tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/fashion-history-37929/articles
Fashion history – The Conversation
2024-03-06T13:33:38Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/221477
2024-03-06T13:33:38Z
2024-03-06T13:33:38Z
How the Academy Awards became ‘the biggest international fashion show free-for-all’
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579696/original/file-20240304-26-fvllso.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C6%2C2156%2C1539&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The dress actress Lupita Nyong'o wore to the 86th Academy Awards in 2014 became a story in and of itself.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/caactress-lupita-nyongo-poses-in-the-press-room-during-the-news-photo/478056305?adppopup=true">Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Oscars are no longer just a celebration of movies. They’ve also become a fashion show, with fans, designers and the media celebrating and critiquing Hollywood celebrities as they stroll, pause and pose on the red carpet of the annual awards ceremony.</p>
<p>A sharp look can be a story in and of itself.</p>
<p>Take actress <a href="https://www.wmagazine.com/fashion/lupita-nyongo-best-red-carpet-fashion">Lupita Nyong’o</a>. After she wore a powder blue Prada dress to the 2014 Oscars, she became the new “It girl” overnight. She was named <a href="https://people.com/celebrity/lupita-nyongo-is-peoples-most-beautiful-2/">People magazine’s Most Beautiful Woman</a>, became the <a href="https://time.com/49612/lupita-nyongo-becomes-new-face-of-lancome/">first Black ambassador</a> for beauty giant Lancôme and landed on the covers of Vogue, Vanity Fair and Glamour.</p>
<p>But fashion wasn’t always so central to the ceremony.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctv1vtz84g.11">my book about the history of the Oscars red carpet</a>, I point to two essential figures that turned the Oscars into the fashion spectacle we know today.</p>
<h2>TV puts the Oscars in the spotlight</h2>
<p>At the end of the 1940s, the Hollywood film industry was facing economic headwinds. </p>
<p>More and more households <a href="https://guides.loc.gov/american-women-moving-image/television">were buying television sets</a>, which impacted movie-going. The studios also saw their revenues decline when they were forced to sell their theater chains <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/paramount-decrees-antitrust-hollywood-1235581215/">after losing an antitrust case in 1948</a>.</p>
<p>Financial struggles continued to mount when, in 1949, <a href="https://lantern.mediahist.org/catalog/photoplayjanjun100macf_4_0603">the motion picture companies refused to fund the Academy Awards</a> after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization that puts on the awards, allowed British films to compete head-to-head with American productions. </p>
<p>The organization found temporary solutions to keep the event going. But when faced with the possibility of discontinuing the Oscars ceremony altogether due to financial constraints, the academy weighed the advantages and disadvantages of airing the program on television, which was seen as film’s main competitor. Eventually, the academy approached NBC and requested that the network cover the expenses to put on the event <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01439685.2022.2065079">in exchange for the rights to broadcast the show in 1953</a>.</p>
<p>Until then, the studios had carefully crafted and controlled their stars’ public image. Television was a new medium – and a more spontaneous one. Studio executives feared how their stars would appear on screen and behave during the broadcast. Furthermore, many nominees were skeptical of appearing at the event since there was no stipulation in their contracts about television appearances.</p>
<h2>Edith Head, guardian of glamour</h2>
<p>So the academy hired <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/27/obituaries/edith-head-fashion-designer-for-the-movies-dies.html">Edith Head</a> as a fashion consultant to supervise the stars’ appearance.</p>
<p>At the time, Head was Hollywood’s most famous costume designer. She’d been working since the days of silent cinema, and she was <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/900041/pdf">accustomed to the media spotlight through her promotional work for Paramount</a>.</p>
<p>Head was responsible for making sure that everyone dressed appropriately, abiding by the “decency and decorum” guidelines suggested by <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.39000007422830&seq=10">the Code of Practice for Television Broadcasters</a>. She also had to ensure that no two dresses were the same and that the outfits worn by presenters and nominees looked good on camera and complemented the set.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Elderly woman wearing sunglasses poses while sitting in a golf cart." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579228/original/file-20240301-16-un6izk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579228/original/file-20240301-16-un6izk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579228/original/file-20240301-16-un6izk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579228/original/file-20240301-16-un6izk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579228/original/file-20240301-16-un6izk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579228/original/file-20240301-16-un6izk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579228/original/file-20240301-16-un6izk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Edith Head was hired as the first fashion consultant for the Academy Awards.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/edith-head-outside-her-office-on-the-lot-of-universal-news-photo/77695597?adppopup=true">Mark Sullivan/Contour via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>One of her most important roles ended up being talking up fashion in media interviews leading up to the Oscars, which she frequently referred to as a fashion show. </p>
<p>“This is a very competitive night from a fashion point of view because, as I said, the stars are presenting themselves as themselves,” Head explained on one of <a href="https://collections.new.oscars.org/Details/Collection/546">her radio shows</a>. “For me, as a fashion designer, the most exciting question is who will wear what.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctv1vtz84g.11">The postwar growth of the international fashion industry</a> paved the way for Hollywood stars to wear the latest creations by European designers, including Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy and Pierre Balmain.</p>
<p>However, by the mid-1960s, new fashion trends such as miniskirts, shapeless dresses, pants and bohemian styles threatened to upend the formal attire of the Oscars and the feminine ideals preferred by Head.</p>
<p>In 1968, she felt compelled to remind young actresses of the event’s stature with a <a href="https://www.oscars.org/collection-highlights/edith-head/?fid=33401">press release</a> after actress <a href="https://images.app.goo.gl/65gNaXHLq9oCcbp99">Inger Stevens</a> wore a mini dress to the ceremony in 1967. To Head, this was no informal social gathering; it was a glamorous, upscale fashion parade.</p>
<p>Two years later, in 1970, she reiterated the importance of formal attire <a href="https://youtube.com/watch?v=xbMl6BHSMvA">while announcing the nominees</a> for the Oscar for best costume design. She reminded young actresses that the Oscars was “the most important time of the year in Hollywood” and advised them to avoid wearing “the freaky, far-out, unusual fashions.”</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xbMl6BHSMvA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Edith Head stresses the importance of formal attire at the Oscars.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Fred Hayman rights the ship</h2>
<p>After Head said goodbye to her position at the conclusion of the 1971 ceremony, celebrities blew through the boundaries of decorum, inaugurating an era of questionable fashion choices: <a href="https://images.app.goo.gl/VEmt61vyUeNku7mn7">Edy Williams’ shocking bikini looks</a>, Bob Mackie’s memorable <a href="https://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/gallery/cher-oscars-outfits">transparencies for Cher</a> and Armani’s <a href="https://images.app.goo.gl/cyLTjwV1Li1c2AbN7">over-the-top informality for Diane Keaton</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579681/original/file-20240304-30-k64ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Woman in elegant black, spidery, see-through dress holds a gold statuette." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579681/original/file-20240304-30-k64ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579681/original/file-20240304-30-k64ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=947&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579681/original/file-20240304-30-k64ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=947&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579681/original/file-20240304-30-k64ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=947&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579681/original/file-20240304-30-k64ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1190&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579681/original/file-20240304-30-k64ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1190&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579681/original/file-20240304-30-k64ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1190&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Cher wears a transparent gown designed by Bob Mackie at the 60th Academy Awards in 1988.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/actress-cher-posing-in-the-press-room-at-the-1988-academy-news-photo/529485598?adppopup=true">Frank Trapper/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Fashion order was restored in 1989 when Beverly Hills impresario <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/15/business/smallbusiness/fred-hayman-whose-giorgio-boutique-led-gilding-of-rodeo-drive-dies-at-90.html">Fred Hayman</a> became the event’s new fashion coordinator.</p>
<p>Lucky for him, in the 1990s, fashion was in fashion. </p>
<p>New successful designers such as Giorgio Armani, Thierry Mugler and Gianni Versace elbowed into the spotlight alongside established conglomerate brands like Louis Vuitton and Givenchy. <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-90s-supermodel/_gVRe27kG0w8LA?hl=en">Supermodels had become celebrities</a> on par with actors and actresses, and cable television launched specialized international networks dedicated entirely to fashion and celebrity culture. </p>
<p>Hayman was eager to capitalize on this momentum to promote Rodeo Drive as the luxury shopping mecca of the West Coast.</p>
<p>Hayman had begun his career in the hospitality industry. But in 1961, he switched to fashion after investing in a friend’s boutique, Giorgio Beverly Hills. Hayman would eventually become the boutique’s sole owner. In 1989, the same year he joined the Oscars as fashion coordinator, he rebranded his store as Fred Hayman Beverly Hills <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/08/business/company-news-avon-products-to-acquire-giorgio.html">after selling the Giorgio brand to cosmetics conglomerate Avon</a> to commercialize <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/02/style/marketing-a-perfume-the-story-of-giorgio.html">his perfume line</a>. </p>
<p>Giorgio Beverly Hills catered to the rich and famous by retailing garments from various designers and brands from Europe and New York City. As fashion coordinator of the Oscars, Hayman became the official go-to resource for what to wear to the event, attracting more celebrities, brands and media attention to Rodeo Drive.</p>
<p>Building off Head’s media strategy, Hayman <a href="https://youtube.com/watch?v=JjPhHwrgoAw">introduced the fashion previews</a>. These were runway shows for the press organized at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre on Wilshire Boulevard to anticipate each year’s red-carpet trends.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Elegantly dressed women and men pose in front of tall, gold statues." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579682/original/file-20240304-22-xp7dri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C7%2C1010%2C668&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579682/original/file-20240304-22-xp7dri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579682/original/file-20240304-22-xp7dri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579682/original/file-20240304-22-xp7dri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579682/original/file-20240304-22-xp7dri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579682/original/file-20240304-22-xp7dri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579682/original/file-20240304-22-xp7dri.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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fashion retailer Fred Hayman – center, with white hair – served as the fashion coordinator for the Oscars from 1990 to 1999.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/designers-contribution-to-the-66th-oscars-news-photo/529810800?adppopup=true">Frank Trapper/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Fashion at the Oscars took a giant leap forward with Hayman. Thanks to his efforts, the West Coast enhanced its fashion profile, prompting luxury brands to open flagship stores along Rodeo Drive. </p>
<p>He continued in his role for a decade until he was replaced by stylist <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/18/nyregion/lwren-scott-found-dead-in-manhattan-apartment.html">L’Wren Scott</a> for the ceremony in 2000. </p>
<p>Through their media savvy, Head and Hayman were able to recast the Academy Awards ceremony as a dazzling spectacle of glamour – what Head frequently described as “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctv1vtz84g.11">the biggest international fashion show free-for-all</a>.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221477/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Castaldo Lundén does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Through their media savvy, two consultants were able to make the Oscars as much about the attire as the gold statuettes.
Elizabeth Castaldo Lundén, Fulbright Scholar and Sweden-America Foundation Research Fellow, University of Southern California
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/220657
2024-01-18T18:58:47Z
2024-01-18T18:58:47Z
A Queensland woman allegedly stole 70 wedding dresses. Here’s why the white gown is worth much more than its price tag
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569474/original/file-20240116-17-v3p6cf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C5475%2C3639&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beautiful-bride-wedding-dress-long-train-2320129701">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For many the wedding gown is the most expensive item of clothing they will ever own, and it has significant emotional and social value.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/04/runaway-bridal-gowns-alleged-wedding-dress-scammer-charged-with-70-counts-of">recent case</a> of a Queensland woman allegedly scamming brides out of their wedding dresses on the pretext of dry-cleaning no doubt bought distress to their owners and, given the average price of a wedding dress today (<a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/993462/average-wedding-dress-cost-by-state-australia/">A$2,385</a>), 70 cases of wedding dress theft could be lucrative. </p>
<p>The average cost of an Australian wedding is <a href="https://moneysmart.gov.au/family-and-relationships/getting-married">A$36,000</a>. Despite many Australians forgoing a <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/research/facts-and-figures/marriages-australia-2023">religious ceremony</a>, declaring your love in front of friends and family remains an important social ritual – and the dress is often the most important consideration.</p>
<h2>A brief history</h2>
<p>The modern history of the wedding dress in Australia is closely linked to Queen Victoria. Her 1840 dress became the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-wedding-dress-from-queen-victoria-to-the-heights-of-fashion-26127">quintessential wedding dress</a>”. </p>
<p>Victoria’s white dress featured an eight-piece bodice with a wide, open neckline with short and puffed off-the-shoulder sleeves and a pointed waistline. The neckline and sleeves were trimmed with lace and the floor-length skirt was full, with forward-facing pleats. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569466/original/file-20240116-29-dw5ln2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Oil painting of the wedding." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569466/original/file-20240116-29-dw5ln2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569466/original/file-20240116-29-dw5ln2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569466/original/file-20240116-29-dw5ln2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569466/original/file-20240116-29-dw5ln2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569466/original/file-20240116-29-dw5ln2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569466/original/file-20240116-29-dw5ln2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569466/original/file-20240116-29-dw5ln2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Queen Victoria’s gown became the ‘quintessential wedding dress’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wedding_of_Victoria_and_Albert#/media/File:George_Hayter_-_The_Marriage_of_Queen_Victoria,_10_February_1840_-_WGA11229.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-wedding-dress-from-queen-victoria-to-the-heights-of-fashion-26127">The wedding dress: from Queen Victoria to the heights of fashion</a>
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<p>Prior to Victoria, the wearing of white signalled the bride was poor and without a dowry. In the 16th and 17th centuries brides would often wear pale green, symbolising fertility.</p>
<p>From the 19th century, white wedding dresses had been worn by wealthy and royal brides, but for royal brides the dresses were often completely covered in silver and gold threads. Victoria rejected the embellishment and did not wear the red ermine <a href="https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1840-queen-victorias-wedding-dress/">robe of state</a>, wanting to be seen as a wife rather than queen. </p>
<p>Most 19th century brides wore a dress they could <a href="https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1840-queen-victorias-wedding-dress/">wear again</a> and popular colours were russet, brown, grey or lilac. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569465/original/file-20240116-19-vvfgym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A bride" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569465/original/file-20240116-19-vvfgym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569465/original/file-20240116-19-vvfgym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=878&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569465/original/file-20240116-19-vvfgym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=878&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569465/original/file-20240116-19-vvfgym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=878&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569465/original/file-20240116-19-vvfgym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1103&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569465/original/file-20240116-19-vvfgym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1103&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569465/original/file-20240116-19-vvfgym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1103&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Brides used to simply wear their Sunday best to their wedding, perhaps like this bride from c1925–30.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV_INST/1sev8ar/alma9916686813607636">State Library Victoria</a></span>
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<p>As white gowns became increasingly popular they began to be seen as symbols of <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/a-natural-history-of-the-wedding-dress/">purity and innocence</a> because of the religious association of these colours. </p>
<p>The association of white with innocence in the popular imagination affected the wedding gown decisions of women who were not marrying for the first time. <a href="http://www.literary-liaisons.com/article003.html">Widows remarrying in the Victorian era</a> didn’t wear white and didn’t wear a veil. They might wear pearl or lavender dresses trimmed with ostrich feathers. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569473/original/file-20240116-15-rh04ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569473/original/file-20240116-15-rh04ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569473/original/file-20240116-15-rh04ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569473/original/file-20240116-15-rh04ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569473/original/file-20240116-15-rh04ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569473/original/file-20240116-15-rh04ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569473/original/file-20240116-15-rh04ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569473/original/file-20240116-15-rh04ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">White dresses became increasingly popular in the 20th century, like on this bride from 1955.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/PRG+1662/1/25/29">State Library of South Australia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Over the 20th century, white wedding dresses became increasingly popular. Brides were no longer wearing their “Sunday best”, and the tradition of buying a unique bridal gown became established. By the turn of the 21st century, historian <a href="https://www.api-network.com/main/pdf/scholars/jas72_bambacas.pdf">Christyana Bambacas</a> found wedding planning had become the reserve of the bride and the white gown had become the central artefact, positioning “the bride as star of this public ritual”. </p>
<p>Australian brides often have highly emotional connections to their wedding gowns. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1354856517721800">Research</a> into discussions on online wedding forums found brides-to-be used phrases such as “my love for my dress grew” and being “in love with” their gowns. The gown represents the bride’s idealised self – even if the event is temporary. </p>
<p>The tradition of keeping the dress a well-kept secret stems from 18th century arranged marriages, when it was believed to be <a href="https://www.elle.com.au/fashion/wedding/wedding-traditions-and-superstitions-meanings-8638/">“unlucky” for the groom to see the brides</a>, lest he pull out of the wedding. The anticipation of the reveal of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poFPiYPxu-M">Kate Middleton’s wedding dress</a>, where even the name of the designers was kept secret, reflects this ritual. </p>
<h2>Something old</h2>
<p>Unlike couture or historical garments, wedding gowns are familiar. They are common to the human experience, and yet unique to each bride.</p>
<p>Wearing your <a href="https://www.insider.com/photos-brides-rewear-mom-grandmother-wedding-dress-2020-3#erica-peterson-wore-her-mothers-gown-from-1981-and-enlisted-the-help-of-a-talented-seamstress-friend-to-update-the-dress-1">mother’s or grandmother’s wedding gown</a> is becoming increasingly popular. <a href="https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a31085338/princess-beatrice-wedding-dress/">Princess Beatrice</a> was married in a gown designed by Norman Hartnell for her grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, in the 1960s. </p>
<p>With just a few adjustments, brides are able to update vintage gowns to give them a modern twist. </p>
<p>Two-thirds of Australian brides <a href="https://style.nine.com.au/brides/what-to-do-with-wedding-dress-australian-exclusive-nine-poll/06d5fc20-27cb-4751-bdbe-097eb7b7b8f8">keep their dress</a>, many in the hope daughters or granddaughters will wear it. This suggests that, despite the increasing number of people choosing to not get married, weddings remain an important cultural ritual. </p>
<p>Some women <a href="https://www.marieclaire.co.uk/news/celebrity-news/jade-to-be-buried-in-wedding-dress-198112">keep their dress</a> to be buried in. Others donate their wedding dresses to be made into <a href="https://www.angelgownsaustralia.org.au/">Angel gowns</a> to bury stillborn babies, the dress taking on new meaning for grieving families. </p>
<h2>The end of the big wedding</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/research/facts-and-figures/marriages-australia-2023">average age of first marriage</a> in Australia has risen from 23-years-old for men and 20-years-old for women in 1970 to around 30 today. </p>
<p>The current cost-of-living and housing crises has seen couples cut back on their wedding expenditure, with impacts particularly felt by <a href="https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/wedding-industry-impacted-as-australians-cut-back-on-spending/news-story/f7aaab350d5cc5949b1f0f239d271099">wedding gown businesses</a> at the luxury end of the market. </p>
<p>Regardless of rising divorce rates, and generational shift in attitudes to marriage (<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-26/australia-talks-national-survey-children-marriage/100146390">43% of 18-39 year olds</a> believe it is an outdated institution), marriage is considered a <a href="https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/australian-culture/australian-culture-family">one-off life event</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569472/original/file-20240116-25-mr2tq4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C8%2C834%2C1011&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A bride from the 1930s." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569472/original/file-20240116-25-mr2tq4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C8%2C834%2C1011&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569472/original/file-20240116-25-mr2tq4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=722&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569472/original/file-20240116-25-mr2tq4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=722&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569472/original/file-20240116-25-mr2tq4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=722&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569472/original/file-20240116-25-mr2tq4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=907&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569472/original/file-20240116-25-mr2tq4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=907&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569472/original/file-20240116-25-mr2tq4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=907&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A wedding is increasingly seen as an outdated institution.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/B+25487">State Library of South Australia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The wedding dress is an indulgence driven by <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1016/j.ausmj.2015.10.009">social norms and emotions</a> where the bride is often balancing tradition with individuality.</p>
<p>While films, fashion, bridal magazines and celebrity weddings continue to perpetuate the fantasy and emotion embedded in the wedding dress, the dress continues to be a poignant part of our social lives. </p>
<p>Of all the clothes we own, the wedding dress is the one most treasured, as a reminder of what it symbolised, its aspirations or as a family heirloom – making its loss even more distressing. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-was-the-mantua-how-a-17th-century-gown-transformed-dressmaking-and-ushered-in-financial-freedom-for-women-215153">What was the mantua? How a 17th-century gown transformed dressmaking and ushered in financial freedom for women</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220657/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The average price of a wedding dress in Australia is A$2,385 – but this is just one reflection of their significant cultural and emotional weight.
