </p>
<p>Instead of representing professionalism and respectability, tweed became popular with the young, fashionable and politically progressive. </p>
<p>In 1987, English fashion designer Vivienne Westwood reinvented tweed and British tailoring traditions for another generation in her historically- and punk-inspired “Harris Tweed” collection. </p>
<p>Tweed then fell out of fashion and the only people wearing it were bespectacled academics and frequenters of op-shops. The cloth became associated with conservative and old-fashioned values. </p>
<p>In the 21st century, fashion houses have dictated that “Tweed is Chic” again. Its use is driven by its high quality and informed by its complex history and connotations.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49732/original/tk332bwj-1401338649.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49732/original/tk332bwj-1401338649.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49732/original/tk332bwj-1401338649.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49732/original/tk332bwj-1401338649.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49732/original/tk332bwj-1401338649.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49732/original/tk332bwj-1401338649.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49732/original/tk332bwj-1401338649.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49732/original/tk332bwj-1401338649.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">London Tweed Run.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rion Nakaya</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://www.tweedrun.com/">The Tweed Run</a>, inaugurated in London in 2009, is now held in cities worldwide. This “Metropolitan Cycle Ride With a Bit of Style” sees the streets teem with cyclists in neo-Victorian tweed plus-fours, bloomers and jackets. </p>
<p>In a nod to history and fashion, Doctor Who, Robert Langdon, Sherlock Holmes and Miss Marple are costumed in tweed suits and overcoats. </p>
<p>Doc Martens produces iconic shoes in Harris Tweed as part of its Made In England range, drawing on both the cloth’s quality as a handmade British product and its punk heritage. </p>
<p>Nike also has a range of shoes in Harris Tweed and leather, indicating a shift in tweed’s associations from traditionally upper-class country sportswear to modern streetwear. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49738/original/z7n8hhpf-1401339972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49738/original/z7n8hhpf-1401339972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49738/original/z7n8hhpf-1401339972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49738/original/z7n8hhpf-1401339972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49738/original/z7n8hhpf-1401339972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49738/original/z7n8hhpf-1401339972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49738/original/z7n8hhpf-1401339972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49738/original/z7n8hhpf-1401339972.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Harris Tweed swoosh.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Croft</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the other end of fashion, Versace and Moschino release tweed mini-kilts and tartan suits influenced by 1960s’ fashion and the punk styles of the 1980s. Prada, Dolce and Gabbana, Paul Smith, Ralph Lauren and Commes de Garçon, amongst others, borrow from 19th and 20th-century traditions in their tailoring. </p>
<p>In the 21st century, wearing tweed evokes this complex history and its negotiation of fashion, class and gender politics. Tweed is at once traditional, professional, old-fashioned, <em>haute couture</em> and radical. </p>
<p>As a young female academic and tweed wearer, I revel in evoking and refashioning these styles and traditions. </p>
<p><br>
<strong>See also:</strong> <br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-story-of-the-mens-white-shirt-26312">The story of … the men’s white shirt</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-story-of-the-top-hat-26215">The story of … the top hat</a></p>
<p><strong><em>Are you an academic or researcher? Is there a fashion item – iconic, everyday or utilitarian – you would like to tell the story of? Contact the <a href="mailto:paul.dalgarno@theconversation.edu.au">Arts + Culture editor</a> with your idea.</em></strong></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27013/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Madeleine Seys does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Tweed is a mainstay of traditional tailoring; it is the cloth of royalty and aristocracy, fly-fishers and deerstalkers, bespectacled academics, Doctor Whos, fictional detectives, politicians and leaders…
Madeleine Seys, PhD Candidate and Tutor in English and Creative Writing, University of Adelaide
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/26312
2014-05-14T02:32:01Z
2014-05-14T02:32:01Z
The story of … the men’s white shirt
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48318/original/7wx4dfmq-1399958344.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The influence of the white dress shirt can be traced back to the Victorian era. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ross</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The classic white dress shirt is familiar and omnipresent in men’s fashion. As a result, we tend to be unaware that for more than 200 years this singular item of apparel, which is essentially unadulterated in form from the late 19th century, has been able to define and represent status, wealth and fashion norms.</p>
<p>The history underlying this garment is rich and, in the main part, untold.</p>
<p>For men, the influence of the white dress shirt can be best traced back to the Victorian era where it was an important symbol of wealth and class distinction and a powerful emblem of sobriety and uniformity – despite it being for the most part hidden by outer garments. </p>
<p>The pure white colour of the cloth fulfilled masculine ideals of resolute austerity and only a person of substantial prosperity could afford to have their shirts washed frequently and to own enough of them to wear.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48113/original/xdv4vc49-1399598214.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48113/original/xdv4vc49-1399598214.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48113/original/xdv4vc49-1399598214.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48113/original/xdv4vc49-1399598214.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48113/original/xdv4vc49-1399598214.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48113/original/xdv4vc49-1399598214.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48113/original/xdv4vc49-1399598214.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48113/original/xdv4vc49-1399598214.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">TempusVolat</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The link between social distinction and colour of the cloth was a marker for affluence, with the terms “white collar” and “blue collar” evolving from this delineation. Indeed, some working class men resented clerical workers for wearing white dress shirts, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-0424.00278/abstract">referring to them</a> as “white collar stiffs” as they dressed above their social rank, as an employer not an employee.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48114/original/gdbf3ytw-1399599010.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48114/original/gdbf3ytw-1399599010.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48114/original/gdbf3ytw-1399599010.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48114/original/gdbf3ytw-1399599010.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48114/original/gdbf3ytw-1399599010.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=788&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48114/original/gdbf3ytw-1399599010.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=990&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48114/original/gdbf3ytw-1399599010.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=990&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48114/original/gdbf3ytw-1399599010.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=990&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Illustration of stand-up turned-down collar, 1898.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Interestingly, the collar was also used as a symbol of status, with high-standing armour-like detachable collars preventing a downward gaze. Starched high rigid collars distinguished the elite from clerks, who necessitated low collars for ease of movement – the idiom “to look down one’s nose” was, in part, connected to this consequential upright facial stance.</p>
<p>Arguably, by the late 19th century, men who concerned themselves with decorative versus utilitarian dress were reviled for being “non-masculine”. Indeed, the unadorned white dress shirt was intrinsically correlated to appropriate moral masculine behaviour and this austerity of dress indicated that a man could be trusted and was soberly business-like.</p>
<p>By the close of the 19th century, the use of the white dress shirt as an insignia to define status had diminished. Increasing affordability and availability of the white dress shirt allowed a man to wear it for church, the “high street” and for employment within clerical roles – the defining factor for class separation was no longer the whiteness of colour, but the fit, quality of the cloth and discreet style variations.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48111/original/x9ntrtzw-1399597778.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48111/original/x9ntrtzw-1399597778.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48111/original/x9ntrtzw-1399597778.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=235&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48111/original/x9ntrtzw-1399597778.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=235&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48111/original/x9ntrtzw-1399597778.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=235&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48111/original/x9ntrtzw-1399597778.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=295&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48111/original/x9ntrtzw-1399597778.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=295&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48111/original/x9ntrtzw-1399597778.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=295&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Arrow Shirt Collar advertisement, 1907.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After the end of the first world war, a societal shift was occurring and a new, softer and more fluid look was developing for less formal clothing. </p>
<p>One of the key influences was the Prince of Wales (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VIII#Prince_of_Wales">Edward VIII</a>), who was a popular leader of fashion at the time. His rejection of the white shirt, with its severe lines, in favour of soft, floppy, coloured shirts created a major shift in menswear. Nevertheless, in the early 1920s the white dress shirt was still associated with moral respectability. </p>
<p>In 1924 the founding father of IBM, Thomas J. Watson, <a href="http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/waywewore/waywewore_1.html">was insistent</a> on a dress code, demanding his office employees wear a classic white shirt as part of their mandatory attire. This association with ideals of steadfastness was also played out in the fictional American advertising creation of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Arrow_Collar_Man">Arrow Collar Man</a> (1905-31), with his rigid white shirt, promoting American masculine ideals.</p>
<p>The next significant change for the white dress shirt was the introduction of synthetic fabrics, with questionable ability for comfort, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. </p>
<p>Then in the late 1960s and early 1970s an escalation of floridity occurred, in particular, frontal flounces and ruffles, as well as increased collar widths. But the white dress shirt was still seen as a very “proper” garment, as a vast array of highly coloured and printed casual shirts popularised the market place.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48115/original/wr86cjgp-1399599571.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48115/original/wr86cjgp-1399599571.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48115/original/wr86cjgp-1399599571.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48115/original/wr86cjgp-1399599571.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48115/original/wr86cjgp-1399599571.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48115/original/wr86cjgp-1399599571.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48115/original/wr86cjgp-1399599571.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48115/original/wr86cjgp-1399599571.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Seinfeld’s ‘Puffy Shirt’ on display at the National Museum of American History.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the early 1980s, for a brief period, an innovative romantic style of dressing with loosely styled foppish and frilled white dress shirts was the height of fashion – influenced by popular new romantic bands, such as British band <a href="http://www.spandauballet.com/">Spandau Ballet</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JE2sCISQmpE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Then through the 1980s “power dressing”, with labels such as German fashion house Hugo Boss, was fashionable in urban business contexts and the white dress shirt regained its association with power and prestige – a legitimacy of place that it rightfully still holds, albeit an association aligned with designer names.</p>