Lisa J. Hackett, Lecturer, University of New England
Jo Coghlan, Associate Professor Humanities Arts and Social Sciences, University of New England
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/215153
2024-01-01T20:34:22Z
2024-01-01T20:34:22Z
What was the mantua? How a 17th-century gown transformed dressmaking and ushered in financial freedom for women
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558180/original/file-20231107-25-z2psc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C3982%2C1988&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A British mantua c. 1708.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/81809">The Met/Purchase, Rogers Fund, Isabel Shults Fund and Irene Lewisohn Bequest, 1991</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you’ve watched many period dramas, you’ve probably seen a <a href="https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/mantua/">mantua</a> before. Originating in France in the 1670s, this women’s garment consisted of lengths of t-shaped fabric that were pleated to create an unstiffened bodice with attached overskirts. </p>
<p>This gown was worn over a pair of stays (corset) and an often contrasting petticoat. The draping and folding of fabric created a front-opening gown.</p>
<p>What many people don’t realise, however, is how fundamentally this item of clothing altered women’s involvement in the fashion industry – and represented a ticket to financial freedom for an industry of female mantua makers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557950/original/file-20231107-267416-94pua8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The _Robe à la Française_ featured back pleats that draped to the floor." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557950/original/file-20231107-267416-94pua8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557950/original/file-20231107-267416-94pua8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557950/original/file-20231107-267416-94pua8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557950/original/file-20231107-267416-94pua8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557950/original/file-20231107-267416-94pua8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557950/original/file-20231107-267416-94pua8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557950/original/file-20231107-267416-94pua8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The <em>robe à la française</em> was a mantua style that featured loose back pleats that draped to the floor.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/83605">The Met/Purchase, Irene Lewisohn Bequest, 1954</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What was the mantua?</h2>
<p>After its invention in the 1670s, the new gown became immediately popular among fashionable Parisian women.</p>
<p>Although strict dress codes at the Versailles court of French King Louis XIV <a href="https://www.culturefrontier.com/versailles-dress-code-the-quirky-fashion-of-the-french-court/">prohibited</a> the wearing of mantuas, women at the English court helped popularise it in England. </p>
<p>By the 1680s, the mantua was widely worn in Western and Central Europe, as well as in European colonies around the world. It soon became the basis for all women’s gowns in the 18th century. </p>
<p>Popular versions of the mantua in 18th century included:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the loose style called a <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/155093"><em>robe volante</em></a></p></li>
<li><p>the iconic <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search?q=robe+a+la+francaise"><em>robe à la française</em> </a>(sometimes called a sack gown) with its back pleats that draped to the floor, and</p></li>
<li><p>the tighter fitting <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search?q=robe+%C3%A0+la+anglaise"><em>robe à la anglaise</em></a> (also known as English or Italian gowns).</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557951/original/file-20231107-17-w6ojrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The _robe à l’anglaise_ was tighter fitting than its French counterpart." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557951/original/file-20231107-17-w6ojrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557951/original/file-20231107-17-w6ojrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=825&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557951/original/file-20231107-17-w6ojrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=825&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557951/original/file-20231107-17-w6ojrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=825&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557951/original/file-20231107-17-w6ojrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1037&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557951/original/file-20231107-17-w6ojrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1037&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557951/original/file-20231107-17-w6ojrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1037&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The <em>robe à l’anglaise</em> had fitted back pleats and was tighter compared to its French counterpart.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/771113">The Met/Purchase, Irene Lewisohn Bequest, 2018</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Tailors vs mantua makers</h2>
<p>As well as changing the look of western fashions, the mantua radically changed women’s involvement in the fashion industry.</p>
<p>Before the 17th century, outer garments were usually made by male tailors. Apprenticeships and membership of guilds – the organisations that controlled most craft trades – were restricted to boys and men.</p>
<p>Women did participate informally in these professions. They sometimes worked alongside tailor family members (and some were fined for doing so) and <a href="https://sarahabendall.com/2020/04/03/the-tailoring-trade-in-seventeenth-century-oxford/">widows</a> were permitted to carry on the businesses of their deceased husbands. </p>
<p>Women had also historically worked as seamstresses or “silkwomen” making small linen or silk goods like underwear and accessories.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558181/original/file-20231107-15-oe546c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A blue loose 1730s style called a _robe volante_." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558181/original/file-20231107-15-oe546c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558181/original/file-20231107-15-oe546c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558181/original/file-20231107-15-oe546c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558181/original/file-20231107-15-oe546c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558181/original/file-20231107-15-oe546c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558181/original/file-20231107-15-oe546c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558181/original/file-20231107-15-oe546c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This loose 1730s style was called a <em>robe volante</em>.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/155093">The Met/Purchase, Friends of The Costume Institute Gifts, 2010</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, this began to change in the late 17th century during what came to be known as the <a href="https://books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0323/ch58.xhtml">consumer revolution</a> – a period, beginning in the 1600s, that saw a significant jump in the consumption of luxury goods.</p>
<p>Significantly, in 1675, women in Paris and Rouen acquired their own, <a href="https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/fashion/when-women-ruled-fashion">independent couturière</a> (dressmaking) guilds and began to take over making women’s clothing from male tailors. </p>
<p>In London, guilds with dwindling memberships also began to permit paying female members. </p>
<p>Due to the considerable influence of France on western fashions, women in London began to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09612025.2022.2136197">train under French dressmakers</a>, giving rise to what were known in English as <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/image/73204001">mantua makers</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qqaX2WPxv8k?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Dressmaking and financial freedom</h2>
<p>From the 18th to 20th centuries, dressmaking and other fashion or textile-related industries were the main source of formal employment for women in Britain, Australia and the United States (alongside teaching and domestic service). </p>
<p>New training opportunities in dressmaking – coupled with historical peculiarities such as London’s <a href="https://legalhistorymiscellany.com/2019/02/08/femme-sole-status-a-failed-feminist-dream/"><em>feme sole</em></a> status, which allowed married women to run businesses and have finances independent of their husbands – meant many women began to open their own businesses.</p>
<p>Single women often lived in houses with other mantua makers and their apprentices, working as teams. Married women usually operated in workshops in the family home alongside their husbands, many of whom worked as tailors. </p>
<p>By the mid-18th century, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=lO8HzQEACAAJ&pg=PA134#v=onepage&q&f=false">manuals</a> instructing parents on craft apprenticeships for their children noted mantua making was a large trade</p>
<blockquote>
<p>reckoned a genteel, as well as profitable Employ [for women], many of them living well and saving Money.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But several male tailoring guilds in Europe attempted to stop women working as mantua makers, claiming they were taking away their business. Additionally, many women who worked in the garment-making industries were poorly paid and often worked in cramped conditions. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557966/original/file-20231107-23-rovwj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Mantuas were sometimes pinned up at the back." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557966/original/file-20231107-23-rovwj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557966/original/file-20231107-23-rovwj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557966/original/file-20231107-23-rovwj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557966/original/file-20231107-23-rovwj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557966/original/file-20231107-23-rovwj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557966/original/file-20231107-23-rovwj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557966/original/file-20231107-23-rovwj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mantuas were sometimes pinned up at the back like this 1690s example.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/81718">The Met/Rogers Fund, 1933</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet, many did rise above. French mantua makers were particularly popular, with women in London paying substantially more for gowns made by French women with access to the latest fashion knowledge in Paris. </p>
<p>Some became confidants of queens. The famous fashion merchant Marie-Jeanne “Rose” Bertin designed many of French queen Marie Antoinette’s gowns (her detractors labelled her the queen’s “<a href="https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/history/great-characters/rose-bertin#:%7E:text=Bertin%20soon%20came%20to%20be,amass%20a%20considerable%20personal%20fortune.">minister of fashion</a>”).</p>
<p>These networks gave these women access to vast amounts of clients and social capital. By the 19th century, senior dressmakers and milliners called modistes often ran their own luxury <a href="https://www.academia.edu/83744587/Queen_Victoria_s_Fancy_Dress_Makers_An_examination_of_a_West_End_fashion_house_1828_1855">fashion houses</a> in the West End of London. </p>
<p>Mantua making was also a significant <a href="https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-394937539/view?sectionId=nla.obj-412154534&partId=nla.obj-394964473#page/n27/mode/1up">business opportunity</a> for women in Australia. </p>
<p>“M. Hayes”, Catherine Mellon and Martha Matthews were all “mantua makers and milliners” who advertised their services in the early years of the Sydney colony.</p>
<h2>Legacies of mantua makers</h2>
<p>During the early years of the 19th century, mantuas fell out of use as <a href="https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1800-1809/">new styles</a> appeared. The term “dressmaker” also came to slowly replace the term “mantua maker”. </p>
<p>However, the gendered segregation of labour remained. During much of the 19th and 20th centuries, men were more likely to be tailors and have their clothing made by tailors. Women were more likely to be dressmakers and have their clothing made by dressmakers. The skills and techniques of each profession remained quite different. </p>
<p>With the advent of modern fast fashion, the skills of both tailors and dressmakers are fast being lost, and with it the knowledge of this revolutionary trade for women.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215153/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Bendall receives funding from Arts and Humanities Research Council UK and Pasold Research Fund. </span></em></p>
If you’ve watched many period dramas, you’ve probably seen a mantua. It was worn over a pair of stays (corset) and an often contrasting petticoat. The draping fabric created a front-opening gown.
Sarah Bendall, Research Fellow, Gender and Women's History Research Centre, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/220293
2023-12-22T12:38:33Z
2023-12-22T12:38:33Z
Five Christmas fashion trends we should bring back – and may be found in your wardrobe already
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567061/original/file-20231221-17-8f27sw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C2%2C746%2C445&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dazzle camouflage costume ball at the Chelsea Arts Club in 1919. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dazzle_camouflage_costume_ball.PNG">Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Christmas is a season for partying and dressing up. Sequins, Santa hats and ugly Christmas jumpers abound. Each event seems to demand a new and different outfit. </p>
<p>While this clothes buying bonanza may boost fashion retail profits, it also leads to a vast amount of waste as many items end up in landfill by the new year. For a season so steeped in tradition and nostalgia, this emphasis on new clothes seems out of place. </p>
<p>Instead of buying new outfits each December, <a href="https://www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/news/2023/may/could-slow-fashion-make-us-happier-new-study-aims-to-find-out.aspx">research</a> suggests we can both help save the planet and boost our own wellbeing by re-wearing garments and making them part of our Christmas traditions. </p>
<p>If you are stuck for inspiration about how to dress better and more meaningfully this holiday season, here are some of the best festive trends from the history of fashion that are ripe for revival and can be easily found in your wardrobe.</p>
<h2>1. The silk Christmas scarf</h2>
<p>The 20th century was the golden age of the printed silk <a href="https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O101239/head-scarf-unknown/">scarf</a>. In the 1930s, silk manufacturers, such as British firm <a href="https://jacqmar.com/collections/all">Jacqmar</a>, began to produce beautifully designed scarves as a way of marketing their artistic textiles. </p>
<p>During rationing in the second world war the <a href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30086601">printed propaganda scarf</a> became a must-have fashion accessory that could be used to update an old outfit. From the 1950s onwards, patriotism gave way to novelty prints, including Christmas-themed scarves. </p>
<p>French and Italian luxury brands were particularly good at these, with Hermès leading the way in charming traditional designs and Moschino producing fun and irreverent prints. Silk scarves are free of <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/perspective/could-our-christmas-sparkle-be-harming-our-health.aspx">microplastics</a> and can be used to make an existing outfit instantly festive. Infinitely more chic and sustainable than your polyester Christmas Jumper. </p>
<h2>2.Dressing all in green</h2>
<p>The mysterious handsome giant from the Arthurian romance <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/22583668/sir-gawain-and-the-green-knight-medieval-poem-explained">Sir Gawain and the Green Knight</a> might seem an unusual source for festive fashion tips, but the Green knight dresses with symbolically loaded style.</p>
<p>When he shows up to King Arthur’s New Year celebrations looking to play a Christmas Game, the Knight is dressed head to toe in emerald green, including matching hood and fur-trimmed mantle. The outfit also includes costly silk in gold and green stripes and decorative embroidery, topped off with a bough of holly. </p>
<p>Academics have published lengthy <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43342275#:%7E:text=symbolically%20untenable%20for%20Gawain%20to,is%20placed%20on%20this%20garment.&text=chastity%20tests%20and%20will%20not,more%20temptations%20of%20this%20kind.">papers</a> debating exactly what this strange outfit means, but it is undeniably eye catching. Who needs a Christmas tree when you can dress as one? Many of us have green clothing already to put to good festive use.</p>
<h2>3.Dazzle fancy dress costumes</h2>
<p>Fancy dress parties have their origins in the masquerades that grew around European carnival season in the <a href="https://allthatsinteresting.com/masquerade-ball-history">15th Century</a> and the historical costume balls of 19th century <a href="https://rbkclocalstudies.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/party-time-again-costume-ball-1897/">Britain</a>. </p>
<p>But the most fabulous era of fancy dress occurred in the first decades of the 20th century, culminating with the fabled Chelsea Arts’ Club <a href="https://www.tatler.com/gallery/chelsea-arts-club-ball-greatest-new-years-eve-fancy-dress-party">New Year’s Eve Ball</a> , which ran from 1908 to 1958 in London. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Dazzle-themed costumes from the 1919 Arts Club Ball." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567243/original/file-20231222-27-ldrnn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567243/original/file-20231222-27-ldrnn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=857&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567243/original/file-20231222-27-ldrnn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=857&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567243/original/file-20231222-27-ldrnn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=857&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567243/original/file-20231222-27-ldrnn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1077&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567243/original/file-20231222-27-ldrnn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1077&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567243/original/file-20231222-27-ldrnn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1077&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dazzle-themed costumes from the 1919 Arts Club Ball.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Attendees competed to wear the most novel creations, dressing as everything from mythical sea creatures to art movements. During the first world war, there was a trend for costumes in the abstract patterns of “dazzle” camouflage.</p>
<p>These intersecting geometric patterns in contrasting colours were painted onto <a href="https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/john-everett-art-dazzle-camouflage">ship hulls</a> to make it hard for the enemy to estimate the vessel’s course. The eye-catching designs proved so popular with fancy dress fashionistas that they became the subject of a special <a href="https://chelseaartsclub.com/the-club/history/#:%7E:text=Perhaps%20the%20most%20famous%20of,US%20Navy%20during%20the%20War.">“dazzle”-themed Arts Club ball in 1919</a>. </p>
<h2>4.Wooden shoes</h2>
<p>Wooden <a href="https://www.dutch-clogs.com/news/traditions-of-the-sinterklaas-party-placing-wooden-shoes-sweets-and-the-bag/">clogs</a> have traditionally played an important role in Dutch Christmases, with children leaving them out on 5 December for Sinterklaas (based on Saint Nicholas and also an inspiration for Santa Claus) to fill with treats. In modern times, they could provide a practical answer to keeping your party shoes looking their best for another year.</p>
<p>Wooden clog-like overshoes called <a href="https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/pattens/">pattens</a> were widely worn in Europe from the medieval period to the 19th century to protect thin-soled shoes over the winter season. They were used by pedestrians who walked in streets caked in mud and where food waste and excrement were all deposited.</p>
<p>By the 17th century, their soles were specially shaped so your existing shoes slotted right in. Fancier versions even had luxurious <a href="https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O115851/shoe-and-patten-unknown/">silk straps</a> to match the fabric of the delicate shoes they covered. While these sorts of clogs aren’t common anymore, wooden clogs have become popular (dare I say <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/best-clogs">fashionable</a>) again but tend to only be worn in more temperate weather. You now have an excuse to get them out again this Christmas. </p>
<h2>5. Party pyjamas</h2>
<p>Christmas is a season for inviting friends and family over, and the <a href="https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/discover/performers-pyjamas">hostess pyjama</a> is the perfect outfit in which to receive your guests.</p>
<p>Pyjamas began as a menswear trend in Western fashion when 19th-century British colonial forces took a fancy to the lightweight drawstring trousers worn in <a href="https://world.dolcegabbana.com/milestones/a-brief-history-of-the-pyjama-from-loungewear-to-fashion">India</a>. They made their transition to womenswear in the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35427892">1920s</a> as a summer resort fashion in the form of elegant linen beach pyjamas.</p>
<p>Before long, designers such as <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35427892">Coco Chanel</a> were producing versions in velvet, silk and sequins for winter evening-wear. The trend was cemented in the 1930s by leading figures in the fashion world, including Vogue editor Diana Vreeland. </p>
<p>These party pyjamas are the perfect combination of dressy yet comfortable and have room enough to accommodate an extra helping of pudding and should be worn and enjoyed all year round.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220293/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bethan Bide 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>
Pyjamas all Christmas day or a jaunty festive silk scarf, these five trends should be brought back this holiday.
Bethan Bide, Lecturer in Design and Cultural Theory, University of Leeds
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/215599
2023-12-04T23:32:48Z
2023-12-04T23:32:48Z
At HOTA, sneakers find their well-deserved place in art galleries at last
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563135/original/file-20231203-15-2rftik.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C0%2C1600%2C1074&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">PUMA X RIME NYC Luxe Sky Wedge (2013), Ed Reeve, Design Museum London.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Sneakers were once traditionally associated with what fashion academic Naomi Braithwaite describes as “<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-history-of-sneakers-from-commodity-to-cultural-icon-127268">athleticism</a>”: they were only considered in their relationship to sports. </p>
<p>But things have changed in one of the most significant yet overlooked style revolutions of our times. In the late 20th century, sneakers became the footwear of choice for youth and subcultures. In the 21st century, they are the defining footwear of our era. </p>
<p>Sneakers are ubiquitous: on the feet of elite athletes, icons of street cultures, super models on prestigious runways, and ordinary people for exercise, leisure and work. Global sales hit <a href="https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/sneakers-market-report">US$79 billion</a> in 2021.</p>
<p>With such diverse consumer identities and needs, how have designers responded over the years? And what stories are behind the success of certain sneakers? </p>
<p>Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street at HOTA, Home of the Arts, attempts to answer these questions with an impressive collection curated by Ligaya Salazar from the Design Museum in London, with some local additions.</p>
<h2>An engaging journey</h2>
<p>This exhibition offers an engaging journey of exploration in two parts. The first is Style. We step into a gallery of aeroplane hanger proportions. Sneakers are in glass cases with text highlighting their importance as historical pieces; there are giant photographs of youth cultures and icons wearing fashionable “kicks” on the walls; a basketball court with bean bags to watch short films. </p>
<p>There is no one “sneaker culture”. Subcultures are often hyper-fashion conscious and brand obsessed. </p>
<p>A timeline of sneaker history traces their rising status in youth cultures in New York during the 1970s, then in the basketball and hip-hop worlds where sneakers transformed from sports shoe to fashion statement.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563137/original/file-20231203-15-v0428h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563137/original/file-20231203-15-v0428h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563137/original/file-20231203-15-v0428h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563137/original/file-20231203-15-v0428h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563137/original/file-20231203-15-v0428h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563137/original/file-20231203-15-v0428h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563137/original/file-20231203-15-v0428h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563137/original/file-20231203-15-v0428h.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">Converse All Star (1930). Ed Reeve, Design Museum London.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Shiny white runners worn by Run-DMC are set side-by-side with Michael Jordan’s famous shoes. Icons and the shoes they made famous are given a good dose of reverence, but in a way that is accessible. You can get up close and admire the shoes, read some of the history through the wall texts, and absorb the historical significance of the shoes through the photographs accompanying each case.</p>
<p>There is an impressive section on skate culture including <a href="https://www.vans.com/en-us/company/about">VANS</a>, which was founded in 1966 and one of the leading shoes for skateboarders. The exhibition perceptively understands the culture as well as the shoes. </p>
<p>Photographs of well-known skaters from the 1970s and 1980s sit alongside a nod to Thrasher magazine and insight into how skaters “destroy” shoes as part of their practice. Deteriorating and ripped shoes can be a badge of honour, as one demolished pair of VANS once worn by a seasoned skater in the exhibition shows.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563136/original/file-20231203-27-6iiwgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563136/original/file-20231203-27-6iiwgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563136/original/file-20231203-27-6iiwgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563136/original/file-20231203-27-6iiwgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563136/original/file-20231203-27-6iiwgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563136/original/file-20231203-27-6iiwgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563136/original/file-20231203-27-6iiwgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563136/original/file-20231203-27-6iiwgj.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">Installation view, Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street at HOTA Gallery. Credit Milk and Honey Creative.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">HOTA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Scientific advances</h2>
<p>The second part of the exhibition is Performance, detailing the scientific research – from shoes that measure temperature to ones designed to be more sustainable.</p>
<p>There is a chance to better understand how the feel and performance of sneakers have been developed, and how basketball sneakers have benefited from input by Chuck Taylor. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563140/original/file-20231203-29-ogevti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563140/original/file-20231203-29-ogevti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563140/original/file-20231203-29-ogevti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563140/original/file-20231203-29-ogevti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563140/original/file-20231203-29-ogevti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563140/original/file-20231203-29-ogevti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563140/original/file-20231203-29-ogevti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563140/original/file-20231203-29-ogevti.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">Onitsuka Tiger TG4 Marathon (1968 - 72). Ed Reeve, Design Museum London.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are interesting concept-driven shoes by Puma, including self-lacing shoes, and shoes designed to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/05/puma-mit-shoes-can-breathe.html">read biological information</a> of the wearer.</p>
<p>However scientifically advanced these shoes are, they are not always aesthetically appealing – some by Puma remind me of fancy Crocs.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gen-z-grew-up-in-a-world-filled-with-ugly-fashion-no-wonder-they-love-their-crocs-200718">Gen Z grew up in a world filled with ugly fashion – no wonder they love their Crocs</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Cultural vibrancy</h2>
<p>The exhibition features a photo of Tommie Smith and John Carlos with Norman Williams from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Olympics_Black_Power_salute">1968 Olympics in Mexico City</a>. While Smith and Carlos wore only black socks in the most famous photo of their Black Power salute, they wore <a href="https://www.nssmag.com/en/fashion/23815/puma-suede-limited-edition-tommie-smith">Puma</a> shoes in the race that won them the medals, later infamously stripped from them.</p>
<p>Beside the famous podium photograph are a pair of the same style of Puma shoes, an example of how sneakers are embedded with social meanings and sometimes politically shape tensions beyond their intended purpose for high performance sport.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563139/original/file-20231203-18-lmlt5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563139/original/file-20231203-18-lmlt5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563139/original/file-20231203-18-lmlt5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563139/original/file-20231203-18-lmlt5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563139/original/file-20231203-18-lmlt5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563139/original/file-20231203-18-lmlt5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563139/original/file-20231203-18-lmlt5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563139/original/file-20231203-18-lmlt5g.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">Adidas NMD HU Pharrell Human Race ‘Yellow’ (2016). Ed Reeve, Design Museum London.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sneakers Unboxed aims to celebrate the cultural vibrancy and design milestones of the sneaker world, rather than ddress its failures and shortcomings. But there is an effort to acknowledge issues. A <a href="https://hota.com.au/whats-on/live/talks-and-ideas/sneakers-unboxed-women-in-sneakers-panel">Women in Sneakers</a> panel (which I spoke at) looked at how the industry can improve gender equity and social inclusion. Short films highlighting scenes in the Global South highlight voices that rarely get a platform. </p>
<p>Sneakers have a global appeal and different communities and locations shape the culture. A section on grime – a rap movement from the early 2000s predating the harder hitting drill music from Chicago that spread to the United Kingdom ten years later – highlights how Black youth in the UK are creating their own forms of pride, identity and belonging.</p>
<p>The sneaker industry has ties to many social issues including colonialism and labour exploitation. None of the big brands are without serious critique. More conversations like the ones in the panel and short films are valuable and needed to keep up the momentum to push brands to improve and do better.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563141/original/file-20231203-27-esyf9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563141/original/file-20231203-27-esyf9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563141/original/file-20231203-27-esyf9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563141/original/file-20231203-27-esyf9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563141/original/file-20231203-27-esyf9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563141/original/file-20231203-27-esyf9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563141/original/file-20231203-27-esyf9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563141/original/file-20231203-27-esyf9q.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">Sneaker Archaeology. 2021. Artist: Helen Kirkum. Ed Reeve, Design Museum London.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If you love sneakers and are a die-hard fan, this is the exhibit for you. However, those totally oblivious to the cultural relevance of sneakers will also enjoy learning about the history of sneakers in music and subcultures, fashion, the world of collectors and high-performance sport.</p>
<p>This exhibition opens the door on the sneaker world and our love of this footwear. It is up to all of us – but especially industry – to commit to finding ways to be more responsive to local and global issues and ongoing efforts to move forward towards kicks with ethics.</p>
<p><em>Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street is now on at HOTA on the Gold Coast.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-history-of-sneakers-from-commodity-to-cultural-icon-127268">The history of sneakers: from commodity to cultural icon</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215599/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Indigo Willing was a speaker on the Women in Sneakers Panel hosted by HOTA.</span></em></p>
Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street is now on at HOTA on the Gold Coast.
Indigo Willing, Social Science Fellow, The Sydney Social Science and Humanities Advanced Research Centre, The University of Sydney. Adjunct Research Fellow, Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/218208
2023-11-22T17:05:24Z
2023-11-22T17:05:24Z
Napoleon: the film’s fashion tells a story of its own, from cropped hair to ribbon chokers
<p>In his epic historical drama, Ridley Scott depicts Napoleon Bonaparte’s career not only through a military lens but a romantic one, suggesting that Napoleon’s global conquests were driven by a desire to conquer his wife Josephine’s heart. </p>
<p>The film’s trailer offers a glimpse into the couple’s coronation in 1804, a moment <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/story-of-a-coronation-palace-of-versailles/NgWhI7emoChPKw?hl=en">immortalised by the artist Jacques-Louis David</a>.</p>
<p>David’s work emphasises that the coronation broke with traditional royal protocol. Traditionally, queens were not crowned directly after the king. In doing so, Napoleon was signalling the start of a new dynasty. He also invoked a historical parallel. The last queen to receive such treatment was <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marie-de-Medicis">Marie de’Medici</a>, crowned in May 1610.</p>
<p>Josephine wore a sumptuous, high-waisted white satin gown with a red velvet train. Her fan-shaped lace collar invoked a second reference to Medici. Known as a <em>chérusque</em>, Medici is seen wearing the design in <a href="https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/Civilization/id/880/">Ruben’s depiction of her coronation in 1624</a>. Josephine was therefore sartorially linked to the leading figure of a powerful dynasty. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/napoleon-and-josephines-real-relationship-was-intense-but-they-loved-power-more-than-each-other-218160">Napoleon and Josephine’s real relationship was intense – but they loved power more than each other</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Revolutionary style</h2>
<p>Josephine’s journey to becoming empress of France was marked by tumult and tragedy. Raised in Martinique, she moved to Paris as a teenager and married Alexandre Beauharnais, a French viscount. Josephine experienced the trauma of the Revolution first-hand. Beauharnais was executed in 1794. Shortly after, she was sent to <a href="https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/People/Josephine/KNAEJO/7*.html">Les Carmes prison</a> where she lived under the fear of a similar fate. By the time she was released, she found herself in a society attempting to redefine its political and cultural identity.</p>
<p>In such a period of uncertainty, a new fashionable set emerged. Referred to as the <em><a href="https://thisistribute.xyz/blogs/contribute/les-merveilleuses-the-rebellious-women-of-1795-france">les Merveilleuses</a></em> (the wonderful), they captivated the post-revolutionary social scene with their radical approach to dress. Corseted dresses and all their elaborate padding were eschewed for a streamlined silhouette. </p>
<p>Embroidered silks and ruffled sleeves were disregarded for cotton muslin and flaxen linen. The towering, powdered hairstyles favoured by the old royal court were replaced by a shorn cut known as the <em><a href="https://www.transcriptmag.com/post/coiffure-%C3%A0-la-victime-the-urban-legend-of-the-guillotine-haircuts">coiffure à la victime</a></em>, paying tribute to guillotined prisoners whose hair was lopped off before execution.</p>
<p>Paris was both enthralled and scandalised. As fashion magazines breathlessly depicted the new styles in beautiful, hand-coloured plates, other newspapers featured doctors pleading with the <em>Merveilleuses</em> to forsake their diaphanous dresses for fear of catching ill. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1DJYiG6wh0w?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Josephine’s hair is cut in the coiffure à la victime style in the trailer for Napoleon.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the forefront of this movement was Josephine, who wielded such influence in fashion that she and her fellow <em>Merveilleuses</em> would often exchange letters before social functions, <a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6149314d/f171.item%20lettre%20vii%20to%20madame%20tallien">methodically planning their attire</a>. They knew their garments would be eagerly followed, replicated and reported in painstaking detail in the French press.</p>
<h2>Napoleon’s fashion</h2>
<p>Napoleon’s appearance contrasted sharply with his wife’s. His contemporaries <a href="https://www.google.ca/books/edition/M%C3%A9moires_de_Madame_de_R%C3%A9musat_1802_180/HQ0xAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">often derided him</a> for his lacklustre style, marked by dust-ridden boots and ungloved hands. He refused to attend social functions in anything other than his uniform. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37499/37499-h/37499-h.htm">His letters to Josephine</a> after their first meeting in 1795 show him to be utterly enamoured. In his eyes, Josephine was worldlier, older and effortlessly charming. Most importantly, perhaps, she was emblematic of two worlds: the French aristocracy of a bygone era and the new, sophisticated glitterati set he now wished to enter. </p>
<p>Ridley Scott’s depiction of their first meeting shows Josephine sporting the popular <em>coiffure à la victime</em>. She’s also wearing a red ribbon – another staple of the “guillotine aesthetic”. The ribbon emphasised where the blade would have landed on a loved one’s exposed neck. </p>
<p>The differences between them – Napoleon, stubbornly clad in his uniform, Josephine impeccably attired in the styles she and her fellow <em>Merveilleuses</em> heralded – is sartorially punctuated.</p>
<h2>Empire style</h2>
<p>Newly wedded, Josephine visited Napoleon in Italy where she began what became a lifelong enthusiasm for cameos (a hard or precious gemstone carved with a raised relief, often depicting a person, animal or mythical scene). Attaching pieces to her belts, jewellery and headwear, she sparked a revival of the trend. </p>
<p>Napoleon’s gifts of Kashmiri shawls during his 1798-99 Egyptian campaign turned these garments into coveted luxury staples. A shawl was often included as an item of prestige in the gift basket for affluent 19th-century brides. Josephine boasted over 400 in her personal collection and wears the shawl in several paintings.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560504/original/file-20231120-17-ftj5s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="painting of Josephine with red shawl" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560504/original/file-20231120-17-ftj5s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560504/original/file-20231120-17-ftj5s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=813&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560504/original/file-20231120-17-ftj5s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=813&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560504/original/file-20231120-17-ftj5s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=813&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560504/original/file-20231120-17-ftj5s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1022&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560504/original/file-20231120-17-ftj5s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1022&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560504/original/file-20231120-17-ftj5s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1022&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Empress Josephine in the park at Malmaison by Pierre-Paul Prud’hon (1805).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pierre-Paul_Prud%27hon_-_The_Empress_Josephine_-_WGA18457.jpg">Musée de Louvre</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As Empress, she became synonymous with the Empire style, marked by high-waisted dresses with tiny sleeves. White remained her preferred colour for dresses, its pale aesthetic often contrasted with a red Kashmiri shawl. </p>
<p>Napoleon relied on Josephine’s sartorial influence: what his wife wore, he knew, would be replicated. The fabric of her dresses changed, from the English cotton muslin she wore as a <em>Merveilleuse</em> to Lyonnais silk satin brocade. Her fashion choices were not only personal, they were strategic, stimulating the French luxury industry and contributing to the post-revolutionary national economy.</p>
<p>In 1810, after 14 years of marriage with no offspring, Napoleon and Josephine divorced. Josephine retreated to her beloved Malmaison, a country chateau outside of Paris, where she continued to receive flocks of guests and admirers until her death in 1814. </p>
<p>“You want to be great, but you are nothing without me,” Josephine tells Napoleon in the trailer. An apt sentiment, perhaps, for a woman whose fashion sense is imbued with historical significance and endures in cultural relevance to this day.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218208/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tania Sheikhan 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>
A shorn haircut known as the coiffure à la victime, paid tribute to guillotined prisoners whose hair was loped off before execution.
Tania Sheikhan, PhD Candidate, History of Art, UCL
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/213907
2023-09-28T15:52:36Z
2023-09-28T15:52:36Z
The surprisingly punk fashion of the Bloomsbury set, including Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell
<p>Scrupulously researched and curated by fashion journalist <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/profile/charlieporter">Charlie Porter</a>, <a href="https://www.charleston.org.uk/exhibition/bring-no-clothes-bloomsbury-and-fashion/">Bring No Clothes: Bloomsbury and Fashion</a> has opened at <a href="https://www.charleston.org.uk/about-us/">Charleston’s</a> new spaces at Southover House in Lewes. The exhibition brings together original garments, paintings, photography and spoken word to explore how the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bloomsbury-group">Bloomsbury set</a> continues to inspire fashion more than a century later. </p>
<p>Charleston was once the home and studio of the painters <a href="https://www.charleston.org.uk/people/vanessa-bell/">Vanessa Bell</a> and <a href="https://www.charleston.org.uk/people/duncan-grant/">Duncan Grant</a>, and a gathering space for the artists and writers who came to be known as “the Bloomsbury set”, including <a href="https://www.bl.uk/people/virginia-woolf">Virginia Woolf</a> and <a href="https://www.charleston.org.uk/people/lytton-strachey/">Lytton Strachey</a>.</p>
<p>First, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mrkimjones/?hl=en">menswear designer Kim Jones</a> transposes the works and designs of artist Duncan Grant into prints and patterns for his <a href="https://www.charleston.org.uk/stories/dior-x-duncan-grant-x-charleston/">Dior summer 2023 collection</a>. Jones’s hand-knitted rendering of Grant’s design for a fire curtain at Sadler’s Wells Theatre (1930) brings out all the campness of the artist, playfully reinterpreting the language of cubism to become kitsch. </p>
<p>Another designer on display, <a href="https://www.jawaraalleyne.com">Jawara Alleyne</a>, models his work after painter Vanessa Bell’s “<a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/453043/bring-no-clothes-by-porter-charlie/9780241602751">slapdash style of throwing clothes together</a>” by fastening them with safety pins. </p>
<p>Sadly, we have no evidence of Bell’s cut-up method as we learn (from a rather matter of fact page in the diary of Charleston’s housekeeper Grace Higgens) that her clothes were burned after she died. But <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/453043/bring-no-clothes-by-porter-charlie/9780241602751">according to her granddaughter</a>, historian Virginia Nicholson, Bell’s safety pins belong to the “family mythology”.</p>
<p>The exhibition also shows a handbag Bell made and a rags rug, still on the floors at Charleston. Repurposing and recycling clothes and cloth represented, for Bell, an ethical choice. It was an affordable alternative and a way of creating meaning through making. </p>
<p>What is interesting about the use of safety pins is that they not only give discarded garments a new lease, but they also mean the pieces could be dismembered again. Alleyne’s designs and installations draw out a punk attitude from Bell’s safety pins, which is lost in the representation of the Bloomsbury style as reassuring, crafty and quaint. </p>
<p>This spirit chimes with Porter’s reading of the legacy of the Bloomsbury group’s <a href="https://www.anothermag.com/fashion-beauty/15089/the-bloomsbury-group-bring-no-clothes-book-charlie-porter-interview">penchant</a> for “anti-fashion: something that looks so wrong, it’s right”.</p>
<p>The vivacity of Bell’s self-fashioning – captured in a rarely seen portrait by Grant – shows the wildness of her eccentric colour and pattern combinations. Her sister, the writer Virginia Woolf, once rather harshly <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300244113/the-bloomsbury-look/">responded</a> to her clothes designs for the <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/o/omega-workshops/story-omega-workshops">Omega Workshops</a> (a design enterprise founded by members of the Bloomsbury group) by saying they “almost wrenched my eyes from the sockets”.</p>
<p>Photos of Woolf from 1923 from the <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/journal-of-lady-ottoline-morrell-june-1923-with-photographs-and-accounts-of-virginia-woolf">journal of Lady Ottoline Morrell</a> display more fashion audacity. She pairs the floral swirls of her shawl with the lines of her dress, flaunting clash and tension in her clothing. </p>
<h2>Under the influence of Bloomsbury</h2>
<p>What is it about the fashion of the Bloomsbury group that continues to resonate today? In a recent examination of Bloomsbury’s experimental attitude to dress, art historian <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1qVaxyceRk&t=11s">Wendy Hitchmough argued</a> that it is their interest in a certain “bohemian latitude, and the capacity of dress to signal alternative values”. </p>
<p>The absence of a substantial representation of items from the Omega Workshops in this exhibition, marks its desire to move away from a history of modernist dress and instead “<a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/453043/bring-no-clothes-by-porter-charlie/9780241602751">get closer to a garment’s wearer</a>”.</p>
<p>The exhibition introduces the group’s urgent rethinking of gender, sexuality and queerness as a way of life, without downplaying the fact that in spite of their <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-companion-to-the-bloomsbury-group/bloomsbury-and-empire/471BE8C34FDA9554D4A2F47E45729872">anti-colonial stance</a>, they never examined their white entitlement. In fact, they profited from the repetition of orientalist and <a href="https://www.theartstory.org/movement/primitivism/">primitivist tropes</a> within modernism. </p>
<p>The Bloomsbury group’s distaste for formality helped to set the foundations for how we dress today. But it is important not to forget how this rested on some significant precedents. </p>
<p>The exhibition positions the members of the Bloomsbury group as standing up against the military inheritance of the three-piece suit, cinched waists and constrictive undergarments. But there is a general sense that everything vaguely late-Victorian stands for the patriarchy. This means important connections are lost with the <a href="https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-new-woman">New Women</a> and the feminists, the vegetarians and antivivisectionists, the yogi and the sandal wearers of the previous generation. These groups paved the way for the revolution in clothing championed by the Bloomsbury set. </p>
<h2>The sandal-wearers</h2>
<p>One such sandal-wearer was the lesbian collector, avant-garde novelist and poet <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjZlZPowbaBAxUzVUEAHXxpBLYQFnoECFUQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.britannica.com%2Fbiography%2FGertrude-Stein&usg=AOvVaw2NJevA83lBIYRpeINGy-HV&opi=89978449">Gertrude Stein</a> (1874-1926). Her roomy brown corduroy gown, monumentalised in a <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/488221">portrait by Pablo Picasso</a>, must have made an impression on Bell. She <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/9780300244113/the-bloomsbury-look">purchased a similar dress</a> after she visited her in 1913.</p>
<p>In Florence in 1904, she and Woolf had also met the writer <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vernon-Lee">Vernon Lee</a> (1856-1935) whose unique look <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-8365.12727">encouraged a sense of ambiguity</a> about her gender identity. Not to mention other radically dressed figures from the era known to the group, like <a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp01984/radclyffe-hall-marguerite-antonia-radclyffe-hall">Radclyffe Hall</a>, <a href="https://www5.open.ac.uk/research-projects/making-britain/content/annie-besant">Annie Besant</a> and <a href="https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/carlo-levi--597289969328628621/">Filippo De Pisis</a>.</p>
<p>The modern designer <a href="https://ellaboucht.com">Ella Boucht’s</a> bodacious suits for queer, trans and non-binary clients – on display at the exhibition – are arguably influenced by kinship with these historical trailblazers, rather than solely, as the exhibit text says, “through opposition to the patriarchy and power within tailoring”. Sometimes queer liberation is not measured by the freedom to undress, or underdress, but its opposite. </p>
<p>When the <a href="https://thelondonmagazine.org/article/essay-queer-spaces-bloomsbury-and-the-bright-young-things-by-nino-strachey/">Bright Young Things</a> – a generation of gender non-conforming painted boys in London, Paris and Berlin – entered the scene in the 1920s, the meaning of the suit was completely unsettled.</p>
<p>By overstating the Bloomsbury set as standing alone against the conservatism of early 20th-century British society, Bring No Clothes sometimes suffers from an anxiety of influence. It is exciting to imagine the group in an agonistic relationship with history capable of inspiring posterity, but this is deaf to their dialogue with their contemporaries and predecessors.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213907/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Francesco Ventrella 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 Bloomsbury group’s distaste for formality helped to set the foundations for how we dress today.
Francesco Ventrella, Senior Lecturer in Art History, University of Sussex
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/206490
2023-05-26T05:32:18Z
2023-05-26T05:32:18Z
Surry Hills was once the centre of New South Wales’ ‘rag trade’: a short history of fashion manufacturing in Sydney
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528481/original/file-20230526-20031-m2r2yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C2%2C1389%2C974&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Top Dog factory for men's hats, Surry Hills, 1941</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">State Library of New South Wales</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sydney has awoken to the smouldering ruins of its largest city fire in 55 years.</p>
<p>The “abandoned building” in Randle Street, Surry Hills, adjacent to Central Station was once the R.C. Henderson Ladies Hat factory, a six-storey brick structure built in 1912. </p>
<p>Empty for some time, the space was slated to become a boutique hotel. Full of wooden trusses and likely old machinery oil, the building collapsed in a spectacular bonfire.</p>
<p>How did Surry Hills come to be the centre of the fashion manufacturing industry, or “rag trade”, for New South Wales? </p>
<h2>Dressing in New South Wales</h2>
<p>Ready-made clothing developed in 1860s Australia with the uptake of <a href="https://www.singer.com.tr/en/corporate/history">Isaac Singer’s sewing machine</a>. As the population became more prosperous, it needed better clothes. </p>
<p>The New South Wales fashion industry was one of the most locally concentrated in Australia. Apart from some large men’s suiting and shirt factories, most men’s, women’s and children’s clothes and hats were made in or near Surry Hills. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528487/original/file-20230526-25-vmrr9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528487/original/file-20230526-25-vmrr9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528487/original/file-20230526-25-vmrr9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528487/original/file-20230526-25-vmrr9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528487/original/file-20230526-25-vmrr9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=782&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528487/original/file-20230526-25-vmrr9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=982&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528487/original/file-20230526-25-vmrr9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=982&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528487/original/file-20230526-25-vmrr9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=982&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ballarat House, housing Singer Sewing Machine factory, on Wentworth Avenue, Surry Hills,1915.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">City of Sydney Archives</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Electric-powered machines that sped up production were introduced from 1914.</p>
<p>David Jones assembled its garments in a modern purpose-built factory in Marlborough Street, Surry Hills in 1915. </p>
<p>Until the 1980s, most Australians wore Australian-made clothes. High import duties meant there was enormous impetus for local production. Although many women made their own clothes, they rarely made men’s outer clothes. </p>
<p>As more women worked, they had less time and needed to buy store-bought clothes. </p>
<p>From 1928-68, the clothing and footwear sector was marked by small plants, low levels of capital investment, a rate of profit <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259389739_Refashioning_the_Rag_Trade_Internationalising_Australia%27s_Textiles_Clothing_and_Footwear_Industries">nearly 65%</a> above the average for all industries, high risk, uncertainty and, of course, regularly changing fashions. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528486/original/file-20230526-21-4sat7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Women in the foreground machining as storeman stacks the finished articles in the rack" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528486/original/file-20230526-21-4sat7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528486/original/file-20230526-21-4sat7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528486/original/file-20230526-21-4sat7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528486/original/file-20230526-21-4sat7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528486/original/file-20230526-21-4sat7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528486/original/file-20230526-21-4sat7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528486/original/file-20230526-21-4sat7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A factory in Surry Hills, 1941.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">State Library of New South Wales</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As a result, the industry favoured those with fashion and style knowledge: skilled owner-managers who understood craft skills and production. In 1939, 94% of establishments were operated <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259389739_Refashioning_the_Rag_Trade_Internationalising_Australia%27s_Textiles_Clothing_and_Footwear_Industries">by working proprietors</a>. </p>
<p>Personal interactions between boss and worker were close. The shop floor was often set up as a “family”, with all the tensions that entails.</p>
<p>The large CBD retailers enjoyed close relationships with the manufacturers. Buyers made frequent visits, sometimes daily. </p>
<p>In the 1940s, <a href="https://sa.org.au/interventions/rebelwomen/rebelwomen.pdf">half of the women</a> working in manufacturing in Sydney were working in the rag trade.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dressed-for-success-as-workers-return-to-the-office-men-might-finally-shed-their-suits-and-ties-153455">Dressed for success – as workers return to the office, men might finally shed their suits and ties</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The look and feel of Surry Hills</h2>
<p>Surry Hills was covered in cheap terrace houses built as worker’s rentals from the 1850s. The new Central Station opened in 1906 on the site of a former cemetery. </p>
<p>As the terraces deteriorated, the area was widely considered a “slum”, finely captured in Ruth Park’s novel <a href="https://www.griffithreview.com/harp-south-ruth-park/">The Harp in the South</a> (1948). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528488/original/file-20230526-8753-7wxytv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two storey terraces with cast iron on balconies with children in front playing with a go kart. Washing / laundry on balcony." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528488/original/file-20230526-8753-7wxytv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528488/original/file-20230526-8753-7wxytv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528488/original/file-20230526-8753-7wxytv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528488/original/file-20230526-8753-7wxytv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528488/original/file-20230526-8753-7wxytv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528488/original/file-20230526-8753-7wxytv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528488/original/file-20230526-8753-7wxytv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Surry Hills terrace houses, photographed in 1916.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">City of Sydney Archives</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Multi-storey factories allowing for multiple occupancies were the norm. </p>
<p>Women’s fashion was made in small batches with frequent variation. The goods were light and compact, meaning lifts and staircases could be used for deliveries. Equipment used in the industry was also light and easily installed on floors above ground level. </p>
<p>Surry Hills was the main buying centre for fashion; department store, suburban and country buyers would walk from factory to factory to inspect the goods.</p>
<p>Labour for the Surry Hills industry was drawn from the entire metropolitan area. Women immigrants made up 70% of employees. </p>
<p>Labour became less skilled as detailed hand-tailoring and dressmaking were superseded by machines in the 1950s.</p>
<h2>Post-war Surry Hills</h2>
<p>Between 1947 and 1966, <a href="https://www.reasoninrevolt.net.au/bib/PR0000770.htm">1.8 million migrants arrived</a> in Australia. </p>
<p>Many worked in factories. A large proportion of the Jewish Europeans who arrived in the 1930s and 1940s <a href="https://sydneyjewishmuseum.com.au/exhibition/dressing-sydney-jewish-fashion-story/">worked in the clothing industry</a>; in turn they employed many southern-European migrant women who arrived with little or no English.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528484/original/file-20230526-17-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman holding up boxes" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528484/original/file-20230526-17-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528484/original/file-20230526-17-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528484/original/file-20230526-17-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528484/original/file-20230526-17-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528484/original/file-20230526-17-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528484/original/file-20230526-17-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528484/original/file-20230526-17-h86n7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dora Grynberg (1913-2016) at her fashion business near Central Station, Sydney, c. 1940.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy Sydney Jewish Museum</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fashion and clothing knowledge enabled many Jewish migrants to re-establish their livelihoods and identities across the globe. <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/6092570">Between 1938 and 1961</a>, Sydney’s Jewish population doubled. </p>
<p>Low rents due to deteriorating building stock and the lack of demand for office space in Surry Hills meant clothing manufacturing continued. Factory buildings replaced some terrace houses from 1958, when Surry Hills was zoned for “B class” industry.</p>
<p>European Jews, mainly from Poland and Czechoslovakia, acquired old properties and redeveloped them as two-storey factories. The owners occupied only a portion of the building and rented out the remaining space to fellow countrymen. The capital required to enter the industry was small; machines could be hired and floor space rented on a weekly basis. The average Sydney clothing factory employed 15 workers.</p>
<p>The number of married women working in Australia rose to <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/changing-female-employment-over-time">around 30% by 1966</a>. Fewer had time to do home sewing. This created opportunities for cheaper ready-to-wear lines that could keep pace with rapid fashion changes. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528496/original/file-20230526-23-dre97j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528496/original/file-20230526-23-dre97j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528496/original/file-20230526-23-dre97j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528496/original/file-20230526-23-dre97j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528496/original/file-20230526-23-dre97j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528496/original/file-20230526-23-dre97j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528496/original/file-20230526-23-dre97j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528496/original/file-20230526-23-dre97j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The heritage-listed building destroyed in yesterday’s fire, 11-13 Randle Street, Surry Hills.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">City of Sydney Archives</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The household spend on clothing, footwear and drapery climbed dramatically, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Out_of_Line.html?id=rOIAjM7TaEYC&redir_esc=y">tripling from 1946 to 1960</a>. </p>
<p>The shift to this ready-to-wear trade was <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/jewish-fashion-story/4247088">amplified</a> by Jewish entrepreneurship and retailing. Jewish migrants introduced new and brighter colours into everyday clothing. They helped to create the demand for lighter clothes, such as finely knitted garments of contemporary European fashion, modern lines in coats, and the Swiss machine-lace that adorned the short mod-dresses of the 1960s. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/global-shift-australian-fashions-coming-of-age-19237">Global shift: Australian fashion's coming of age</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>End of the rag trade</h2>
<p>The Whitlam Government cut tariffs by 25% in 1973 to reduce inflation and as a new approach to national industry planning. At the time, fashion amounted to <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Refashioning-Rag-Trade-Internationalising-Australias/dp/086840540X">10% of Australia’s total manufacturing employment</a>. </p>
<p>The reduction of tariffs and subsidies, price gouging, discounting and off-shore production <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/130671">decimated the industry</a>. Employment fell by nearly one third in two years after 1973. The market share of imports doubled. Business people moved their capital from manufacturing into property.</p>
<p>Clothing production moved to areas such as Marrickville, with Vietnamese entrepreneurs and workers replacing the Greeks who had once worked in the trade there. By 1985, <a href="http://www.multiculturalaustralia.edu.au/doc/ethbusiness_1.pdf">one third of workers</a> in the local clothing industry were Asian.</p>
<p>If we time travelled back to 1950 in Randle Street, the scene would be very different from today. </p>
<p>Rather than urban professionals and baristas, we would see rag trade seamstresses, finishers, designers, managers, retailers, salespeople and promoters. </p>
<p>We might see bundles of the new synthetic corded fabrics, satin lastex miracle yarn, sanforised shrunk fabrics and fiesta nylons. Or reps showing the new <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/goldner-richard-15195">Goldner Triflex zipper</a>, <a href="https://shazbeige.com/pdf/Perkal_Brothers_History.pdf">Perkal brothers</a> shoes, <a href="http://dressingsydney.blogspot.com/2012/06/in-theearly-1920s-brothers-max-and-sid.html">Rain'N Shine coats</a>, or <a href="http://dressingsydney.blogspot.com/2012/11/back-to-telling-you-about-some-of.html">Hestia</a> bras. </p>
<p>We would see many of Sydney’s 9,000 workers in clothing and tailoring, 4,300 in dress and hat-making, and 8,000 in shirt-making who spent their working lives in Surry Hills. With this fire, another piece of Sydney’s rag trade and workers’ history is lost.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206490/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter McNeil received funding from UTS and the Sydney Jewish Museum for a large collaborative project 'Dressing Sydney: The Jewish Fashion Story' (2011). Many of the findings were published with the Sydney Jewish Museum as 'Dressing Sydney' (2012). The project also benefited from a UTS Grant ‘Culture, Work and Economy in the Surry Hills Clothing Trade, 1900-1990’. Participants: Peter McNeil, Paula Hamilton, Paul Ashton, Giorgio Riello, Roslyn Sugarman (SJM), Norman Seligman (SJM), Cameron White, Charles Rice. The publication received additional support from Dr Gene Sherman.</span></em></p>
A heritage-listed hat factory has burned down in Surry Hills. The suburb was once a hub of fashion manufacturing.