<p>Next time you walk through a department store, and glance at the rows of intricately folded and exactingly boxed white dress shirts, you can pause to consider the important historical connections. </p>
<p>But this is only part of the story … the women’s white dress shirt has an equally significant but different story to tell, connected to labour reform and shifts in gender ideals. But that’s for another day …</p>
<p><br></p>
<p><strong><em>Are you an academic or researcher? Is there a fashion item – iconic, everyday or utilitarian – you would like to tell the story of? Contact the <a href="mailto:paul.dalgarno@theconversation.edu.au">Arts + Culture editor</a> with your idea.</em></strong></p>
<p><strong>Further reading:</strong> <br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-story-of-the-top-hat-26215">The story of … the top hat</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26312/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dean Brough does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The classic white dress shirt is familiar and omnipresent in men’s fashion. As a result, we tend to be unaware that for more than 200 years this singular item of apparel, which is essentially unadulterated…
Dean Brough, Senior Fashion Studio Lecturer, Queensland University of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/26215
2014-05-07T20:37:14Z
2014-05-07T20:37:14Z
The story of … the top hat
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47927/original/bt7c7c2r-1399429091.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">By the 1830s, fortunately for beaver populations, beaver pelt became démodé as the silk top hat appeared.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Stevenson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><strong><em>If you had to tell the story of one item or phenomenon in fashion, what would it be? See the end for information on how to get involved.</em></strong></em></p>
<p>Throughout the 19th century, the top hat was a mainstay of Victorian life: a man in a topper was well-to-do, respectable, a man of industry. But now the top hat is only a caricature of the upper class privilege it once represented. Its history traces a line through dandies, beavers, silk, and madness.</p>
<p>The top hat is a tall cylindrical hat, typically made of silk mounted on a felt base. It has a high crown, a narrow, slightly curved brim, and is often black. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47919/original/xsc6vgkq-1399427283.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47919/original/xsc6vgkq-1399427283.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47919/original/xsc6vgkq-1399427283.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1298&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47919/original/xsc6vgkq-1399427283.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1298&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47919/original/xsc6vgkq-1399427283.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1298&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47919/original/xsc6vgkq-1399427283.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1631&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47919/original/xsc6vgkq-1399427283.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1631&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47919/original/xsc6vgkq-1399427283.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1631&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Caricature of Beau Brummell, print by Robert Dighton, 1805.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The earliest top hat is often attributed to English milliner John Hetherington in a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Fashion-History-Valerie-Cumming/dp/1847885330">(possibly apocryphal) story</a> in the St James’ Gazette in January 1797. Hetherington’s first public outing in the top hat caused a riot, and he was later charged for “having appeared on the Public Highway wearing upon his head a tall structure having a shining lustre and calculated to frighten timid people”.</p>
<p>The top hat gained acceptance thanks to the famous English dandy, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/jan/01/biography.features">George “Beau” Brummel</a> (1778-1840), who became its first champion. </p>
<p>Brummel was an innovator in men’s fashions and a close friend of the Prince Regent, George IV (who became king in 1821). He spurned the flamboyance and decadence of men’s fashion of the time, instead adopting simple, elegant and tailored attire such as equestrian-inspired breeches, spotless white shirts and exquisitely tailored jackets. </p>
<p>Essential to his ensemble was the new top hat, dubbed the “beaver” as its felt was made from beaver fur.</p>
<p>Brummel was a style leader, and with the new craze for beaver top hats came an economic opportunity for the North American fur trade. </p>
<p>Felt made from beaver fur was the most sought-after for hats as the qualities of the fur meant it held its shape in the rain, unlike the cheaper alternative of rabbit fur. While the European beaver was long-gone, hunted to extinction for its pelts by 1500, beavers were being hunted in North America. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47923/original/qsw6ddgg-1399427751.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47923/original/qsw6ddgg-1399427751.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47923/original/qsw6ddgg-1399427751.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47923/original/qsw6ddgg-1399427751.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47923/original/qsw6ddgg-1399427751.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47923/original/qsw6ddgg-1399427751.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1162&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47923/original/qsw6ddgg-1399427751.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1162&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47923/original/qsw6ddgg-1399427751.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1162&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Top hat from a French department store catalog, Paris 1909.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="http://www.hbc.com/">Hudson’s Bay Company</a>, established in America in 1670 as a fur trading business, enjoyed a lucrative trade in beaver pelts. Brummel’s popularising of the top hat in the early 19th century played a role in further decimation of beaver populations. </p>