Peter McNeil, Distinguished Professor of Design History, UTS, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/205089
2023-05-05T14:04:38Z
2023-05-05T14:04:38Z
For diamonds, disguises and bears, the Met Gala has nothing on Georgian masquerade parties
<p>A large, white cat with dazzling light blue eyes appeared on the red carpet of this year’s Met Gala. It struck several playful poses, paying homage to the late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld and his beloved cat, <a href="https://people.com/pets/all-about-karl-lagerfeld-cat-choupette/">Choupette</a>. Photographers snapped away and onlookers buzzed about who might be inside the costume.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Choupette left little time for speculation. Within minutes of her arrival, she removed her head to reveal actor Jared Leto beneath her heaps of fur and whiskers.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1qGwwuhtgc4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Jared Leto arrives on the Met Gala red carpet.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Leto’s interpretation of this year’s theme – <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/a-line-of-beauty">Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty</a> – was arguably the most attention-grabbing of the night. Setting social media ablaze every year, the Met Gala is the annual Met Museum fundraising ball, which is known for the couture and daring fashion paraded on its red carpet. It is part of a longstanding cultural obsession with costumes and fancy dress.</p>
<p>In 1771, landscape artist <a href="https://britishart.yale.edu/whose-view-limitations-labels">William Hodges</a> also wore a full animal suit to a party. His outfit created a spectacle and pushed the boundaries of acceptable identity concealment at a masquerade party. Hodges was dressed as a dancing she bear and his companion, a <a href="https://courtauld.ac.uk/research/research-resources/publications/immeditations-postgraduate-journal/immediations-online/immediations-no-19-2022/from-assimilation-to-preservation-alpine-culture-and-the-visual-traces-of-savoyard-migrants-in-eighteenth-century-paris/">Savoyard</a> (travelling entertainer). </p>
<p>Despite holding a ticket for the evening’s entertainment, the bear was stopped at the door, according to news reports at the time. It held in its paw a lady’s ticket, but since the bear’s gender could not be discovered amid the elaborate costuming, the guard was uncertain as to whether it should be admitted. Luckily the Savoyard persuaded the guard and the two were ushered in.</p>
<p>The moment was covered in newspapers and periodicals in the days and weeks following the masquerade – even <a href="https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/10715682">inspiring a lively print</a>.</p>
<h2>Daring Georgian masquerades</h2>
<p>Georgian masquerade parties of the 1770s and 1780s often occupied a Monday evening in the elite social calendar of London’s fashionable in-crowd. They were much like today’s Met Gala attendees and known as the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-beau-monde-9780198861188?cc=gb&lang=en"><em>beau monde</em></a> (fashionable society).</p>
<p>Made up of the nobility, gentry and a handful of wealthy actors, artists and merchants, this group dominated the city’s social scene and dictated trends throughout the 18th century.</p>
<p>During a time of <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/27584/chapter-abstract/197612138?redirectedFrom=fulltext">widening access to consumer goods</a> and <a href="https://archive.org/details/birthofconsumer00mcke">increasingly commercialised leisure entertainments</a> (pleasure gardens, coffee houses and theatres), <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1754-0208.12668">masquerade parties</a> provided a place to flaunt status, taste and wealth through ostentatious and creative outfits.</p>
<p>As an elite social space, the masquerade was controlled through strict subscription lists and extortionate prices, not unlike the Met Gala’s invitation-only policy.</p>
<p>Even with your name on the tightly guarded subscription list, according to my calculations the cost of a <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1853-1210-416">masquerade ticket</a> averaged two guineas, (approximately £450 in 2023) which limited access to the top 4% of the population.</p>
<p>This, plus the expense of transportation and a basic costume raised the price to at least three guineas, further marking the masquerade as a watering hole of the glitterati, not the masses.</p>
<h2>The role of the public</h2>
<p>The masses, however, were essential to the success and cultural weight of the masquerade, just as fans and social media are essential in supporting or cancelling today’s celebrities.</p>
<p>The route to a masquerade was regularly lined with spectators who watched and judged the costumes as they passed. Noted gossip and socialite Horace Walpole <a href="https://libsvcs-1.its.yale.edu/hwcorrespondence/page.asp?vol=23&page=194&srch=flambeaux">relayed his experience to a friend</a> writing: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The mob was beyond all belief; they held <em>flambeaux</em> [a burning torch] to the windows of every coach and demanded to have the masks pulled off and put on at their pleasure, but with extreme good humour and civility.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Once the fashionable bodies moved from the gilded frames of their carriages and sedan chairs into the safely guarded space of the masquerade venue, however, the evening’s frivolities stayed behind closed doors. <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1897-1231-338">A ticket</a> from one masquerade at London’s Carlisle House reminded participants to <em>Muto, non ciecho</em> – see all but say nothing. </p>
<p>The Met Gala’s recent policy of banning mobile phones claims to have been put in place to <a href="https://pagesix.com/2015/04/30/sorry-kim-this-years-met-gala-will-be-a-selfie-free-zone/">maintain guests’ enjoyment</a> of the event. But it mimics the exclusivity and intrigue of the masquerade party and the dependence on news outlets and gossipy celebs to <a href="https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/lizzo-met-gala-2023-performance">leak any juicy events</a> from within the guarded space.</p>
<p>The enthusiastic spectators of Georgian masquerade parties relied on the popular Masquerade Intelligence column in daily newspapers to spill the details. No lord or lady was spared cutting criticism or gushing praise despite their rank, appearing in public reports and private recollections similar to the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65413976">best dressed lists</a> that circulate today.</p>
<p>The Duchess of Northumberland offered a scathing critique of members of the royal family in her diary after attending a masquerade in 1769, writing: “the Queen’s two Brothers were by much the shabbiest figures.” </p>
<p>Meanwhile the Independent Chronicle judged: “The Countess Dowager of Waldegrave … wore a dress richly trimmed with beads and pearls and was truly elegant.” </p>
<p>Like actor <a href="https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/michaela-coel-emefa-cole-met-gala-2023-jewellery">Michaela Coel</a> and singer <a href="https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/lil-nas-x-met-gala-2023">Lil Nas X</a>, who arrived at the Met Gala bedazzled from head to toe, masquerade participants knew jewels and diamonds signalled societal status. They often flaunted thousands of pounds worth of valuable gems.</p>
<p>The masquerade offered the <em>beau monde</em> (and anyone else who could afford a ticket) the opportunity to use fancy dress <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/literature/english-literature-1700-1830/women-sociability-and-theatre-georgian-london?format=HB&isbn=9780521867320">to express political views</a> and occasionally transgress societal expectations, all while maintaining an exclusive space in widening leisure culture.</p>
<p>The Met Gala echoes the past extravagance of the masquerade and builds on it. It is an international platform where artists, actors and influencers push the boundaries of culture, politics and fashion through innovative couture. But as the media frenzy that both follows and sustains it shows, the spectators are just as important as the spectacle itself.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205089/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meg Kobza receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust. </span></em></p>
At Georgian masquerade parties, participants flaunted their status, taste and wealth through ostentatious and creative dress.
Meg Kobza, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Newcastle University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/201782
2023-03-22T04:12:01Z
2023-03-22T04:12:01Z
‘Cultural expression through dress’: towards a definition of First Nations fashion
<p>This May, Wiradjuri woman Denni Francisco and her label Ngali will be the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2023/mar/21/australian-fashion-week-2023-denni-francisco-to-be-first-indigenous-designer-to-hold-solo-show">first Indigenous designer</a> to have a solo show at Australian Fashion Week. </p>
<p>This is a long time coming for the First Nations fashion industry and the designers and artists who have laboured in the fashion space for many years.</p>
<p>In 2003, Dharug woman Robyn Caughlan was the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/robyn-has-fashion-game-all-sewn-up-20030426-gdgnsm.html">first Indigenous designer</a> to show her ready-to-wear collection at Australian Fashion Week. Over the past 20 years, many Indigenous designers have shown their work in group shows. Francisco’s solo show is an important step forward for the industry.</p>
<p>But First Nations fashion is not just about the catwalk. It is a politically charged practice. We need to have a discussion on what we mean when we say “First Nations fashion”.</p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-indigenous-fashion-designers-are-taking-control-and-challenging-the-notion-of-the-heroic-lone-genius-121041">How Indigenous fashion designers are taking control and challenging the notion of the heroic, lone genius</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>What is ‘fashion’?</h2>
<p>During the European colonial reign from 1788 into the 1860s, Australian administrators were shocked at the appearance of Indigenous populations, often <a href="https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/data/UQ_121066/maynard_blankets.pdf?dsi_version=f1a1ebf590935fd50bfc2c57163abcff&Expires=1679467717&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJKNBJ4MJBJNC6NLQ&Signature=KsMMfEdTXMp2VlzeMt%7EZYgdxiVudEaDZbVvjNS8xdgK%7EJg4kePDuST82eTrVQeOIljYIGJ6FxiF4sa6J8Y89I9kJqTpLnidnTO2AJTomxsOeg%7EcpSNHWEqZN0xvpjFHcfyQt73CBkURfrxHajcdxXTCErdqs%7ExHdcK-nPLb68NC%7EHWAejnOVpPmZWv08k-JumxARkDh31tBjMKbYP4jabCFn0bxvT4t7i4897j0fUNu4LGmRYJZDard4gfWfakEhRhcAO1-A2%7EKNVYGJv6sYHBP05-VOrZUlo2aObFzBSHL4p0XIlkbaog2D0C3zWlXmUzfyqAcXMktlIxEO0IbtSw__">imposing new forms of clothing</a>. </p>
<p>To them, Indigenous peoples were generally seen as wearing insufficient, “unsophisticated” and “static” clothing. </p>
<p>From the 19th to early 20th century, sociologists argued only modern, urban societies <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1362704X.2020.1732022">like France</a> had a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/fashion-system">fashion “system”</a> of production, business and the trickle down of styles.</p>
<p>By the 1970s, UK and US researchers started to use the word <a href="http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/arts/alumni-and-associates/the-history-of-arts-education-in-brighton/fashion,-textiles-and-dress-history-a-personal-perspective-by-lou-taylor">“dress” instead of “fashion”</a> to connect wider forms of clothing, bodily and cultural practices.</p>
<p>“Fashion” has, however, been used as far back as the <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110896107?">1970s</a> to describe Australia’s emerging First Nations textiles, garment and runway shows.</p>
<p>Recently, First Nations researchers in Canada and the United States <a href="https://youtu.be/KORH4l2-AO4">discussed</a> using “Indigenous fashion-art-and-dress” to describe First Nations clothing practices, fashion design and integration of art.</p>
<p>In Australia we have not yet had a conversation about a term that could encompass fashion design, textiles and art. Important First Nations fashion <a href="https://firstnationsfashiondesign.com/">associations</a>, <a href="https://www.ifp.org.au/">organisations</a>, <a href="https://www.mobinfashion.com.au/">groups</a>, and <a href="http://globalindigenousmanagement.com/indigenous-runway-project/">projects</a> have attempted their own terms and strategies.</p>
<p>We need a phrase which includes everything from wearing <a href="https://collection.maas.museum/object/363142">Aboriginal flag t-shirts</a> in the city, self-designed outfits in the <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@abc/video/7200892542890577153">Tiwi Islands</a> and <a href="https://www.vogue.com.au/fashion/news/the-ngvs-first-indigenous-fashion-commission-is-an-ode-to-the-golden-age-of-couture/image-gallery/79e0b3a2bc42202ac407e99ef93574d1">commissioned garments</a> in galleries and museums. </p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-828" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/828/24ba342bc9440cb542892aef434942d5fdf0a74d/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Many First Nations designers are not designing for the fashion industry or galleries which sell their work as art. They are designing to break colonial bonds, share cultural stories, and provide a wearable form of wellbeing. </p>
<h2>A matter of style</h2>
<p>We have been exploring the words that Australian First Nations fashion researchers, designers, artists and producers use to describe their work and the industry.</p>
<p>The new millennium has motivated a great flowering of new First Nations designers and artists.</p>
<p>They describe themselves using words such as <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lillardiabriggshouston/?hl=en">fashion designer</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/yarrabah/?hl=en">artist</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/simone_arnol/?hl=en">curator</a> and their work as <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lyn_al/?hl=en">fashion and art</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/_myrrdah_/?hl=en">fashion labels</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CeNfJ5vv8jA","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>They variously describe their work as being Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander or First Nations owned, or specifically emphasise their cultural Nations and groups.</p>
<p>Artist <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/108051/1/Elisa_Carmichael_Thesis.pdf">Elisa Jane Carmichael</a> (Quandamooka) calls <a href="https://koorihistory.com/traditional-aboriginal-clothing/">traditional and cultural clothing and adornment</a> “the first creations of Australian fashion”. </p>
<p>Writer Tristen Harwood (First Nations) has written about the difference between <a href="https://www.artlink.com.au/articles/4897/walkabout-style-dreams-and-visions-of-indigenous-f/">“style” and “fashion”</a>. He defines First Nations fashion as the marketing and buying of Indigenous designed fashions. By style, Harwood means the dynamic process of dressing that touches on identity, politics, self-creation and culture.</p>
<p>Style is about wearing attire, in all its complexity, and includes the long history from <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/missions-stations-and-reserves">forced clothing</a> to the <a href="https://mpavilion.org/program/untold-possum-skin-cloaks-reawakening-and-revitalising/">revival of cultural garments</a> and looks. </p>
<p>This distinction between fashion and style also informs <a href="https://magpiegoose.com/">Magpie Goose</a> co-owner and director <a href="https://aiatsis.library.link/portal/A-brief-redress-of-Indigenous-fashion-in/6rejKvEbLx8/">Amanda Hayman</a> (Kalkadoon and Wakka Wakka). She notes how “Aboriginal cultural identity was systematically repressed” from the early 1800s to the late 1960s. With this repression, she argues, “cultural expression through dress was significantly impacted”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/Cpo4bUyLsyH","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Now, a new generation of fashion figures such as teacher and designer <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1362704X.2020.1800991">Charlotte Bedford</a> (Wiradjuri), National Gallery of Victoria curator <a href="https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/infs_00067_7">Shanae Hobson</a> (Kaantju) and @ausindigenousfashion founder and curator <a href="https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/infs_00067_7">Yatu Widders Hunt</a> (Dunghutti and Anaiwan) prefer the terms “Indigenous fashion” or “First Nations fashion”.</p>
<h2>Moving forward</h2>
<p>While there is a <a href="https://indigenousx.com.au/appropriate-terminology-for-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-people-its-complicated/">wide range of terminologies</a> and languages used within the First Nations fashion sector, it is time for a bigger discussion about a collective and holistic term. </p>
<p>By embracing a holistic term, First Nations fashion would have a new and inclusive definition. It could acknowledge both traditional and contemporary practices of our First Nations peoples, including the role of artists, and encompass everything from fashion runways to creating garments for galleries, as well as everyday First Nations style.</p>
<p>First Nations fashion is political. If you dig deep into fashion stories you will also hear many tales about racism, exclusion and discrimination, as well as <a href="https://oursonglines.com/blog/knowing-where-to-shop-for-survival-day">survival</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/ng-interactive/2020/nov/19/indigenous-fashion-is-the-future-its-time-for-first-nations-people-to-reclaim-it">healing</a>. </p>
<p>We are moving into a new chapter of <a href="https://www.firstpeoplesvic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/tt-faqs.pdf">truth telling</a> and the sharing of how racism and discrimination have influenced First Nations clothing practices and the fashion industry.</p>
<p>In landing on a collective term we might better represent First Nations peoples’ fashion, art and style stories as well as their community, cultural and design contributions – the business of fashion in Australia itself.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-fashion-week-toronto-designers-are-showcasing-resistance-and-resurgence-151016">Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto designers are showcasing resistance and resurgence</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201782/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Treena Clark has received funding through the University of Technology Sydney Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellowship scheme.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter McNeil has received funding from Centre for Public History, University of Technology Sydney.</span></em></p>
Wiradjuri woman Denni Francisco will be the first Indigenous designer to have a solo show at Australian Fashion Week.
Treena Clark, Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Indigenous Research Fellow, Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney
Peter McNeil, Distinguished Professor of Design History, UTS, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/196535
2022-12-16T11:30:21Z
2022-12-16T11:30:21Z
How pink became fashion’s colour of controversy: a brief history
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501010/original/file-20221214-5067-u73s9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C7%2C928%2C785&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Portrait of Madame Gely by Frederick Carl Frieseke (1907).</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/prousts-pinks">Public Domain Review</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>From the blush pink of royal mistresses to the hot pink of tabloid party girls, pink has gained a reputation for being a provocative colour for those who dare to wear it.</p>
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<iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/how-pink-became-fashions-colour-of-controversy-a-brief-history-196535&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
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<p>Despite its various shades and the complexities of its cultural significance, it is a colour that is often branded with the same connotations of feminine frivolity and excess – whether girlish and innocent or womanly and erotic. </p>
<p>So much so that worshippers at a North London church were ordered to remove pink chairs after an ecclesiastical judge claimed that the choice of colour scheme could <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/church-sees-red-over-bright-pink-chairs-3trg9xpgk">“cause puzzlement”</a>.</p>
<p>This pink panic invites the question: why is pink so controversial? </p>
<p>A brief glimpse at its rather colourful history in the Western world reveals associations that both shape and challenge what pink means.</p>
<h2>Pink’s past</h2>
<p>According to historian <a href="https://thamesandhudson.com/pink-the-history-of-a-punk-pretty-powerful-colour-9780500022269">Valerie Steele</a>, the birth of pink in modern fashion began in the 18th century. By this period, pink had become the colour of choice among courtly elites of the Western world, including royalty and aristocrats.</p>
<p>Developments in dye making and the French court’s penchant for cutting-edge garments provided the perfect pairing to begin pink’s success as an emerging fashion staple.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most instrumental influence on pink’s power was Madame de Pompadour – the mistress of King Louis XV. She was often portrayed by the painter François Boucher sporting her signature pink gowns and shoes, most notably in his 1759 piece <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2001/sep/08/art">Madame de Pompadour</a>.</p>
<p>In his 1758 painting, <a href="https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/303561">Madame de Pompadour at Her Toilette</a>, she is shown applying rouge from a box of cosmetics – the blushed cheeks implying female sexuality. For Steele, the colour pink in this period becomes attached to both the frivolity of French high fashion and the eroticising of white femininity.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/om_zmH-iJPE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Marilyn Monroe performs in her iconic hot pink dress in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953).</span></figcaption>
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<p>From the 18th century court to the 20th century home, pink gained further traction in the 1950s. As British professor of design history <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/As_Long_as_It_s_Pink.html?id=By0qAAAAYAAJ">Penny Sparke</a> writes: “Linked with the idea of female childhood, [pink] represented the emphasis on distinctive gendering that underpinned 1950s society, ensuring that women were women and men were men.”</p>
<p>Whether <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjvufXu-vb7AhVJi1wKHY_RCrIQFnoECCYQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lofficielusa.com%2Ffashion%2Fhistory-behind-jackie-kennedy-pink-suit-chanel-jfk&usg=AOvVaw2gvTMarBjpgCPRBDcV2AwN">adorning first ladies</a>, Hollywood stars or housewives, pink in this era represented a traditional femininity grounded in fixed gender roles.</p>
<p>Marilyn Monroe’s iconic pink gown in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045810/">Gentleman Prefer Blondes (1953)</a> paired with her <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/stars-9781838718374/">typecast “dumb blonde” film roles</a> and her <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/a-visual-history-of-marilyn-monroe-pin-up-icon_n_56ba8d67e4b0c3c5504f5ee4">pin-up past</a> work together to reinforce the star as a sex symbol to be desired by audiences. As film scholar <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Heavenly-Bodies-Film-Stars-and-Society/Dyer/p/book/9780415310277">Richard Dyer</a> argues, Monroe represented the epitome of sex in conversative 1950s American society.</p>
<p>On the other end of the scale, the first lady of the United States Mamie Eisenhower – wife of president Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961) – cultivated an image of the ideal housewife through her famous “First Lady Pink” looks.</p>
<p>Her stunning <a href="https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/photos/mamie-eisenhowers-inaugural-gown-1953">1953 inaugural outfit</a> was a sparkling pink gown embroidered with more than 2,000 rhinestones. She was well-known for her love of all things pink and transformed the White House with this colourful décor, so much so that the household staff called it a <a href="https://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/eise/Mamie/personal_interests/EISE3765_scale4.html">“Pink Palace”</a>.</p>
<h2>Punk and protest</h2>
<p>Beyond the 1950s, pink moved away from its associations of conformity and took on a new purpose: resistance.</p>
<p>Paul Simonon, bassist for English punk band The Clash, <a href="https://www.economist.com/1843/2018/09/20/in-the-pink-the-fashion-history-of-a-divisive-colour">famously said</a> that “pink is the only true rock and roll colour”. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IxF0OdButkM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Courtney Love’s bright pink outfit at Glastonbury 1999.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We can certainly see this in the way that punk musicians reappropriate the sweet and girlish connotations of pink to create subversive performances.</p>
<p>For her <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/arts/pictures/image/0,8543,-10704677171,00.html">1999 performance at Glastonbury</a>, Hole’s Courtney Love – notorious for her raw and raucous vocals – unexpectedly swapped her rebellious grunge girl look for a pink costume of ballet slippers and fairy wings.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500756/original/file-20221213-18527-576dx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Protesters holding signs and wearing pink knitted beanie hats in the crowd at the Women's March in Washington DC." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500756/original/file-20221213-18527-576dx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500756/original/file-20221213-18527-576dx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500756/original/file-20221213-18527-576dx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500756/original/file-20221213-18527-576dx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500756/original/file-20221213-18527-576dx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500756/original/file-20221213-18527-576dx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500756/original/file-20221213-18527-576dx.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">A sea of pink pussy riot hats at the Washington DC Women’s March in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/washington-dc-usa-january-21-2017-564992341">Heidi Besen</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pink is also the colour of feminist activism. The 2017 women’s march saw protesters taking to streets in pink “pussy hats”. </p>
<p>They were responding to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/08/us/donald-trump-tape-transcript.html">a recording</a> of then president Donald Trump, in which he boasted about <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiO4Z7P-_b7AhVMEsAKHdtLBAgQFnoECAoQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheconversation.com%2Ffrom-chaucer-to-trump-sexist-banter-has-been-defended-as-entertainment-for-600-years-84804&usg=AOvVaw0dCQPpZyNUtNJACNJ7CANh">grabbing women “by the pussy”</a>.</p>
<p>This explicit connection between pink, female genitalia and activism is a feminist statement that emphasises women’s lack of autonomy over their own bodies in a patriarchal society.</p>
<h2>Pink reclaimed</h2>
<p>The connotations of pink are not fixed, but malleable. Whether worn by film stars, musicians or celebrities, the colour takes on new meanings through irony and reclamation.</p>
<p>The 2001 film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250494/">Legally Blonde</a> subverts the gendered <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Neo-Feminist-Cinema-Girly-Films-Chick-Flicks-and-Consumer-Culture/Radner/p/book/9780415877749">“dumb blonde” stereotypes</a> associated with wearing pink by following the successes of a sorority girl who goes to law school.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-aRvaYfxXQI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Madonna’s Material Girl video (1984).</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When Madonna donned her pink Material Girl look, she positioned herself as <a href="https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-performance-identities-of-lady-gaga/">the new Marilyn Monroe</a>: a blonde bombshell for the era of Second Wave Feminism. She reworked Monroe’s tragic stardom into a narrative about female empowerment and survival.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500760/original/file-20221213-18128-g5huck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Reese Witherspoon wears a hot pink dress with spaghetti straps and a frilled fishtail shape on the pink carpet" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500760/original/file-20221213-18128-g5huck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500760/original/file-20221213-18128-g5huck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500760/original/file-20221213-18128-g5huck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500760/original/file-20221213-18128-g5huck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=915&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500760/original/file-20221213-18128-g5huck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500760/original/file-20221213-18128-g5huck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500760/original/file-20221213-18128-g5huck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1149&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Actress Reese Witherspoon walks the pink carpet at the Los Angeles premiere of Legally Blonde (2001).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/actress-reese-witherspoon-world-premiere-los-98746256">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On TikTok, the <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2020/12/10217066/tiktok-bimbo-gen-z-trend">#Bimbo trend</a> involves feminine-presenting content creators finding inspiration in the once derogatory “bimbo” label. Their videos <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/23/the-bimbo-is-back-and-as-a-feminist-i-couldnt-be-more-delighted">reclaim the label</a> as a playful aesthetic and a new feminist lifestyle.</p>
<p>Despite its longstanding associations with feminine frivolity and excess, pink consistently proves itself to be a transgressive colour. It moves with the times and does not shy away from parodying its own past.</p>
<p>If Paris Hilton’s <a href="https://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/article/paris-hilton-versace-show">surprise runway appearance</a> earlier this year in sparkling pink Versace bridal wear tells us anything, it’s that pink should never be underestimated. It still has the power to shock, fascinate and make a statement.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196535/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Harriet Fletcher 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>
From Madame de Pompadour to punks and pussy protest hats, pink has always been the colour of choice for those who dare to make a statement.
Harriet Fletcher, Lecturer in Media and Communication, Anglia Ruskin University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/194731
2022-12-12T04:25:21Z
2022-12-12T04:25:21Z
‘I want people to be afraid of the women I dress’: the celebrated – and often controversial – designs of Alexander McQueen
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500289/original/file-20221212-81291-f6pez3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C700%2C3409%2C1094&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Installation view of T he Widows of Culloden collection, autumn winter 2006 - 07 in Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse on display at NGV International from 11 December 2022 - 16 April 2023. Headpieces by Michael Schmidt </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Sean Fennessy</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse was first conceived at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. </p>
<p>That museum, like many around the world, is being <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2022-10-13/lacma-funding-news-update-construction">completely redeveloped</a> to embrace not just spectacular new buildings, but new attitudes towards museum collections. </p>
<p>Gone are the boundaries between materials, forms, cultures, nationalities and hierarchies of the arts. No more gallery of, say, “18th century North American silver” or “Medieval and Renaissance art in the European North”. Instead, arts from varied times, places and hierarchies all sit together. </p>
<p>An exhibition of the work of Alexander McQueen (1968-2010) was an interesting response to this challenge of a new museum, which also highlighted the relatively late arrival of fashion as a category worthy of study in the global museum. </p>
<p>It paired garments by McQueen – many specially donated by one woman collector – with the rich Los Angeles County Museum of Art collections in order to suggest the ways in which McQueen had generated his ideas. </p>
<p>Now the exhibition has come to the National Gallery of Victoria, with most of the McQueens on display here donated by Melbourne fashion philanthropist Krystyna Campbell Pretty. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-gothic-vision-at-the-heart-of-alexander-mcqueens-savage-beauty-38544">The gothic vision at the heart of Alexander McQueen's savage beauty</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Flourishing postmodernism</h2>
<p>This new show is extensive. We have 120 McQueen looks and 80 other works of art. Paintings and decorative arts star in this show, notably the spectacular Jean-Baptiste Greuze painting of a young French actress in Turkish-style dress, on loan from Los Angeles. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500332/original/file-20221212-90146-2532t0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500332/original/file-20221212-90146-2532t0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500332/original/file-20221212-90146-2532t0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500332/original/file-20221212-90146-2532t0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500332/original/file-20221212-90146-2532t0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500332/original/file-20221212-90146-2532t0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1002&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500332/original/file-20221212-90146-2532t0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1002&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500332/original/file-20221212-90146-2532t0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1002&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jean-Baptiste Greuze (France, Tournus, 1725-1805) France, circa 1790 Paintings Oil on canvas 46 x 35 ¾ in. (116.8 x 90.8 cm) Frame: 58 ½ × 45 in. (148.59 × 114.3 cm) Gift of Hearst Magazines (47.29.6)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Museum Associates/LACMA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The visual pairings, which range from 18th century English porcelain figures to lavish Russian gold-woven cloths, drive much of the tempo. </p>
<p>Important loans from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art are joined by treasures from the NGV, including a spectacular Morris embroidered wall cloth and the Netherlandish flower paintings that contain within them the idea of <em>memento mori</em> – remember that you die.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500283/original/file-20221212-81291-9ad3nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500283/original/file-20221212-81291-9ad3nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500283/original/file-20221212-81291-9ad3nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1214&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500283/original/file-20221212-81291-9ad3nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1214&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500283/original/file-20221212-81291-9ad3nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1214&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500283/original/file-20221212-81291-9ad3nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500283/original/file-20221212-81291-9ad3nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500283/original/file-20221212-81291-9ad3nx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Morris & Co., London (retailer) Henry Holiday (designer) Catherine Holiday (embroiderer) Hanging 1887 linen, silk (thread) 190.0 × 98.5 cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Purchased, 1976</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lee Alexander McQueen was born in 1968, so he was young in the 1980s, absorbing all the flashes of art, design and culture in which postmodernism flourished. </p>
<p>Working-class, McQueen did not first go to art school as his middle-class counterparts might. Instead, he apprenticed in Savile Row, the epicentre of bespoke British tailoring, mastering the cut of jackets and trousers.</p>
<p>He became so technically proficient that when he applied to tutor technique at art school he was invited to enrol in a Masters. </p>
<p>And so the celebrated – and often controversial – McQueen high fashion design was born. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500284/original/file-20221212-95119-krmmcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500284/original/file-20221212-95119-krmmcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500284/original/file-20221212-95119-krmmcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500284/original/file-20221212-95119-krmmcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500284/original/file-20221212-95119-krmmcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500284/original/file-20221212-95119-krmmcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500284/original/file-20221212-95119-krmmcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500284/original/file-20221212-95119-krmmcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view of Look 30, coat from the Dante collection, autumn-winter 1996-97 on display in Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse at NGV International from 11 December 2022 - 16 April 2023. Headpiece: Michael Schmidt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Tom Ross</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An immersive experience</h2>
<p>As well as new ways of dressing for women, McQueen gave us new ways of representing fashion: high concept runways, fashion films, live screenings and putting Paralympian Aimee Mullins on the runway, generating new modes of beauty.</p>
<p>At the NGV we have a fully immersive experience and bold scenography. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500285/original/file-20221212-90788-hv1x1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500285/original/file-20221212-90788-hv1x1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500285/original/file-20221212-90788-hv1x1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500285/original/file-20221212-90788-hv1x1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500285/original/file-20221212-90788-hv1x1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500285/original/file-20221212-90788-hv1x1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500285/original/file-20221212-90788-hv1x1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500285/original/file-20221212-90788-hv1x1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view of Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse on display at NGV International from 11 December 2022 - 16 April 2023. Headpieces and shoes by Michael Schmidt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Sean Fennessy</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“Mythos” examines three collections through the filter of mythology and theology. McQueen loved to make the present strange by incorporating elements from religious practice, even prejudice, from the past. </p>
<p>Everything from angels to demons, from witch burning to Catholic rites might be incorporated for design, fabrication or the runway. </p>
<p>These go past simply being artistic source material to generate new ways of looking and appearing for women. “I want people to be afraid of the women I dress,” he said.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500286/original/file-20221212-94530-9vw3eu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500286/original/file-20221212-94530-9vw3eu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500286/original/file-20221212-94530-9vw3eu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500286/original/file-20221212-94530-9vw3eu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500286/original/file-20221212-94530-9vw3eu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500286/original/file-20221212-94530-9vw3eu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500286/original/file-20221212-94530-9vw3eu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500286/original/file-20221212-94530-9vw3eu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alexander McQueen Look 37, Eshu collection, autumn–winter 2000–01 © Alexander McQueen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Giovanni Giannoni, Vogue, © Condé Nast Model: Alek Wek</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This exhibition celebrates McQueen’s technical bravura across both tailoring and soft dressmaking, two categories of making clothes that were often conducted separate from the other in the west. </p>
<p>Intimate backstage photographs are shown, indicating how the clothes were really worn by models and friends. Here the “muse” is no longer a house model or elegant confidant, but rather a whole set of cultural reflections.</p>
<p>The third and final section is called “Fashion Narratives”. Here we see a visual imagination ranging across Siberia, Tibet and other exotic locales. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500288/original/file-20221212-91737-3510zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500288/original/file-20221212-91737-3510zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500288/original/file-20221212-91737-3510zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500288/original/file-20221212-91737-3510zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500288/original/file-20221212-91737-3510zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500288/original/file-20221212-91737-3510zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500288/original/file-20221212-91737-3510zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500288/original/file-20221212-91737-3510zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation view of Scanners autumn-winter 2002-2003 in Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse on display at NGV International from 11 December 2022 - 16 April 2023. Headpiece by Michael Schmidt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Sean Fennessy</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>McQueen might, in this section, be accused of cultural appropriation, but this would be unfair. </p>
<p>Rather than appropriation, his fashion designs were about fantasy, and fantasy put to good ends, making things from gender to place to sexuality off centre or strange, so we are aware of the fragile accord we have between our identities and our appearances. </p>
<p>As Catherine Brickhill, the first designer employed by McQueen to work on his label notes in the catalogue, McQueen: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>delved deep into the differences between our culture and other cultures. It wasn’t cultural appropriation, but an openness to and curiosity to be explored and celebrated.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Other narratives in this section include the most controversial ones that swirled around McQueen, notably <a href="https://blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermcqueen/tag/highland-rape/">Highland Rape collection</a>, in which McQueen suggested the appearance of Scottish widows during the Highland Wars in ripped and tattered clothes. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500278/original/file-20221212-90420-k8glwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Woman in a ripped blue dress" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500278/original/file-20221212-90420-k8glwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500278/original/file-20221212-90420-k8glwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500278/original/file-20221212-90420-k8glwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500278/original/file-20221212-90420-k8glwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500278/original/file-20221212-90420-k8glwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500278/original/file-20221212-90420-k8glwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500278/original/file-20221212-90420-k8glwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alexander McQueen Slashed dress, Highland Rape collection, autumn-winter 1995-96 © Alexander McQueen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Vogue, © Condé Nast</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It would be as silly to accuse McQueen of misogyny here as it would to claim Elsa Schiaparelli hated women for dressing them in <a href="https://spikeartmagazine.com/?q=articles/tears-dress-elsa-schiaparelli-and-salvador-dali">ripped dresses</a> suggestive of assault or accident in the 1930s. </p>
<p>Instead, McQueen gives us clothes not just as theatre but as “choreographed deception”, in which male and female elements come together to cancel the other out.</p>
<h2>Beyond good</h2>
<p>In an era of increasing specialisation, vocational training and narrow fields of research and investigation, this exhibit shows us how a great designer goes beyond good.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500292/original/file-20221212-92053-9f9cod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500292/original/file-20221212-92053-9f9cod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500292/original/file-20221212-92053-9f9cod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=789&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500292/original/file-20221212-92053-9f9cod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=789&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500292/original/file-20221212-92053-9f9cod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=789&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500292/original/file-20221212-92053-9f9cod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=992&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500292/original/file-20221212-92053-9f9cod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=992&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500292/original/file-20221212-92053-9f9cod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=992&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alexander McQueen backstage at Pantheon as Lecum collection, autumn–winter 2004–05 show.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy the photographer Photo © Robert Fairer</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It shows us how his vision extended well beyond clothes to how they were imagined, and how women might imagine themselves, at all times.</p>
<p>When you wear trousers with a very low rear; slip on a <a href="https://textilefocus.com/overview-digital-textile-printing-technology/">digitally printed</a> fabric or which has allusions to nature – crystals, leaves, water; wear an asymmetrical outfit with slightly extended shoulders; don impossible shoes to your New Year’s party; or put on an eyeshadow that makes you look like a hummingbird: McQueen was there first. </p>
<p><em>Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse is at NGV International, Melbourne, until April 16 2023.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/clothes-women-wanted-to-wear-a-new-exhibition-explores-how-carla-zampatti-saw-her-designs-as-a-tracker-of-feminism-194040">Clothes women wanted to wear: a new exhibition explores how Carla Zampatti saw her designs as a tracker of feminism</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194731/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter McNeil will lead a tour for Academy Travel to view the McQueen exhibition in February 2023.</span></em></p>
Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse at the National Gallery of Victoria is an important fashion exhibition that makes us consider how all the visual arts are inter-related.
Peter McNeil, Distinguished Professor of Design History, UTS, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/194040
2022-11-24T02:19:23Z
2022-11-24T02:19:23Z
Clothes women wanted to wear: a new exhibition explores how Carla Zampatti saw her designs as a tracker of feminism
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497117/original/file-20221123-12-cyanfy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C21%2C4662%2C5531&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Carla Zampatti middriff top and pants, 1971</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph: Warwick Lawson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The late Carla Zampatti is celebrated in a splendid retrospective Zampatti Powerhouse at the Powerhouse Museum. Planned well before the fashion designer’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-carla-zampatti-pioneered-wearable-yet-cosmopolitan-clothes-for-women-and-became-a-fashion-icon-158377">untimely death</a> last year, the unveiling of her legacy will be bittersweet to her many fans. </p>
<p>Zampatti is often referred to as “Carla” by friends and those who worked for her, rather than her brand name, Carla Zampatti. Here, the simple name “Zampatti” removes the emphasis from Zampatti as designer to a simpler assertion: businesswoman, mother, philanthropist-entrepreneur. </p>
<p>It is a move as deft and elegant as the rest of the exhibition choices. </p>
<p>In one of the best-looking fashion exhibition designs Australia has seen, creative director Tony Assness serves up a dynamic vision of clothes punctuated by a vibrant red (one of Zampatti’s favourite design choices) that encourages excitement and discovery. Clothes are arranged by themes – jumpsuit, jungle, graphic, blouson, power – rather than date.</p>
<p>Curator Roger Leong leverages his years of experience to do a relatively new thing for Australian museums: tell the stories of clothes through the stories of women who wore them. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497118/original/file-20221123-16-qb8vpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497118/original/file-20221123-16-qb8vpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497118/original/file-20221123-16-qb8vpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497118/original/file-20221123-16-qb8vpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497118/original/file-20221123-16-qb8vpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497118/original/file-20221123-16-qb8vpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497118/original/file-20221123-16-qb8vpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497118/original/file-20221123-16-qb8vpl.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">‘Animal’ group with close-up of beaded ‘Carla’ cape, 2016 . Zampatti Powerhouse exhibition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph by Zan Wimberley.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A migrant story</h2>
<p>Zampatti’s story is an Australian migrant story. Born Maria Zampatti in Italy in 1938 (not 1942, as is often believed), she did not meet her father, who had migrated to Fremantle, until she was 11. </p>
<p>In Australia, she was forced to change her name to Mary. It was claimed the other kids could not pronounce Maria. She did not finish school. When she moved to Sydney in her late 20s, she reinvented herself as Carla.</p>
<p>The fashion business started on a kitchen table in 1965 under the label ZamPAtti. By 1970, Carla had bought out her business partner husband, and was sole owner of Carla Zampatti Pty Ltd. </p>
<p>Zampatti flourished in fashion. She had a finger on the pulse, was in the right place at the right time, and knew a more glamorous role was possible for a fashion designer than the industry “rag trader”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497122/original/file-20221123-18-za3scv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497122/original/file-20221123-18-za3scv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497122/original/file-20221123-18-za3scv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497122/original/file-20221123-18-za3scv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497122/original/file-20221123-18-za3scv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497122/original/file-20221123-18-za3scv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497122/original/file-20221123-18-za3scv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497122/original/file-20221123-18-za3scv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Zampatti Powerhouse exhibition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph by Zan Wimberley.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the 1970s, the markets suggested that the ultra-expensive haute couture was about to disappear, to be replaced by informal ranges created by a new type of designer often called a “stylist”. It was the decade of flower power, retro dressing and ethnic borrowings.</p>
<p>Until the 1960s, fashion had been dominated by the rise of haute couture and the “dictator-designer” system – mainly men who determined hem lengths and silhouettes for women. But in 1973, the French body governing high fashion added a new layer of designers, <em>créateurs</em> (literally “creators” or designers), who produced only ready-to-wear. </p>
<p>In 1972 Zampatti opened her first Sydney boutique, inspired by informal shops she had seen in St Tropez. Zampatti offered women bright jumpsuits, art deco looks and peasant-inspired ease.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497120/original/file-20221123-20-tlu6b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497120/original/file-20221123-20-tlu6b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497120/original/file-20221123-20-tlu6b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1479&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497120/original/file-20221123-20-tlu6b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497120/original/file-20221123-20-tlu6b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1479&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497120/original/file-20221123-20-tlu6b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1859&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497120/original/file-20221123-20-tlu6b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1859&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497120/original/file-20221123-20-tlu6b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1859&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Model promoting the Carla Zampatti Ford Laser and Ford Meteor, 1987.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo courtesy of the Carla Zampatti archives</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>She aimed to provide women clothes they wanted to wear. She draped the cloth and colours on herself. Like many women designers historically, she was alert to how her clothes made women customers look and feel. Zampatti remained the fit model for the whole range and would not produce anything in which she did not look and feel well. </p>
<p>Zampatti saw her “clothes as a tracker of feminism”.</p>
<p>The 1980s cemented Zampatti’s rise to prominence. She became a household name, even designing a car for women. In this time, personal expression became more important than unified looks dictated by designers. Zampatti’s Australian designing coincided with a new development in Italy: the <em>stylisti</em>. Small, focused family businesses alert to the zeitgeist and understanding quality flourished. It was an approach that emphasised quality and glamour. </p>
<p>Zampatti identified talent. She employed well-known couturier Beril Jents on the shop floor after she had fallen on hard times. She then employed Jents to improve the cut of her designs. </p>
<p>Zampatti continued to embrace the services of stylists and other designers including Romance was Born, whom she recognised could take her work to the next level.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497119/original/file-20221123-22-aztdn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497119/original/file-20221123-22-aztdn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497119/original/file-20221123-22-aztdn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497119/original/file-20221123-22-aztdn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497119/original/file-20221123-22-aztdn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497119/original/file-20221123-22-aztdn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497119/original/file-20221123-22-aztdn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497119/original/file-20221123-22-aztdn6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Carla Zampatti preparing models for Spring - Summer 2010 show.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo courtesy of Prudence Upton</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The stories of clothes</h2>
<p>Worn equally by politicians and their circles on the right and the left, Zampatti injected more than power dressing into women’s wardrobes. She inspired a sense that women wore the clothes, not the clothes them. </p>
<p>In this exhibition we are given many examples, from Linda Burney’s red pantsuit worn for her parliamentary portrait to a gown worn by Jennifer Morrison to the White House. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497121/original/file-20221123-12-l6zimu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497121/original/file-20221123-12-l6zimu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497121/original/file-20221123-12-l6zimu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497121/original/file-20221123-12-l6zimu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497121/original/file-20221123-12-l6zimu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497121/original/file-20221123-12-l6zimu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497121/original/file-20221123-12-l6zimu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497121/original/file-20221123-12-l6zimu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Zampatti Powerhouse exhibition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph by Zan Wimberley.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The exhibition viewer can turn from serried ranks of brilliantly styled mannequins and enter large “listening pods”, screening brilliantly edited videos in the manner of artist Bill Viola. The women, who include Dame Quentin Bryce and Ita Buttrose, discuss the creative mind of Zampatti or reflect on their own Zampatti wardrobe. They are amongst the best such “talking heads” I have seen in a museum.</p>
<p>Like many designers, Zampatti was not that interested in her own past. She did not keep substantial archives and records, which is a testament to the skills demonstrated by the museum in bringing us this show. </p>
<p>Zampatti never turned her back on her personal story, but she was a futurist, one who looked forward rather than backward. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-carla-zampatti-pioneered-wearable-yet-cosmopolitan-clothes-for-women-and-became-a-fashion-icon-158377">How Carla Zampatti pioneered wearable yet cosmopolitan clothes for women, and became a fashion icon</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Zampatti Powerhouse is Powerhouse Ultimo, Sydney, until June 11 2023.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194040/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter McNeil works for UTS where Carla Zampatti supports international fashion student scholarships. </span></em></p>
Zampatti Powerhouse at the Powerhouse Museum is one of the best-looking fashion exhibition designs Australia has seen.
Peter McNeil, Distinguished Professor of Design History, UTS, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/175027
2022-09-25T10:00:38Z
2022-09-25T10:00:38Z
How whiteness was invented and fashioned in Britain’s colonial age of expansion
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484124/original/file-20220912-1734-aydvhw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C9%2C5709%2C3701&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Remnants of polychrome colouring were scrubbed from recovered ancient Greek sculptures and artists created new all-white marble sculptures seen as continuous with an imagined past. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fashion <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Force-of-Fashion-in-Politics-and-Society-Global-Perspectives-from-Early/Lemire/p/book/9781138274228">is political — today as in the past</a>. As Britain’s Empire dramatically expanded, people of all ranks lived with clothing and everyday objects in startlingly different ways than generations before. </p>
<p>The years between 1660 and 1820 saw the expansion of the British empire and commercial capitalism. The <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/cotton-9781845202996">social politics of Britain’s cotton trade</a> mirrored profound global transformations bound up with technological and industrial revolutions, social modernization, colonialism and slavery. </p>
<p>As history educators and researchers Abdul Mohamud and Robin Whitburn note, the British “<a href="https://www.bl.uk/restoration-18th-century-literature/articles/britains-involvement-with-new-world-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade">monarchy started the large-scale involvement of the English in the slave trade</a>” after 1660.</p>
<p>Vast <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-British-Cotton-Trade-1660-1815-Vol-2/Lemire/p/book/9781138757943">profits poured in from areas of plantation slavery</a>, particularly from the Caribbean. The mass enslavement of Africans was at the heart of this brutal system, with laws and policing enforcing Black subjugation <a href="https://schoolshistory.org.uk/topics/british-empire/economic-consequences-of-empire/slave-resistance/">in the face of repeated resistance from enslaved</a> people.</p>
<p>Western fashion reflected the racialized politics that infused this period. Indian cottons and European linens <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/global-trade-and-the-transformation-of-consumer-cultures/A7517EB8FB5003114662BA428501AB79">were now traded in ever-rising volumes</a>, feeding the vogue for lighter and potentially whiter textiles, ever more in demand. </p>
<p>My scholarship explores dimensions of whiteness through material histories — how whiteness was fashioned in labour structures, routines, esthetics and everyday practices.</p>
<h2>Whiteness on many scales</h2>
<p>Enslaved men and women were never given white clothes, unless as part of livery (servants’ uniforms, which were sometimes very luxurious). Wearing white textiles became a marker of status in urban centres, in colonizing nations and in colonies. Textile whiteness was a transient state demanding constant renewal, shaping ecologies of style. The resulting Black/white dichotomy hardened as profits from enslavement soared, with a striking impact on culture. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Women seen doing washing over tubs in the street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484349/original/file-20220913-5073-27h28p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484349/original/file-20220913-5073-27h28p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484349/original/file-20220913-5073-27h28p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484349/original/file-20220913-5073-27h28p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484349/original/file-20220913-5073-27h28p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484349/original/file-20220913-5073-27h28p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484349/original/file-20220913-5073-27h28p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Scenes of women washing were a staple of European artists. A bleaching wash, using ash-based lye, was routine as washerwomen strained to achieve whiteness. Undated picture by British artist Julius Caesar Ibbetson (1759-1817).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Yale Center for British Art/Paul Mellon Collection)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Whiteness in clothing, decor and fashion was amplified, becoming a marker of status. Elaborate washing techniques were used to achieve material goals. </p>
<p>British sociologist Vron Ware emphasizes “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822381044-009">the importance of thinking about whiteness on many different scales</a>,” including “as an interconnected global system, having different inflections and implications depending on where and when it has been produced.” Accordingly, fabrics, laundry and fashion were entangled in imperial aims. </p>
<h2>Pristine whiteness in garments</h2>
<p>Laundering was codified in household manuals from the late 1660s, a chore overseen by housewives and housekeepers. Women with fewer options sweated over washtubs, engaged in ubiquitous labour with the aim of pristine whiteness. </p>
<p>In colonial and plantation regions, where lightweight fabrics were key, Black enslaved women were tasked with this never-ending drudgery. Only a few profited personally from their fashioning skills.</p>
<p>This workforce was vast. Yet few museums have invited visitors to consider the processes of soaking, bleaching, washing, blueing, starching and ironing required by historic garments. </p>
<p>A recent exhibit at <a href="https://agnes.queensu.ca/connect/about-agnes/#about-agnes">Agnes Etherington Art Centre</a> at Queen’s University <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bDY3oy0tbA">curated by Jason Cyrus, a researcher who analyzes fashion and textile history</a>, examined <a href="https://agnes.queensu.ca/digital-agnes/video/black-bodies-white-gold-unpacking-slavery-and-north-american-cotton-production">slavery and North American cotton production</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5hh3nHzTy2M?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Black Bodies, White Gold: Unpacking slavery and North American cotton production,’ video from Agnes Etherington Art Centre about Black life at the core of the Victorian cotton industry.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Laundry labour of enslaved women</h2>
<p>The skilled labour of enslaved women was a core component of every plantation and an essential colonial urban trade, given the resident population and many thousands of seafarers and sojourners arriving annually in the Caribbean — all wanting clothes refreshed. </p>
<p>Ports throughout the Atlantic were stocked with wash tubs and women labouring over them. Orderly material whiteness was the aim. Mary Prince recorded her thoughts about a demanding mistress in Antigua, who gave the enslaved Prince weekly “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469633299_prince">two bundles of clothes, as much as a boy could help me lift; but I could give no satisfaction</a>.”</p>
<p>Prince only earned money laundering for ships’ captains during her “owners’” absence. Within port cities, including the Caribbean and imperial centres, this trade allowed some enslaved women mobility and sometimes self-emancipation. But fashioning whiteness was a fraught process, with many historical threads. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-am-not-your-nice-mammy-how-racist-stereotypes-still-impact-women-111028">I am not your nice 'Mammy': How racist stereotypes still impact women</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Colour scrubbed from recovered statues</h2>
<p>From the 1750s, European fashion and artistic style was increasingly inspired by perceptions of the classical past. Countless portraits were painted of wealthy people as Greek gods, the classical past becoming, as cultural theorist Stuart Hall observed, a “myth reservoir.” These became sources <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478021223-023">for imagining Europe’s origins</a> and destiny.</p>
<p>European scholars and the educated public viewed this cultural lineage as white. <a href="https://www.rom.on.ca/en/exhibitions-galleries/exhibitions/kore-670">Remnants of polychrome colouring was scrubbed</a> from recovered <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/see-the-vibrant-long-overlooked-colors-of-classical-sculptures-180980321/">Greek sculptures</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4jmMWohs1XM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Vox’ video about the white lie we’ve been told about Roman statues.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This supposed heritage of a white classical past defined <a href="https://mymodernmet.com/what-is-neoclassicism/">what became known as neoclassical</a> styles further expanding the craze for light, white gowns, a political fashion needing endless care. </p>
<p>In this era, “the term classical was not neutral,” as art historian Charmaine Nelson explains, “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42631206">but a racialized term</a> …” Nelson states that the category “classical” also defined the marginalization of Blackness as its antithesis.</p>
<p>Today, some scholars are wrestling <a href="https://www.famsf.org/about/publications/gods-color-polychromy-ancient-world">with the legacy of racism built into classical studies</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/handels-messiah-today-how-classical-music-is-contending-with-its-colonial-past-and-present-173218">Handel's 'Messiah' today: How classical music is contending with its colonial past and present</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Racialized masquerade</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484122/original/file-20220912-14-xqn9g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman seen draped in white garments against a dramatic dark background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484122/original/file-20220912-14-xqn9g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484122/original/file-20220912-14-xqn9g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=978&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484122/original/file-20220912-14-xqn9g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=978&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484122/original/file-20220912-14-xqn9g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=978&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484122/original/file-20220912-14-xqn9g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1229&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484122/original/file-20220912-14-xqn9g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1229&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484122/original/file-20220912-14-xqn9g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1229&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">European scholars and the educated public viewed the ancient Greek and Roman past through their contemporary imperial politics, which included embedded racism. Portrait of Elizabeth, Viscountess Bulkeley, as the Greek goddess, Hebe, by George Romney, 1775.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Neoclassical gowns reflected this zeitgeist, as ladies disported themselves as Greek goddesses. Ladies’ magazines urged readers to play-act as deities. Simple socializing en vogue would not suffice. Fashion required a wider stage. </p>
<p>Masquerade balls became the venue where whiteness and empire aligned, as goddesses robed in white mingled with guests in blackface or regalia appropriated from colonized peoples. </p>
<p>Masquerades became staple occasions, revels led by royals, nobles and those enriched through trade and slave labour. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-problem-with-blackface-97987">The problem with blackface</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Race hierarchies enforced</h2>
<p>Seemingly banal routines (and stylish affairs) reveal cultural facets of empire where race hierarchies were reinforced. In this era, everyday dress and celebratory fashions demanded relentless attention. </p>
<p>These routines were enmeshed with empire and race, whether in the colonial Caribbean or a London grand masquerade. </p>
<p>The proliferation of white linens and cottons were purposefully employed to enforce hierarchies. The rise of white clothing and neoclassical style can be better understood by addressing mass enslavement as an economic, political and cultural force shaping styles, determining vogues and promoting the fashions of whiteness.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175027/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beverly Lemire receives funding from organization: SSHRC, the University of Alberta, the Killam Foundation - in the form of a Killam Research Fellowship</span></em></p>
Western fashion, laundering and style reflected the racialized politics dramatically shaped by profound global transformations bound up with slavery, colonialism and modernization.