<p>From its beginnings, the expense and rarity of the beaver top hat became synonymous with upper class wealth, as a genuine beaver top hat <a href="http://www.georgianindex.net/tailors/tailor.html">would have cost</a> 40 shillings, while a hatter may only have earned two shillings and tuppence a day. </p>
<p>Making a top hat was often lethal for hatters since mercury was used throughout the process of transforming beaver or rabbit fur to felt – known as “carroting” as it turned the fibres orange. Prolonged exposure to mercury frequently led to mercury poisoning, with symptoms including early-onset dementia and irritability, muscular spasms and tremors, loss of hearing, eyesight, teeth and nails. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47920/original/2g43sqw9-1399427379.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47920/original/2g43sqw9-1399427379.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47920/original/2g43sqw9-1399427379.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47920/original/2g43sqw9-1399427379.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47920/original/2g43sqw9-1399427379.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47920/original/2g43sqw9-1399427379.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1044&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47920/original/2g43sqw9-1399427379.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1044&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47920/original/2g43sqw9-1399427379.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1044&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mad Hatter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stewart Baird</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The mercury-poisoned mad hatter was of course immortalised in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865). Lewis Carroll’s Mad Hatter is always illustrated in a topper, the manufacture of which probably sent him mad in the first place.</p>
<p>By the 1830s, fortunately for beaver populations, beaver pelt became <em>démodé</em> as the silk top hat appeared. Until the turn of the century, the silk top hat was ubiquitous in respectable Victorian society. </p>
<p>Although various shapes evolved such as flatter brims or higher or lower crowns, the basic form remained. Hat checkers had to be introduced at the theatre and opera, as top hats grew tremendously tall – up to 12 inches high – making it impossible for theatregoers to view the performance through the thicket of toppers. This led to Frenchman Antoine Gibus’ invention of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chapeauclaque.png">the opera hat</a>, or Gibus, a collapsible spring-loaded silk top hat. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RZOJoV6H2UM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Top Hat (1935). Such flair and grace.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The top hat fell out of favour in the early 20th century as slowly more casual styles of headwear, such as the bowler hat, became accepted for everyday wear. The top hat became associated with Victorian stuffiness and formality, and was pulled out only for strictly formal occasions: weddings, the opera, garden parties, Ascot.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47925/original/57pjx6hy-1399428843.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47925/original/57pjx6hy-1399428843.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47925/original/57pjx6hy-1399428843.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47925/original/57pjx6hy-1399428843.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47925/original/57pjx6hy-1399428843.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=916&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47925/original/57pjx6hy-1399428843.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1151&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47925/original/57pjx6hy-1399428843.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1151&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/47925/original/57pjx6hy-1399428843.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1151&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hip-hop musician T-Pain wearing a top hat at the Video Music Awards in 2008.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Techie Diva</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The top hat’s swan song may have been Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire’s <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027125/">1935 film</a> of the same name, one of the most famous of the duo’s performances, in which Astaire wears a top hat with an elegance and panache to rival Brummel himself (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZOJoV6H2UM">and famously dances with one too</a>). </p>
<p>Today top hats are rarely worn non-ironically. The art of top hat making is dying out, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/3636955/Royal-Ascot-gentlemen-prefer-toppers.html">with only a handful of hatters still plying their trade</a>. </p>
<p>In popular culture, the top hat is frequently comic, subversive or ridiculous – worn by such varied characters as Willy Wonka, stage magicians, steampunk cosplayers, the Fat Controller and Slash from Guns n’ Roses. </p>
<p>Perhaps this is why, at Prince William and Catherine Middleton’s royal wedding in 2011, David Beckham <a href="https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=579&q=%22david+beckham%22+%22top+hat%22&oq=%22david+beckham%22+%22top+hat%22&gs_l=img.3...1694.9299.0.9529.26.22.0.4.0.1.314.3336.9j1j11j1.22.0....0...1ac.1.42.img..10.16.2126.CkL3USdZfUc">awkwardly cradled his Philip Treacy top hat</a> rather than wearing it.</p>
<p><br>
<strong><em>Are you an academic or researcher? Is there a fashion item – iconic, everyday or utilitarian – you would like to tell the story of? Contact the <a href="mailto:paul.dalgarno@theconversation.edu.au">Arts + Culture editor</a> with your idea.</em></strong></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26215/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alice Payne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
If you had to tell the story of one item or phenomenon in fashion, what would it be? See the end for information on how to get involved. Throughout the 19th century, the top hat was a mainstay of Victorian…
Alice Payne, Lecturer in Fashion, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland University of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.