Beverly Lemire, Professor, Department of History, Classics and Religion, University of Alberta
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/188934
2022-08-23T16:11:29Z
2022-08-23T16:11:29Z
How the kimono became a symbol of oppression in some parts of Asia
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480575/original/file-20220823-11-bzckmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C29%2C4917%2C3258&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Now a symbol of Japanese culture, the Kimono has Chinese roots. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-girl-wearing-japanese-kimono-standing-1393043549">supawat bursuk/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A woman in Suzhou, China, was reportedly detained recently for “provoking trouble”. Her alleged crime was being <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/16/chinese-woman-detained-for-wearing-japanese-kimono">spotted outside wearing a kimono</a>. The woman was dressed like a character from a manga (a Japanese comic). Arresting her might seem dramatic but there is more at play here than a simple fashion faux pas.</p>
<p>Clothing is a cultural identifier and, to many, a symbol of national identity and pride. When you think of the kimono you might think of Japan. However, the garment is rarely worn in Japan now, other than at traditional festivals or celebrations. As a result, the kimono industry, which experienced a boom in the 1980s, is currently <a href="https://ww.fashionnetwork.com/news/Japanese-kimono-makers-seek-to-revive-declining-industry,974497.html">experiencing a massive downturn</a>.</p>
<p>The kimono worn today, however, is not an indigenous invention of the Japanese. It can be traced back to the 7th century when <a href="https://www.matterprints.com/journal/community/colonial-history-kimono/">the Imperial Court began to wear garments adapted from Chinese styles</a>.</p>
<p>Despite these Chinese origins, the kimono is a major cultural signifier of Japan globally. And, in many Asian countries, particularly those which were brutally colonised by Japan, the kimono remains a symbol of oppression. </p>
<h2>From folk clothing to works of art</h2>
<p>There is a long history of sartorial similarities between Japan and China.</p>
<p>Chinese explorers in southern parts of ancient Japan around the 3rd century BC <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=qyIO9kJ5fIgC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false">observed people wearing simple tunics, poncho-type garments and a type of pleated trouser and top</a>. These were similar to clothes worn in parts of China at that time. Images of priestess-queens and tribal chiefs in 4th century AD Japan also show figures wearing <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/kimono-inspiration-art-and-art-to-wear-in-america/oclc/33947597">clothing like those worn by the Han dynasty China</a>. </p>
<p>The first ancestor of the kimono appeared in Japan in the Heian period (794-1185). Still often worn with Chinese-style <em>hakama</em> (pleated trousers or long skirts), this garment was made from straight pieces of cloth fastened with a narrow sash at the hips. By the Edo period (1603-1868), everyone wore a unisex garment known as a <em>kosode</em>, made from straight pieces of fabric sewn together like today’s kimono. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three women in historic Japanese dress and makeup." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480576/original/file-20220823-23-2k8g8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480576/original/file-20220823-23-2k8g8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480576/original/file-20220823-23-2k8g8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480576/original/file-20220823-23-2k8g8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480576/original/file-20220823-23-2k8g8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480576/original/file-20220823-23-2k8g8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480576/original/file-20220823-23-2k8g8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Re-enactors wearing kosode.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosode#/media/File:20111023_Jidai_0044.jpg">Rainer Haeßner/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the early 1600s, Japan was unified by the Shogun Tokugawa into a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/shogunate">feudal shogunate (a kind of military dictatorship)</a> with Edo (now Tokyo) as the capital. </p>
<p>Japanese culture developed during this period with almost no outside influence, and the <em>kosode</em>, as a <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/the-surprising-history-of-the-kimono/">precursor to the kimono</a>, came to represent what it meant to be Japanese. </p>
<p>Folk clothing and work clothes were also based on front wrapping (left over right), drop-sleeved tops and fastened with strings or cords following a basic kimono pattern. The role of kimono-making developed, and the value of some kimonos increased to the <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/kimono">level of priceless works of art</a>.</p>
<h2>A symbol of Japanese culture</h2>
<p>After previous eras of a “closed” Japan, the Meiji era (1868-1912) marked a period of rapid modernisation and foreign influence. The kimono, meaning “the thing to wear” had a proper name and officially came into being. </p>
<p>This was despite <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=qyIO9kJ5fIgC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false">a new imperial edict</a> that rejected old dress as “effeminate” and “un-Japanese”. As a result, men, government officials and military personnel were encouraged to wear western clothing, <em>yōfuku</em>, rather than traditional <em>wafuku</em>.</p>
<p>But as Japan was undergoing fundamental change on multiple levels, <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/the-surprising-history-of-the-kimono/">the sight of women wearing kimono was reassuring and a popular symbol of Japaneseness</a>. </p>
<p>Women started wearing more western-style clothes, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Low_City_High_City.html?id=zzv57nFZPSMC&redir_esc=y">specifically underwear for women</a>, after the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923. It was felt that a sense of shame in exposing themselves prevented many women from jumping or being rescued from the upper floors of buildings. The possibility that fewer women would have lost their lives in the disaster had they been wearing <em>yōfuku</em> or at least underwear beneath their kimonos was a catalyst for general westernisation.</p>
<p>Japan’s Showa era began in 1926 when Emperor Hirohito ascended to the throne. This period spanned two world wars and the rise of <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=qyIO9kJ5fIgC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false">strident cultural ultranationalism</a> and has been described as the <a href="https://dajf.org.uk/event/showa-japan-the-post-war-golden-age-and-its-troubled-legacy-2">most momentous, calamitous, successful and glamorous period in Japan’s recent history</a>. </p>
<p>For those with a belief in the idea of Japanese uniqueness (<em>Nihonjin-ron</em>), which became especially popular after the second world war, the kimono (along with other aspects of Japanese culture) was considered superior to the western alternative. While the actual wearing of the garment decreased, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200305-the-japanese-kimono-status-symbol-to-high-fashion">the kimono’s symbolic status in Japan increased</a>.</p>
<p>By the 1930s, Japan was a major colonial power, having transformed from a weak, feudal society into <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521223577.006">a modern, industrial, military power</a> in the 1890s. As such, the nation had launched territorial conquests into neighbouring countries. </p>
<p>So, while people in Japan were “dressing the part” in a bold attempt to look powerful to the west, Japanese occupiers in Taiwan and Korea were actively encouraging local women to wear the kimono in order to display Japan’s superior role and “greater east Asian co-prosperity” in the region. </p>
<p>A study of how the <a href="https://bunka.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=1986&item_no=1&attribute_id=18&file_no=1">kimono was perceived in Taiwan and Korea during the Japanese colonial period from 1895 to 1945</a> showed that the Japanese kimono is clearly linked to Japan’s colonial control and war responsibilities. The weaponisation of such a beautiful and elegant item of clothing has clearly <a href="http://www.reaktionbooks.co.uk/display.asp?ISB=9781780232782">left its mark</a>. </p>
<p>As the woman who was arrested in China recently was reportedly warned:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you would be wearing <em>Hanfu</em> (Chinese traditional clothing), I never would have said this, but you are wearing a kimono, as a Chinese. You are Chinese!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The kimono remains a symbol of Japanese tradition and a reminder of the dangers of nationalism for countries of wartime occupation and atrocities. But <a href="https://theconversation.com/japans-doubling-of-its-defence-budget-will-make-the-world-a-more-dangerous-place-heres-why-182625">as Japan is preparing to double its defence budget</a>, raising questions over its pacifist identity since the post-war period, and China is flexing its muscles in Hong Kong and Taiwan, there should be more for officials to worry about than a woman clad in a kimono.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188934/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ella Tennant 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 Kimono is a distinct cultural symbol of Japan and for that reason, it has a complicated reputation around much of Asia.
Ella Tennant, Lecturer, Language and Culture, Keele University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/188523
2022-08-10T04:53:05Z
2022-08-10T04:53:05Z
Part of the Japanese revolution in fashion, Issey Miyake changed the way we saw, wore and made fashion
<p>Throughout his career, Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake, who has died of cancer at 84, rejected terms like “fashion”. </p>
<p>But his work allowed much of the world to reimagine itself through clothing.</p>
<p>Born in Hiroshima in 1938, Miyake studied graphic design in Tokyo where he was influenced by the Japanese-American sculptor <a href="https://www.noguchi.org/isamu-noguchi/biography/biography/">Isamu Noguchi</a> and the black and white photography of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2015/oct/20/irving-penn-beyond-beauty-in-pictures">Irving Penn</a>. </p>
<p>As soon as the post-war restrictions barring Japanese nationals from travelling abroad were lifted, he headed to Paris, arriving in 1964. </p>
<p>There, the young designer apprenticed for eminent <em>haute couture</em> fashion houses <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Laroche">Guy Laroche</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_de_Givenchy">Hubert de Givenchy</a>. Such houses made expensive clothes that conformed to prevailing standards of etiquette. Miyake was to go well beyond that.</p>
<p>Miyake was there for the Paris <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/05/29/613671633/in-france-the-protests-of-may-1968-reverberate-today-and-still-divide-the-french">student revolt of 1968</a> and was galvanised by the youth quake shaking all rules of society. </p>
<p>The ready-to-wear concept by a couturier had been launched just a few years earlier when Yves Saint Laurent created <a href="https://museeyslparis.com/en/biography/saint-laurent-rive-gauche">Saint Laurent Rive Gauche</a> in late 1966. </p>
<p>The fashion system was changing and Miyake rose to the challenge. </p>
<h2>Japanese fashion revolution</h2>
<p>Miyake arrived in Paris shortly after Kenzo’s “<a href="https://www.drapersonline.com/insight/analysis/kenzo-takadas-colourful-and-inclusive-influence-on-fashion">Jungle Jap</a>” clothes had made waves, with their bright colours and unexpected patterns based partly on Japanese artistic traditions. </p>
<p>The Japanese revolution in fashion was commencing. </p>
<p>Japanese designers including <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/comme-des-garcons-rei-kawakubo-spring-2021-interview">Rei Kawakubo</a> for Comme des Garçons, <a href="https://www.businessoffashion.com/community/people/yohji-yamamoto">Yohji Yamamoto</a> and Issey – all born in the 1930s and 40s – rose to prominence in the 70s and showed in Paris. </p>
<p>All questioned Eurocentric views of fashion and beauty. The Japanese designers reversed the Western focus on symmetry and tidiness and adopted aspects of Japanese aesthetic systems, such as Yamamoto’s use of black with colours such as red, purple, cerise, brown and dark blue.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478438/original/file-20220810-22-yqqo5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Thigh high laced suede boots worn over cotton pants and woven with a quilted look are worn with a full-sleeved lamb wool jacket" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478438/original/file-20220810-22-yqqo5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478438/original/file-20220810-22-yqqo5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478438/original/file-20220810-22-yqqo5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478438/original/file-20220810-22-yqqo5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478438/original/file-20220810-22-yqqo5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1108&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478438/original/file-20220810-22-yqqo5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1108&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478438/original/file-20220810-22-yqqo5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1108&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An early creation by Issey Miyake presented in New York City in 1972.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Miyake held his first show in New York in 1971 and in Paris in 1973. He integrated technology with tradition, exploring Japanese aesthetics and the uncut, untailored garment. He also commissioned high-tech textiles that influenced fashion around the world.</p>
<p>Miyake’s BODY series included the <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/675703">famous bustiers</a> of plastic, rattan and resin in which the female body was re-imagined as a type of armour.</p>
<p>In February 1982 the prominent journal Artforum photographed a Miyake bustier <a href="https://www.artforum.com/print/198202">on its cover</a>. </p>
<p>It was the first time a contemporary art journal had featured fashion. </p>
<h2>Covering the body</h2>
<p>Throughout his career Miyake completely re-imagined the potential of textiles. </p>
<p>Working with his textile director Makiko Minagawa and Japanese textile mills, he began to create the famous Pleats collections: using thermally processed polyester textiles that are not pleated before sewing (the regular practice), but manufactured much larger, and then pleated in machines. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://collection.imamuseum.org/artwork/79227/">Rhythm Pleats</a> collection from 1989 was inspired by the French artist Henri Rousseau: Miyake took elements of the colour palette and the strange sculptural shells surrounding women in these paintings, a good example of how his influences were always abstract and suggestive.</p>
<p>His very commercial collection <a href="https://camarguefashion.com.au/blogs/news/introducing-pleats-please-by-issey-miyake">Pleats Please</a> was launched in 1993. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.isseymiyake.com/en/brands/apocable">A-POC (A Piece of Cloth)</a> collection (in collaboration with Dai Fujiwara, 1998) revolutionised clothing design and prefigured anxieties around the unsustainability of fashion and its attendant waste. Clothes were knitted in three dimensions in a continuous tube using computerised knitting technology as a whole and from a single thread. </p>
<p>The garment came in a cylinder and was later cut out by the wearer – there was no waste, as leftover sections became mittens, for example.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/four-clothing-businesses-that-could-lead-us-away-from-the-horrors-of-fast-fashion-165578">Four clothing businesses that could lead us away from the horrors of fast fashion</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Miyake and men</h2>
<p>Miyake’s <a href="https://collections.lacma.org/node/2238481">pneumatic collection</a> in 1991 included knickerbocker trousers for men with plastic bladders and straws – men could inflate or deflate the clothes to suit. </p>
<p>It was the age of the AIDS crisis and attendant body wasting. Calvin Klein had responded with hyper-masculine underwear and hyper-masculine advertising. Miyake, on the other hand, tested the zeitgeist by suggesting we use clothes to make our bodies and appearances suit our needs.</p>
<p>Having worn his clothes myself for some time, I can testify for the liberation they provide. The jackets are unlined and embrace the body in unexpected ways. Sleeves might be manufactured so they create a pagoda shape on your arm and add dynamism to the body. </p>
<p>The colour palette is extraordinary and so different from a diet of sensible woollens or tweeds. </p>
<p>Computer-generated jacquard weaving creates subtle patterns only truly registered by closer looking. The textiles have an unexpected tactility next to the skin. Some of the garments are provided literally rolled in a ball. They weigh virtually nothing, meaning they liberate the traveller. Once unrolled and put on the body, they spring back to life. </p>
<p>There is a real sense that you, the wearer, animate these lifeless things: dressing is a performance and the clothes generate a reality that is both theatrical and practical. Although widely worn (there is a cliche all gallerists once lived in Miyake) people remain intrigued by them, wanting to touch them for themselves. </p>
<p>At the <a href="https://www.travelifemagazine.com/about-issey-miyake-retrospective-a/">Issey Miyake Retrospective</a> in Tokyo in 2016, I saw Miyake and very much wanted to go over and thank him for transforming the potential of fashion for women and men around the world, its material possibility and imaginative possibility. </p>
<p>I’d very much like to thank him for that now.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-japanese-avant-garde-ceramicists-have-tested-the-limits-of-clay-184470">How Japanese avant-garde ceramicists have tested the limits of clay</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188523/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter McNeil 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>
Issey Miyake’s clothing is both theatrical and practical. The Japanese designer has died aged 84.
Peter McNeil, Distinguished Professor of Design History, UTS, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/188213
2022-08-05T02:56:14Z
2022-08-05T02:56:14Z
‘This is not a barbeque’: a short history of neckties in the Australian parliament and at work
<p>The question of what counts as professional dress for Australia’s politicians loomed large again this week. </p>
<p>New Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather rose to speak in question time. He wore a neat navy suit and a crisp cotton shirt, intending to pose a question about social housing. </p>
<p>But his shirt was unbuttoned at the neck, and a real problem – as Nationals MP Pat Conaghan saw it – was the fact that <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/this-is-not-a-barbeque-nationals-mp-outraged-as-greens-mp-forgoes-tie-in-question-time-20220803-p5b6yy.html">Chandler-Mather wore no tie</a>. </p>
<p>“I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised the Coalition care more about ties than people waiting years for social housing,” Chandler-Mather <a href="https://twitter.com/MChandlerMather/status/1554702910834892800?cxt=HHwWgICjue2DtZMrAAAA">wrote on Twitter</a>.</p>
<p>The member for Griffith’s <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11078831/New-Greens-MP-Max-Chandler-Mather-blasted-not-wearing-tie-Parliament.html">apparent affront</a> to professional dress is the latest in a string of debates around what those leading the country wear. </p>
<p>But what exactly should our politicians wear, does it really matter, and is it time to accept “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/the-tie-is-dead-here-s-how-men-can-still-dress-well-with-a-free-neck-20220803-p5b6uf.html">the tie is dead</a>”?</p>
<h2>Dressed for Australian politics</h2>
<p>Speaker Milton Dick let Max Chandler-Mather’s tie-free ensemble pass. </p>
<p>Although Australia’s male MPs generally wear ties in the chamber, the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/House_of_Representatives/Powers_practice_and_procedure/Practice7">House of Representatives Practice</a> (the definitive guide to procedure and practice) says dress “is a matter for the individual judgement of each Member”. </p>
<p>The opening of the first Commonwealth Parliament in 1901 was a lavish affair. As the <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10549899">Argus reported it</a>, men decked themselves out in their finest formal wear, in “sombre shades” of mourning for Queen Victoria, “softened by splashes of purple here and there”. The scarlet uniforms of governors and officers provided a “touch of brightness”. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477776/original/file-20220805-20-3kvp03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477776/original/file-20220805-20-3kvp03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477776/original/file-20220805-20-3kvp03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477776/original/file-20220805-20-3kvp03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477776/original/file-20220805-20-3kvp03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477776/original/file-20220805-20-3kvp03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=626&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477776/original/file-20220805-20-3kvp03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=626&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477776/original/file-20220805-20-3kvp03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=626&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Opening of the First Parliament of the Commonwealth, Exhibition Building, Melbourne, 9 May 1901.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Museums Victoria</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1977, safari suits – expressly made to be worn without a tie – were ruled as acceptable to wear in the chamber. </p>
<p>And few could forget the <a href="https://collections.history.sa.gov.au/nodes/view/43990">pink shorts</a> famously worn by South Australian Premier Don Dunstan in 1972. Dunstan sparked a media frenzy when he turned up at Adelaide’s Parliament House, the bold bright colouring of his shorts set off with a fitted white t-shirt and long white socks worn to his knees. </p>
<p>Five years earlier, Dunstan’s casual clothing had been photographed for the Bulletin as a “<a href="https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-688146835/view?sectionId=nla.obj-704129891&searchTerm=The+shape+of+men+to+come&partId=nla.obj-688298992#page/n64/mode/1up">summertime example</a>” for employees in government departments, with the article predicting the tie was “slowly but reluctantly on the way out”.</p>
<p>When the Bulletin named Australia’s best- and worst-dressed men in 1976, flamboyant federal politician Al Grassby received the worst-dressed title. Dunstan topped the best-dressed list. </p>
<p>Known for wearing bold, unconventional suits against the grey uniformity of his colleagues, the Bulletin likened Grassby to “<a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1644107589">something out of Guys and Dolls</a>”. Others appreciated <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/al-grassby-father-of-multiculturalism-dies-20050424-ge01a8.html">his irrepressible style</a>: his purple suit, worn while being sworn in to parliament, or his loud <a href="https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/1069845">patterned ties</a>. </p>
<p>From 1983, federal MPs have been encouraged to dress with “<a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/House_of_Representatives/Powers_practice_and_procedure/Practice6/Practice6HTML?file=Chapter5&section=11&fullscreen=1">neatness, cleanliness and decency</a>”, as former Speaker Harry Jenkins put it. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dressed-for-success-as-workers-return-to-the-office-men-might-finally-shed-their-suits-and-ties-153455">Dressed for success – as workers return to the office, men might finally shed their suits and ties</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Loosening the (global) ties</h2>
<p>Last year, Māori MP Rawiri Waititi was ejected from the debating chamber of the New Zealand Parliament for <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-politics-of-the-necktie-colonial-noose-masculine-marker-or-silk-status-symbol-155203">refusing to wear a tie</a>. </p>
<p>Evocatively describing it as a “<a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2020/12/08/colonial-noose-maori-partys-rawiri-waititi-takes-stand-against-parliament-tie-rules/">colonial noose</a>”, Waititi insisted the hei tiki greenstone pendant he wore at his neck represented a necktie for him, while tying him to his people, culture and Māori rights.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477786/original/file-20220805-24-g4guzw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477786/original/file-20220805-24-g4guzw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477786/original/file-20220805-24-g4guzw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477786/original/file-20220805-24-g4guzw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477786/original/file-20220805-24-g4guzw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477786/original/file-20220805-24-g4guzw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477786/original/file-20220805-24-g4guzw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477786/original/file-20220805-24-g4guzw.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">Rawiri Waititi said his pendant connected him to his people, culture and Māori rights.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Ben McKay</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fierce debate followed. Were ties shorthand for masculinity, status or oppression? Ties were subsequently removed from “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-11/nz-politician-wins-battle-against-wearing-tie-in-parliament/13146388">appropriate business attire</a>” in the New Zealand Parliament.</p>
<p>Last week, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez fronted the media without neckwear. He encouraged his ministers and other workers to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62350019">ditch their ties</a> to save energy running air-conditioning in the searing summer heat.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477778/original/file-20220805-7849-r2ke2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477778/original/file-20220805-7849-r2ke2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477778/original/file-20220805-7849-r2ke2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477778/original/file-20220805-7849-r2ke2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477778/original/file-20220805-7849-r2ke2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477778/original/file-20220805-7849-r2ke2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477778/original/file-20220805-7849-r2ke2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477778/original/file-20220805-7849-r2ke2l.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"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is encouraging citizens to go open-collar to beat the heat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/BALLESTEROS</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-politics-of-the-necktie-colonial-noose-masculine-marker-or-silk-status-symbol-155203">The politics of the necktie — 'colonial noose', masculine marker or silk status symbol?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Staying smart with easing dress standards</h2>
<p>“<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/this-is-not-a-barbeque-nationals-mp-outraged-as-greens-mp-forgoes-tie-in-question-time-20220803-p5b6yy.html">This is not a barbeque</a>,” Conaghan insisted to justify his objection this week. </p>
<p>Conaghan’s comment, likely unintentionally, echoed one made in the press 100 years ago. </p>
<p>In 1922, <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/245791814">Fred Wright wrote to the editor</a> of Sydney’s Daily Telegraph. He worried about what constituted smart, professional work attire when some suggested it was time for standards to ease. </p>
<p>Wright outlined the challenges faced by young men who were expected to “look respectable” by their employers, but who knew going without collars and ties was considered unbusinesslike. </p>
<p>“A young man cannot come to work dressed as if he were going to a picnic,” Wright explained.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477788/original/file-20220805-17816-watqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477788/original/file-20220805-17816-watqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477788/original/file-20220805-17816-watqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477788/original/file-20220805-17816-watqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477788/original/file-20220805-17816-watqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477788/original/file-20220805-17816-watqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477788/original/file-20220805-17816-watqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477788/original/file-20220805-17816-watqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A young man should not dress for work as casually as he does for a picnic – like these picnickers in 1928.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">State Library of South Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fewer men donned suits and ties for the office in years to follow, reflecting these shifting standards. This had to do with the Australian climate as much as the availability of new items of dress. Sportswear and separates looked smart, menswear experts assured, although some still held up the suit and tie as the pinnacle of power and professionalism. </p>
<p>Despite Conaghan’s objections, Australian men have been going tie-less while still looking professional for decades. And most politicians are alert to clothing’s rich potential to communicate a range of other messages: through a <a href="https://theconversation.com/politicians-in-high-vis-say-they-love-manufacturing-but-if-we-want-more-australian-made-jobs-heres-what-we-need-182510">high-vis vest</a> and hard hat, or a <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/when-dan-finally-had-good-news-he-had-to-wear-the-right-clothes-20201026-p568qk.html">North Face jacket</a>.</p>
<p>Should we hold our politicians to high sartorial standards – or just let them get on with the job?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/politicians-in-high-vis-say-they-love-manufacturing-but-if-we-want-more-australian-made-jobs-heres-what-we-need-182510">Politicians in high-vis say they love manufacturing. But if we want more Australian-made jobs, here's what we need</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188213/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lorinda Cramer receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>
When Max Chandler-Mather rose to speak in question time, he was criticised for not wearing a tie. But Australian men have been going tie-less for decades.
Lorinda Cramer, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Australian Catholic University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/182000
2022-05-10T11:56:41Z
2022-05-10T11:56:41Z
Rihanna and radical pregnancy fashion – how the Victorians made maternity wear boring
<p>There is a stage in pregnancy where many women have to start thinking about switching out their clothes for maternity wear. Let’s be honest, the choices out there aren’t all too inspiring and women are often expected to give up on their sense of style in favour of comfort. Not singer Rihanna, though, whose refreshing approach to maternity fashion has rocked the world. </p>
<hr>
<iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/rihanna-and-radical-pregnancy-fashion-how-the-victorians-made-maternity-wear-boring-182000&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Since she announced in January 2022 that she was <a href="https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/images-of-the-week-rihanna-pregnancy">expecting her first child</a>, she has shunned the stretchy pants and tent dresses of traditional maternity wear. Instead, she’s used fashion to embrace, display and celebrate her changing body. She has not covered up her bump but showed it off in belly exposing garments and tight form-fitting fashions. </p>
<p>From crop tops and low-rise jeans to removing the lining from a Dior cocktail dress to transform it into a <a href="https://www.wonderwall.com/style/fashion/rihanna-pregnancy-maternity-fashion-style-565486.gallery">belly-celebrating outfit</a> Rihanna has radicalised maternity fashion and how a pregnant body should be viewed.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Quarter life, a series by The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/quarter-life-117947?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">This article is part of Quarter Life</a></strong>, a series about issues affecting those of us in our twenties and thirties. From the challenges of beginning a career and taking care of our mental health, to the excitement of starting a family, adopting a pet or just making friends as an adult. The articles in this series explore the questions and bring answers as we navigate this turbulent period of life.</em></p>
<p><em>You may be interested in:</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/ivf-add-ons-why-you-should-be-cautious-of-these-expensive-procedures-if-youre-trying-to-conceive-180198?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">IVF add-ons: why you should be cautious of these expensive procedures if you’re trying to conceive</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-many-women-with-autism-and-adhd-arent-diagnosed-until-adulthood-and-what-to-do-if-you-think-youre-one-of-them-179970?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">Why many women with autism and ADHD aren’t diagnosed until adulthood – and what to do if you think you’re one of them</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/goblin-mode-a-gothic-expert-explains-the-trends-mythical-origins-and-why-we-should-all-go-vampire-mode-instead-180282?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">Goblin mode: a gothic expert explains the trend’s mythical origins, and why we should all go ‘vampire mode’ instead</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Concealing pregnancy</h2>
<p>From corsets to baggy sweatshirts, women’s waistlines have always been heavily monitored by society, and never more so than during pregnancy. </p>
<p>Often, women’s maternity wear does its best to conceal and accommodate pregnancy. Today, advice for expectant mothers can focus on techniques for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/fashion-blog/2012/jan/17/mother-concealing-bump-pregnancy">disguising pregnancy</a> or how to make the <a href="https://www.stylist.co.uk/fashion/maternity-fashion-sustainable/544639">most of pretty dull options</a>.</p>
<p>Society has framed pregnancy as a liminal time for women – a moment of conversion from sexual appealing womanhood to matronly motherhood. Fashion is central to how young women construct their identities, yet maternity fashions, arguably, lack creativity. With their drab designs that accommodate a growing body rather than celebrate it, maternity wear robs women of quirks, style and individuality, and instead confines them to the role of mother. To be <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4120387/motherhood-sexuality-denial/">a sexy mother</a>, let alone a sexy pregnant woman like Rihanna, challenges this binary status of womanhood.</p>
<p>History’s moral arbiters, the Victorians, are to blame for this conservative anxiety around the status of women’s bodies. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2711179">Victorian moral values</a> confined women to the domestic and framed their value around their piety, purity, submission and domesticity. </p>
<p>These Christian moral standards meant that even <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Maternity_Fashion/inwSAQAAMAAJ">pregnancy fashions were euphemistically named</a>, advertised as “for the young matron” or “for the recently married lady”. In a puritanical culture where sex was framed as something women “endured” in order to become mothers, pregnancy was an uncomfortable reminder of the “sin” necessary to have children. Perceived as so improper, pregnancy <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/44371995?seq=1">wasn’t even directly referenced in medical books</a> offering advice to expectant mothers, instead a bevvy of euphemisms were again employed.</p>
<p>However, for many mothers, the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QRVRXc9oiCAC&">shocking infant mortality rate</a> and the likelihood of miscarriage meant pregnancy was often more feared than celebrated in its earlier stages. This anxiety meant that pregnant women could lose freedom and agency over their bodies once their pregnancy was widely known. Once the pregnancy was visually evident, it could mean that a mother could lose her job, be excluded from social events and confined to her home. So <a href="https://www.mdhistory.org/victorian-image-of-pregnancy-through-corsetry/">concealing pregnancy meant retaining independence</a>. </p>
<p>This 19th-century conservativism still influences expectations around maternity wear today. </p>
<h2>Celebrating the bump</h2>
<p>Rihanna’s radical denouncement of traditional pregnancy fashion puts her bump centre stage. Critics have <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/rihanna-cover-may-2022">framed her choices as indecent</a> and “<a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/celebrities/17936997/pregnant-rihanna-naked-baby-bump-shirtless-shorts-boots/">naked</a>”, with her belly often fully on show, or <a href="https://www.elle.com/uk/fashion/celebrity-style/g38948270/rihanna-pregnancy-style/">peeking out beneath fringing or sheer fabrics</a>.</p>
<p>Rihanna’s choices celebrate the bodily realities of pregnancy. As <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/rihanna-cover-may-2022">she told Vogue</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>My body is doing incredible things right now, and I’m not going to be ashamed of that. This time should feel celebratory. Because why should you be hiding your pregnancy? </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Much like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/shortcuts/2017/may/22/beyonce-instagram-pregnancy-push-party-modern-fertility-goddess">Beyonce during her 2017 pregnancy</a>, both women position themselves as modern-day fertility goddesses, whose bodies should be venerated, not concealed.</p>
<p>But you might be surprised to hear that Rihanna’s bump-centric styles were also popular among the Tudors and Georgians. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Portrait of a heavily pregnant woman in period dress." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462226/original/file-20220510-16-p2fz5k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462226/original/file-20220510-16-p2fz5k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462226/original/file-20220510-16-p2fz5k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462226/original/file-20220510-16-p2fz5k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462226/original/file-20220510-16-p2fz5k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462226/original/file-20220510-16-p2fz5k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462226/original/file-20220510-16-p2fz5k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Woman in Red by Marcus Gheeraerts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.tate-images.com/T03456-Portrait-of-a-Woman-in-Red.html">Tate</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Before the 19th century, <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gheeraerts-portrait-of-an-unknown-lady-t07699">pregnancy was celebrated</a> and put on display in portraiture and through fashions <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/036121196805298045">designed around the pregnant body</a>. From the 1580s through to about 1630, “<a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/P/bo59029877.html">pregnancy portraits</a>” grew increasingly popular and could be seen as a distinct sub-genre of British portraiture. Marcus Gheeraerts’ Woman in Red, painted in 1620, is a wonderful example of this trend. Rather than being hidden away, the impending arrival of an aristocratic heir was <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/exhibition-spotlights-500-years-pregnancy-portraits-180974021/">performed and celebrated on canvas</a> and through fashion.</p>
<p>Perhaps most fabulous was a 1793 fashion to wear a false bump under your dress, known as a <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0808-6292">belly pad</a>. Although the purpose of the belly pad has been disputed, commentators at the time wrote about it as an imitator of pregnancy. </p>
<p>In April 1793, a reporter in <a href="https://www.journal18.org/issue3/vitalist-statues-and-the-belly-pad-of-1793/">The Sun newspaper reported</a> that “standing in a shop of one of my acquaintance, a genteel young lady came in and asked for a Pad. The man asked her what size: She replied, about Six Months.” Women throughout history have celebrated the power of the bump.</p>
<p>There is something rather joyous about Rihanna’s radical pregnancy fashion choices. She shatters the misogynistic and absurd Victorian notions of feminine decency that society holds on to. Rihanna’s pregnancy fashion is not just for the expectant mother. Rihanna’s radical maternity fashion is a feminist act – we can all clothe, display and experience our bodies however we see fit, no matter what they look like. Fashion is a huge part of how we express our identities, and a transition to motherhood should not erase the person we were before. So if you’re expecting, why not step out of the maternity-wear box and embrace something a bit more daring, a bit more you?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182000/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Serena Dyer 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 Victorians are to blame for our conservative ideas about how a pregnant body should look
Serena Dyer, Lecturer in History of Design and Material Culture, De Montfort University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/182332
2022-05-04T03:59:05Z
2022-05-04T03:59:05Z
Kim Kardashian’s Met Gala Marilyn moment shows how good she is at her job: being famous
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461134/original/file-20220504-26-v9wxoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4281%2C2871&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images/Jeff Kravitz</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the course of her Met Gala attendances, Kim Kardashian has worn floral Givenchy (attending for the first time in 2013, pregnant with her first child), silver Balmain, gold Versace and latex “wet look” Thierry Mugler. </p>
<p>Last year, following the separation from her husband Ye (Kanye West) she wore <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/kim-kardashian-clean-slate-balenciaga">head-to-toe</a> black Balenciaga, an ensemble that rendered her a shadow, a silhouette, recognisable only by the familiar shape of her body. </p>
<p>This year, on the arm of new beau Pete Davidson, Kardashian has once again altered her body and reimagined her look. She lost 7kg in a matter of weeks and spent 14 hours bleaching her hair blonde: all to fit into a delicate, beaded Jean Louis dress, originally drawn by a young Bob Mackie and once worn by Marilyn Monroe. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461133/original/file-20220504-25-kn49f4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Marilyn Monroe Singing Happy Birthday to JFK" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461133/original/file-20220504-25-kn49f4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461133/original/file-20220504-25-kn49f4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461133/original/file-20220504-25-kn49f4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461133/original/file-20220504-25-kn49f4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461133/original/file-20220504-25-kn49f4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1031&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461133/original/file-20220504-25-kn49f4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1031&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461133/original/file-20220504-25-kn49f4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1031&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The dress was famously worn by Marilyn Monroe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is not just any vintage gown. This is a piece of American history. Monroe wore the dress in 1962 for the 45th birthday celebrations for President John F. Kennedy, where she famously serenaded him with a sultry rendition of Happy Birthday, Mr President.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/kim-kardashian-should-not-have-worn-marilyn-monroe-dress-at-met-gala-fashion-experts-say">ethics</a> of wearing such a fragile piece of material history are one thing. The logistics required – beyond the crash diet and hair dye – are quite another. </p>
<p>The elaborate nature of this performance attests to Kardashian’s commitment to the event, her dedication to fashion and her desire to attract maximum attention.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-all-need-to-keep-up-with-the-kardashians-50948">Why we all need to keep up with the Kardashians</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Constructing an image</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/kim-kardashian-met-gala-2022">Vogue</a> reports Kardashian wore the dress for only a matter of minutes, just as she walked the red carpet. </p>
<p>She was ushered out of her hotel through barricades against the paparazzi, fitted into the gown by a conservationist from the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum (who purchased the dress at auction in 2016 for a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/nov/18/marilyn-monroe-happy-birthday-mr-president-dress">record US$4.8 million</a>) in a small fitting room outside the museum, escorted up the steps by Davidson and hovering security guards, and then changed into a replica of the dress (also owned by Ripley’s) for the remainder of the party. </p>
<p>The interview in Vogue illustrates her reverence for Monroe, especially in <em>that</em> gown and at <em>that</em> historic event. </p>
<p>Monroe and Kardashian share much in common. They have recognisable bodies; famous for their sex appeal. They are petite women, 168cm and 157cm respectively. Both have been married three times. Kardashian, at 41, is just five years older than Monroe when she died, only three months after serenading the President at Madison Square Garden. </p>
<p>They are also vastly different. Monroe, a silver screen icon; an actor of remarkable talent. Kardashian, a reality TV star and icon of the modern celebrity age; famous for being famous. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/would-marilyn-monroes-career-and-life-have-been-different-if-she-had-acted-on-stage-70117">Would Marilyn Monroe's career (and life) have been different if she had acted on stage?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>By wearing this dress, radically (<a href="https://www.pedestrian.tv/entertainment/kim-kardashian-crash-diet-met-gala/">unhealthily</a>) transforming her body into an approximation of Monroe, Kardashian attempted to reiterate their likeness. </p>
<p>Just as she has morphed herself into a facsimile of <a href="https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/a12150772/kim-kardashian-cher-photoshoot-harpers-bazaar-arabia/">Cher</a> or <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CZw83H-uAXp/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=2781218f-acb4-4760-be97-bb3786ec54cf">Naomi Campbell</a>, or transformed her style under the tutelage of her ex-husband, Ye: Kardashian is nothing if not a fashion chameleon. </p>
<h2>Reshaping the nature of celebrity</h2>
<p>Kardashian is also irrefutably herself. She has constructed her own form of celebrity and has fought fiercely for its legitimacy. Her inclusion on the Met Gala guest list in the first place – initially only as Kanye’s plus-one – was hard won. </p>
<p>So, what does it mean for this peerless contemporary celebrity to appropriate the dress, the aura, the mythology of an historical Hollywood icon? </p>
<p><a href="https://www.newsweek.com/kim-kardashian-marilyn-monroe-met-gala-moment-criticized-twitter-1702848">Some commentary</a> has suggested Kardashian would be lucky to have half the charisma, the magic of Monroe. This may be correct, yet it also somewhat misses the point. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mqsikkkyy_s?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Regardless of your thoughts about Kardashian, it is undeniable she is an astute (albeit frequently <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2022/03/kim-kardashian-clarifies-her-comments-on-women-and-work.html">tone deaf</a>) business woman, who has made a living from her body and her ability to modify it. </p>
<p>For better or worse, she has altered the nature of celebrity and, along with her sisters, has reshaped American <a href="https://www.allure.com/story/the-kardashian-effect">beauty ideals</a>. </p>
<p>Of course, she is also a billionaire: one of the only women in the world with the financial means and cultural capital to acquire the rights to wear such a gown – extracted from its usual home in a temperature-controlled vault.</p>
<p>Other commentary decried the extravagance of the Met Gala itself. These familiar <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2022/may/02/met-gala-theme-gilded-glamor-criticism-inflation">dissenting voices</a> were perhaps louder than ever this year, as the event celebrated the so-called Gilded Age in American history (1870-1900) at a moment when political, economic, environmental and health crises the world over continue to proliferate. </p>
<p>However, that is the joy of fashion. It reminds us that, regardless of our differences, we are all bodies wrapped in garments. So, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/03/first-thing-supreme-court-reportedly-votes-to-overturn-roe-v-wade">women’s rights are brutally peeled back</a> across the United States, I couldn’t help but revel in the extreme extravagance for a moment and savour this elaborate celebration of an iconic American woman. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/us-supreme-court-poised-to-overturn-abortion-law-what-the-leaked-opinion-says-and-what-happens-next-182351">US supreme court poised to overturn abortion law: what the leaked opinion says and what happens next</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182332/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Harriette Richards 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>
Kim Kardashian wore Marilyn Monroe’s dress for five minutes at the Met Gala. That’s showbiz.
Harriette Richards, Research Associate, Cultural Studies, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/175055
2022-02-20T19:14:02Z
2022-02-20T19:14:02Z
Remaking history: in hand-making 400-year-old corset designs, I was able to really understand how they impacted women
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443380/original/file-20220131-21-17q1rms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C8%2C1965%2C1432&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Attributed to Pieter Cornelisz van Rijck, Kitchen interior with the parable of the rich man and the poor Lazarus, c. 1620-20.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rijksmuseum Amsterdam</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In this new series, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/remaking-history-116020">Remaking History</a>, academics take a look at the ways they are recreating historical practices, and how this impacts their research today.</em> </p>
<hr>
<p>Although I have been sewing as a hobby for many years, making and wearing historical clothing was not something I imagined myself doing when I first began researching the history of corsets and hooped skirts. </p>
<p>But many years on – and many corsets later – the experimental process of reconstructing 400-year-old garments has taught me many things about historical making practices, women’s experiences and about not believing everything you read. </p>
<p>In my research, I look at women’s clothing from the 16th and 17th centuries. There are very few sources from this time where women themselves describe what it was like to wear “bodies”, “stays” and “farthingales” – the names given to corsets and hooped skirts at the time.</p>
<p>The philosopher <a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?cc=eebo;c=eebo;idno=a68475.0001.001;node=A68475.0001.001:10.1.40;seq=144;vid=12117;page=root;view=text">Michel de Montaigne</a> portrayed these garments as torture devices women used to become slender, reflecting their inherent vanity. </p>
<p>Other men blamed women for <a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A30109.0001.001/1:3.20?rgn=div2;view=fulltext;q1=Manners+and+customs+--+Early+works+to+1800">deforming</a> their own bodies and that of their children, for causing infertility or miscarriage, and even for hiding sexually transmitted infections. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443383/original/file-20220131-117406-z2djze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443383/original/file-20220131-117406-z2djze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443383/original/file-20220131-117406-z2djze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443383/original/file-20220131-117406-z2djze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443383/original/file-20220131-117406-z2djze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443383/original/file-20220131-117406-z2djze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=671&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443383/original/file-20220131-117406-z2djze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=671&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443383/original/file-20220131-117406-z2djze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=671&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Male writers often criticised women for wearing corsets, as demonstrated here by John Bulwer in Anthropometamorphosis (1653).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wellcome Library London</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet, in the face of these criticisms, corsets and hooped skirts went from being elite garments worn by a few aristocrats in royal courts to common among many different classes of women in Europe. During the 17th and 18th centuries, women led the way in purchasing these garments and in dictating to their tailors what they wanted and why. </p>
<p>Despite the demonstrated popularity of this clothing among women, many myths persist. Without physical or historical proof to interrogate whether these garments were as restrictive or painful as they were made out to be, such myths are hard to overcome. </p>
<p>This is where reconstruction comes in.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/remaking-history-how-recreating-early-daguerreotype-photographs-gave-us-a-window-to-the-past-175913">Remaking history: how recreating early daguerreotype photographs gave us a window to the past</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Reconstructing early corsets</h2>
<p>My work follows other approaches that have <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1179/0590887615Z.00000000076">reconstructed</a> surviving historical clothing. </p>
<p>I focus on making my corsets to the patterns and dimensions of surviving garments.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444230/original/file-20220203-25-rub15m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two hands sewing" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444230/original/file-20220203-25-rub15m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444230/original/file-20220203-25-rub15m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444230/original/file-20220203-25-rub15m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444230/original/file-20220203-25-rub15m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444230/original/file-20220203-25-rub15m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444230/original/file-20220203-25-rub15m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444230/original/file-20220203-25-rub15m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author’s reconstructions were all hand made.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sarah A. Bendall</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>All my corsets (except one) were completely hand sewn using techniques and stitches visible in the originals. </p>
<p>For many of the reconstructions I kept an <a href="https://sarahabendall.com/2016/07/16/dame-filmer-bodies-c-1630-1650-reconstruction-part-one-the-patern-materials/">online diary</a> of the making process, noting both my successes and failures as I attempted to replicate the work of master craftsmen with many more years of experience than myself. </p>
<p>Reconstructions of historical garments can never be exact replicas: it is always an act of interpretation. <a href="https://www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_276748_en.pdf">Informed compromises</a> between modern and historical materials are necessary. </p>
<p>All my reconstructions are made from natural fibre fabrics that were available in the past such as silk and linen, but differences in modern fabric manufacturing make it impossible to precisely replicate historical fabrics. </p>
<p>Historical corsets often got their shape and stiffness from whale baleen. Commercial whaling was <a href="https://iwc.int/commercial">banned in 1986</a> and so I used modern synthetics specifically designed to mimic the properties of baleen. </p>
<p>Despite these challenges, making historical corsets taught me to think like a tailor, to understand why specific materials or techniques were used and to assess the artisanal making knowledge that we have lost. </p>
<h2>Lessons in the wearing</h2>
<p>Once the corsets were made, it was time for them to be worn. I both wore them myself, and observed other women in them.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443387/original/file-20220131-118399-87qyjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman in a corset" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443387/original/file-20220131-118399-87qyjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443387/original/file-20220131-118399-87qyjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443387/original/file-20220131-118399-87qyjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443387/original/file-20220131-118399-87qyjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443387/original/file-20220131-118399-87qyjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1197&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443387/original/file-20220131-118399-87qyjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1197&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443387/original/file-20220131-118399-87qyjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1197&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">By wearing corsets, the author could get a better understanding of how women felt hundreds of years ago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sarah A. Bendall</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I instructed models to sit down, bend over and reach up to test the ways these garments limited or impeded movement. I found corsets spanned a wide spectrum of comfort and restrictiveness depending on the design of the garment: the cut, the length and how much it was boned. </p>
<p>Early modern corsets could be uncomfortable if not fitted to individual measurements or made correctly. This shows the importance of well-tailored garment in times before modern off-the-rack standardised clothing made from stretch fabrics. </p>
<p>Most 17th-century garments are front lacing, giving women control over how they wore the garment at different times of the day. A woman could wear it loose or tight laced. She may also have worn it every day or only for formal occasions. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443390/original/file-20220131-13-ms6xol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman in a corset" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443390/original/file-20220131-13-ms6xol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443390/original/file-20220131-13-ms6xol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443390/original/file-20220131-13-ms6xol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443390/original/file-20220131-13-ms6xol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443390/original/file-20220131-13-ms6xol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443390/original/file-20220131-13-ms6xol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443390/original/file-20220131-13-ms6xol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The most restrictive feature of 17th century corsets were their off-shoulder straps that limit arm movement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sarah A. Bendall</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My experiments also showed the slenderising effects of these early corsets observed by Montaigne were largely due to the optical illusion of their cylindrical shape. My corsets didn’t reduce body measurements by much. I found the most restrictive feature of 17th century corsets to be their off-shoulder straps that limit arm movement, but this is not something unique to corsets.</p>
<p>One of my reconstructions was a maternity corset from the late 17th century. Placing it on a model with a simulated pregnancy bump showed how the design accommodated pregnancy: it supported the breasts and back, while not restricting the abdomen. This is far from the picture painted by sensationalist male moralists that warned of the dangers to pregnancy. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443391/original/file-20220131-15-8juzii.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A pregnant woman in a corset." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443391/original/file-20220131-15-8juzii.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443391/original/file-20220131-15-8juzii.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=933&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443391/original/file-20220131-15-8juzii.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=933&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443391/original/file-20220131-15-8juzii.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=933&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443391/original/file-20220131-15-8juzii.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1172&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443391/original/file-20220131-15-8juzii.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1172&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443391/original/file-20220131-15-8juzii.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1172&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Corsets were even worn by pregnant women.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sarah A. Bendall</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We may never know precisely how a 16th or 17th-century woman felt when she wore a corset, nor exactly recapture her bodily experiences. However, reconstructions can help us to assess how much written sources do or do not reflect the lived experiences of historical women – and go one step further in showing how many myths about early corsets written by men are exaggerations.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/long-before-billie-eilish-women-wore-corsets-for-form-function-and-support-160598">Long before Billie Eilish, women wore corsets for form, function and support</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175055/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Bendall receives funding from the Australian Research Council and Pasold Research Fund. </span></em></p>
While men wrote about women “deforming” their bodies in corsets, there is very little writing from women themselves about what the experience was like.
Sarah Bendall, Research Fellow, Gender and Women's History Research Centre, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/175237
2022-01-19T23:53:52Z
2022-01-19T23:53:52Z
André Leon Talley dreamed of a life ‘in the pages of Vogue, where bad things never happened’
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441628/original/file-20220119-17-7fkrk4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2991%2C1868&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every time we see a “fashion moment”, we use the words of André Leon Talley, from his description of Galliano’s 1994 Japonisme show.</p>
<p>Talley, who died yesterday age 73, was a flamboyant, over-the-top figure from the fashion industry, inclined to snobbery and rather overbearing. He had a longstanding love of French culture and the cross-fertilisation of fashion, art, poetry and life.</p>
<p>Most prominently, he worked at Condé Nast for four decades, where, as creative director and editor-at-large of Vogue, he shaped the way we understand and talk about fashion.</p>
<p>Born in Washington in 1948, Talley was raised by his modest grandmother in segregated North Carolina and graduated high school in 1966. Slight and bookish, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/19/books/review/the-chiffon-trenches-by-andre-leon-talley-an-excerpt.html">he dreamed of</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>living a life like the ones I saw in the pages of Vogue, where bad things never happened. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>A regular church-goer, he later said that particular ritual was akin to going to a royal court. The bright women’s clothes and careful accessories seen there were filed away mentally.</p>
<p>Talley went to college at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historically_black_colleges_and_universities">historically black university</a>, North Carolina Central University, before completing his masters at Brown University, Rhode Island – the first in his family to attend an Ivy League School. </p>
<p>At Brown he wrote his thesis on black models in the poetry of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Baudelaire">Charles Baudelaire</a>, a figure who upheld fashion as the epitome of modernity. </p>
<h2>New fashion narratives</h2>
<p>Talley’s first fashion job was as an assistant with Diana Vreeland at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. </p>
<p>The “fashion empress”, as he called her, had been fired as editor of American Vogue (1963-1971) for her over-literary imagination and costly fashion shoots. In her second life as a curator in the Costume Institute at the Met, she pioneered a theatrical approach to fashion exhibitions in which dress was connected to epic themes. </p>
<p>She was the perfect mentor for Talley and suffused his imagination with stories of refined luxury, fashion figures from past and present, and the sweep of world culture. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441627/original/file-20220119-20-kssa7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441627/original/file-20220119-20-kssa7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441627/original/file-20220119-20-kssa7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441627/original/file-20220119-20-kssa7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441627/original/file-20220119-20-kssa7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441627/original/file-20220119-20-kssa7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441627/original/file-20220119-20-kssa7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441627/original/file-20220119-20-kssa7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Diana Ross and Andre Leon Talley dancing at Studio 54, New York City, circa 1979.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Sonia Moskowitz/Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1975, Talley was employed by Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. Earning US$50 a week, he wore preppy clothes, striped shirts and tight jeans.</p>
<p>He soaked up this world of the regulars of Studio 54, where the young man was regularly photographed with the jet set and older movie icons, whose myth Warhol foregrounded in new and unusual ways.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/halston-the-glittering-rise-and-spectacular-fall-of-a-fashion-icon-160847">Halston: The glittering rise – and spectacular fall – of a fashion icon</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In the 1970s and 1980s, American fashion magazines were performing important work in recovering older stylistic histories and fashion narratives.</p>
<p>Talley rose to cover the Paris fashion shows for Women’s Wear Daily and Vogue, becoming the first African-American man to work at this level, and began wearing bespoke suits after the Duke of Windsor.</p>
<p>For Women’s Wear Daily, in addition to writing Talley began to style photographs. He was skilled at capturing the languid sensuality of 1970s fashion, but his eye was not always appreciated. </p>
<p>In France, his closeness to the fashion aristocracy of Yves Saint Laurent and Betty Catroux caused jealousy. Talley was intimidated by rumours suggesting he was only popular because he slept with people as a black man; he was called “Queen Kong” <a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/613387924">by some</a>. </p>
<h2>Wider worlds</h2>
<p>In 1978, his report on the Yves Saint Laurent Broadway collection saw Vreeland write it was the best report on fashion she had read: “a masterpiece of description”. </p>
<p>Talley had a talent for a very close reading of fashion. Not simply how it looked, but where it came, how it resonated, and what wider worlds it might allude to.</p>
<p>In 1983, Talley joined Vogue as fashion news director, later becoming creative director and editor-at-large, wearing Savile Row regimental dress or capes in the manner of Balenciaga.</p>
<p>To Talley, Vogue was about more than fashion. In his time, as in Vreeland’s, “it became also a literary world”. He was one of the first to mix couture with inexpensive clothes in fashion shoots, styling Chanel couture with the model’s jeans in a Helmut Newton spread for Vogue.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1001474814081683456"}"></div></p>
<p>For Vanity Fair’s 1996 Gone with the Wind shoot, shot by Karl Lagerfeld, Talley swapped out black for white. Naomi Campbell became Scarlett O’Hara as the first supermodel, being nasty to her servant, a pretty white boy. The fashion designer Gianfranco Ferré played a black maid. British designer John Galliano was another housemaid, and shoe designer Manolo Blahnik played the gardener. </p>
<p>The background and decorations were authentic antiques from Lagerfeld’s fine collection, creating a visual narrative that surprised readers used to spreads more aligned with advertising and marketing.</p>
<h2>Falling out of fashion</h2>
<p>Talley faced unhappy times in recent years. He found himself spurned by Anna Wintour at the Met Ball, when his regular commentary was replaced by that of an influencer. </p>
<p>“I had suddenly become too old, too overweight and too uncool” he wrote in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/may/23/andre-leon-talley-on-anna-wintour-if-she-asks-me-to-attend-her-couture-fittings-after-this-book-i-will-be-surprised">his 2020 memoir</a>, The Chiffon Trenches.</p>
<p>The book covered many difficult phases of his life. He recounted childhood sexual abuse, reflected on what it was like to be the only black man in the echelons of high fashion, and his sadness with “falling out of fashion” with many. He was evicted from a home in which he believed he had an arrangement to inhabit. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441629/original/file-20220119-20-zk7l1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441629/original/file-20220119-20-zk7l1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441629/original/file-20220119-20-zk7l1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441629/original/file-20220119-20-zk7l1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441629/original/file-20220119-20-zk7l1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441629/original/file-20220119-20-zk7l1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441629/original/file-20220119-20-zk7l1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441629/original/file-20220119-20-zk7l1j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Anna Wintour and Andre Leon Talley, photographed here in 2007, were regular fixtures in the front row at New York Fashion Week.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jemal Countess/WireImage</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>He wrote of his disappointment with both Lagerfeld and Anna Wintour. Nonetheless, he pushed back at the idea that Wintour was reactionary, saying she “crashed the glass ceiling” when she made him the first African American man to be named as creative director of Vogue in 1988.</p>
<p>In recent decades, Talley embraced his size, appearing on the red carpet in caftans and capes by designers including Lagerfeld for Chanel and Tom Ford. Talley encouraged freedom in dressing with a degree of care and self-reflection. As he remarked: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>There’s not necessarily a certain way one must dress. One must dress well according to how you see yourself in society.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175237/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter McNeil 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 former creative director and editor-at-large of the fashion magazine has died aged 73.
Peter McNeil, Distinguished Professor of Design History, UTS, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/168035
2021-09-16T16:09:28Z
2021-09-16T16:09:28Z
Five intellectual fashion statements from history that anticipated today’s dark academia trend
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421414/original/file-20210915-24-cvhxzy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C7%2C2389%2C2004&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Portrait of the ladies of the Bluestocking Society as the characters of the Muses in the Temple of Apollo.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/portraits-in-the-characters-of-the-muses-in-the-temple-of-apollo-157863">National Portrait Gallery</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Writing with a quill pen dipped in ink, sitting in the flickering of candlelight in a book-lined study, and vintage tweed paired with knitted jumpers and brogues have all become the height of fashion for autumn 2021.</p>
<p>Known as dark academia, this trend has brought the hallowed halls of ancient universities to the digital worlds of TikTok and Instagram. On Instagram, the tag <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/darkacademia/?hl=en">#darkacademia</a> now has over 1 million posts, and Grazia has named the aesthetic as <a href="https://graziadaily.co.uk/fashion/shopping/dark-academia/">autumn 2021’s biggest trend</a>. The TikTok generation has keenly embraced the tweedy cosiness of scholarly life.</p>
<p>Centred around an idealised experience of studying at European and North American universities, this romanticised lifestyle of learning emphasises knowledge, culture and literature. In fashion, it is expressed through a hybrid of historicism and Victoriana, vintage country wear and thrifted clothing.</p>
<p>But this is not the first time that dressing to look clever has been in vogue. Performing intellectualism through dress has been on trend for centuries. Here, we will explore five of the most intellectual fashion trends in history.</p>
<h2>1. The Bluestockings</h2>
<p>The term “bluestocking” came to be used as a derisive term for intellectual women, but its origins are more fashionable. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2008/brilliant-women/the-bluestockings-circle">The Blue Stocking Society</a> was founded in the 1750s in England by Elizabeth Montagu, known as Queen of the Blues, alongside other ladies of the Georgian elite. Unsurprisingly, there had been few opportunities for women to discuss classical literature, politics, and philosophy within the glittering ballrooms and drawing rooms of 18th-century England. Frustrated at women’s intellectual starvation, this group of fashionable ladies met to discuss these topics.</p>
<p>Blue stockings were part of the relaxed, informal wear that the group wore to their gatherings. Unlike the glimmering sheen of the white or black silk stockings of high fashion, the rustic simplicity of blue worsted wool stockings was seen as informal and intimate, and a symbol of their rejection of the sartorial expectations of high society.</p>
<p>One bluestocking, the novelist Frances Burney, <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/the-bluestockings/">recalled that</a> a potential attendee who did not have fashionable clothes suitable for a formal evening occasion was told: “Don’t mind dress! Come in your blue stockings!”</p>
<h2>2. Dressing Like a statue</h2>
<p>During the 18th century, the classical worlds of ancient Greece and Rome were rediscovered by Europe’s intellectual elites. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Woman in dress with green umbrella." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421613/original/file-20210916-27-1i3xpby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421613/original/file-20210916-27-1i3xpby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421613/original/file-20210916-27-1i3xpby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421613/original/file-20210916-27-1i3xpby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=955&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421613/original/file-20210916-27-1i3xpby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1200&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421613/original/file-20210916-27-1i3xpby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421613/original/file-20210916-27-1i3xpby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1200&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women left their hoops behind for formless dresses that evoked the drapery of neoclassical dress.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rice_portrait#/media/File:RicePortrait.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From architecture to literature, neo-classicism became the fashion. Projects like the <a href="http://pompeiisites.org/en/oplontis/history-of-the-excavations/">excavation of Pompeii</a> ignited the European imagination about this romanticised classical past. Inspired by the recovered statues of women dressed in elegant drapery, fashionable ladies cast off their stays and hoops to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePhudE9ZkqE">mimic these classical half-nude statues</a>.</p>
<p>This rather impractical drapery was transformed into the respectable, high waisted, white muslin gowns familiar to modern audiences through Jane Austen productions. Resembling a tall, column-like statue was all the rage.</p>
<h2>3. Romanticism</h2>
<p>From billowing shirt sleeves to tousled locks of hair, the sartorial aesthetic of the <a href="https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-romantics">Romantic poets</a> like Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats is evoked in dark academia itself. Romanticism championed ideals over convention and is epitomised by the melancholy, intelligent, and brooding Byronic hero archetype.</p>
<p>The gothic and historically inspired aesthetics of Romanticism spread to fashion, which adopted features such as medieval slashing (a technique in which the outer fabric is cut to reveal another colourful silk beneath) and Tudor-esque neck ruffles. These fantastical styles, which reimagined and sentimentalised history, spread from an intellectual desire to overthrow neoclassicism in favour of resplendent Renaissance history.</p>
<h2>4) Dress reform and artistic dress</h2>
<p>The late 19th century saw a series of intellectual revolutions in dress, which rejected the restrictions and formality of Victorian high fashion. In the 1850s, women’s rights activist <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/amelia-bloomer-didnt-mean-start-fashion-revolution-her-name-became-synonymous-trousers-180969164/">Amelia Bloomer</a> began a trend among women reformists of wearing large baggy trousers, now known to us as bloomers.</p>
<p>Baggy trousers may have swiftly gone out of style, but Victorian intellectuals continued to invent new fashions that reflected their academic principles. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Painting of women at a gallery." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421417/original/file-20210915-14430-157zzm4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421417/original/file-20210915-14430-157zzm4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421417/original/file-20210915-14430-157zzm4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421417/original/file-20210915-14430-157zzm4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421417/original/file-20210915-14430-157zzm4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421417/original/file-20210915-14430-157zzm4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421417/original/file-20210915-14430-157zzm4.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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This painting contrasts women’s artistic dress (left and right) with fashionable attire (centre).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artistic_Dress_movement#/media/File:Frith_A_Private_View_detail.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Spearheaded by the pre-Raphaelites, <a href="https://costumesociety.org.uk/blog/post/costume-in-art-artistic-dress">artistic dress</a>, also known as <em>Künstlerkleid</em>, called upon romantic medievalism and rejected the structured drapery of Victorian high fashion. In line with the hand-crafted aesthetics and ethics of the Arts and Crafts movement, the fashion was for flowing loose gowns and gothic trimmings. The aim was to look like you had stepped out of the pre-Raphaelite portrait of an Arthurian lady.</p>
<h2>5) Philosophes</h2>
<p>In the early 20th century, French philosophers and popular playwrights alike propelled the turtleneck into the spotlight as the anti-establishment, intellectual garment of the age. From Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face to philosopher and accidental style icon <a href="https://garage.vice.com/en_us/article/wjwjvx/accidental-style-icon-michel-foucault">Michel Foucault</a>, the turtleneck was the epitome of cerebral style.</p>
<p>More recently embraced by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, the clean lines of the turtleneck employed sartorial simplicity to both counter and embody the busy brain. Sharp and sleek dressing reflected modern innovation and <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/black-turtleneck-genius-artsy/index.html">creative genius</a>.</p>
<p>In 2021, dark academia is both comforting and clever. For a generation that grew up awaiting their letter from Hogwarts, but who now find themselves learning online, it is perhaps unsurprising that today’s young people have made their imagined landscapes of turrets, tweed and tea in the online space of social media.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168035/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Serena Dyer 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>
People have always wanted others to know they’re smart, and what better way to do that than with clothes?
Serena Dyer, Lecturer in History of Design and Material Culture, De Montfort University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/165007
2021-07-29T19:58:35Z
2021-07-29T19:58:35Z
Friday essay: how ‘Afghan’ coats left Kabul for the fashion world and became a hippie must-have
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413091/original/file-20210726-19-11nqcrh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5166%2C5056&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Making Afghan coats for sale in Herat, 1974. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/herat-afghanistan-may-1974-afghan-coat-1486659929">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The London launch of <a href="https://www.thebeatles.com/album/sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-band">Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band</a> in May 1967 was a musical and fashion landmark. While the clothes worn by all four Beatles startled the journalists and disc jockeys, John Lennon <a href="https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/john-lennon-wearing-an-afghan-coat-and-a-sporran-at-the-news-photo/97817886">stole the show</a>. He wore a green, frilly, flowered shirt, maroon corduroy trousers, canary-yellow socks, corduroy shoes with two particularly unusual additions. One was a leather sporran, the other an Afghan sheepskin coat, worn with the fur inside and the skin outside, which was tanned yellow and embroidered with big red flowers down its front and sleeves.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413095/original/file-20210726-17-1jhlzyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="man in front of fireplace" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413095/original/file-20210726-17-1jhlzyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413095/original/file-20210726-17-1jhlzyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413095/original/file-20210726-17-1jhlzyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413095/original/file-20210726-17-1jhlzyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413095/original/file-20210726-17-1jhlzyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1148&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413095/original/file-20210726-17-1jhlzyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1148&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413095/original/file-20210726-17-1jhlzyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1148&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 Lennon wore an Afghan coat and a sporran at the press launch for the Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, held at Brian Epstein’s house in May 1967.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/john-lennon-wearing-an-afghan-coat-and-a-sporran-at-the-news-photo/97817886">John Downing/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These coats became a craze with extraordinary longevity. “Afghans”, as they were often called, were worn by many celebrities through the late 1960s. Then, for the best part of a decade, they became standard youth clothing — an archetypal hippie garment and emblem of the counterculture. </p>
<p>They <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/penny-lane-coat">had a resurgence</a> inspired by Penny Lane’s character in the 2000 film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181875/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Almost Famous</a> and remain a favourite among lovers of bohemian fashion on Instagram. </p>
<p>Their embrace internationally transformed where and how the coats were made and what they looked like. Yet the craze for these coats could only happen because Afghanistan’s relationship with the rest of the world was changing.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-politics-of-the-necktie-colonial-noose-masculine-marker-or-silk-status-symbol-155203">The politics of the necktie — 'colonial noose', masculine marker or silk status symbol?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Short, medium or very long</h2>
<p>Afghan coats traditionally came in three forms — sleeveless or short-sleeved hip-length vests known as <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/497941468197994830/pdf/multi0page.pdf">pustinchas</a>; knee-length, long-sleeved coats known as pustakis; and ankle-length cloaks called <a href="https://historyofpashtuns.blogspot.com/2016/06/dresses-of-afghanistan-in-early-19th.html">pustins</a>. </p>
<p>In a gendered division of labour, men cured the skins, tanned them yellow with the rinds of pomegranates, cut them into pieces and sewed them together, while women and girls embroidered them with geometric and floral designs, usually in red or yellow. Their skins were occasionally bear, fox or goat, but usually <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/Karakul">karakul</a> (a long-haired breed of sheep). </p>
<p>Although often written about as if only men wore them, women did too, and they were such ubiquitous winter-wear they were considered Afghan national dress.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413069/original/file-20210726-27-jdjo65.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="man in long coat" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413069/original/file-20210726-27-jdjo65.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413069/original/file-20210726-27-jdjo65.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413069/original/file-20210726-27-jdjo65.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413069/original/file-20210726-27-jdjo65.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413069/original/file-20210726-27-jdjo65.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1272&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413069/original/file-20210726-27-jdjo65.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1272&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413069/original/file-20210726-27-jdjo65.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1272&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wearing a traditional Afghan coat, circa 1923.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Meher_Baba_in_long_coat.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The poor could typically afford only the smaller pustinchas or pustakis. If they bought the bigger pustins, these coats were usually plain which made them cheaper. </p>
<p>Senior government officials, successful merchants and wealthy clerics bought lavishly decorated pustins that demonstrated their status. In 1946, <a href="https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5636027">Maynard Owen Williams</a> — the National Geographic Society’s first field correspondent — considered the pustin to be “the ultimate in masculine chic”. The archetypal Afghan man, he wrote, was “clad in red-embroidered sheepskin”.</p>
<p>Their prime source was Ghazni, south of Kabul. In 1955 British archaeologist <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG12324">Sylvia Matheson</a> found “one shop after another offering nothing but pustin” there. </p>
<p>While entranced by those with white fur, Matheson rejected them as impracticable for her fieldwork that winter. Instead, she opted for a brown-furred pustincha that was still “enchanting, the yellow skin entirely covered in closely stitched flowers of pillar-box red, with here and there a spot of periwinkle blue”. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413096/original/file-20210726-13-1miol04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="sheep" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413096/original/file-20210726-13-1miol04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413096/original/file-20210726-13-1miol04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413096/original/file-20210726-13-1miol04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413096/original/file-20210726-13-1miol04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413096/original/file-20210726-13-1miol04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413096/original/file-20210726-13-1miol04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413096/original/file-20210726-13-1miol04.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">Karakul sheep fur proved warm and fashionable.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/portrait-sheep-breeding-karakul-sheeps-wool-1816147691">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-mom-jeans-and-nostalgia-in-a-time-of-uncertainty-133510">Friday essay: mom jeans and nostalgia in a time of uncertainty</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Hippie commerce</h2>
<p>Many more foreigners visited from the early 1960s as Afghanistan embarked on a <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/asia-jan-june11-timeline-afghanistan">program of modernisation</a> which saw significant numbers of women in the country’s cities unveil and find new forms of paid work. </p>
<p>A small number of westerners, typically older, arrived by plane, with lots to spend, prompting the Afghan government to build Kabul’s first five-star hotel. </p>
<p>In 1969 it opened, under lease to the Intercontinental Group, with rooftop dining and dancing facilities, a cocktail lounge, brasserie coffee shop, tennis courts and swimming pool. Most western visitors were hippies who, as English poet <a href="https://www2.oberlin.edu/library/special/finding_guide_bowen.pdf">J. C. E. Bowen</a> put it, travelled overland “in every imaginable kind of clapped-out motor vehicle […] through the bottleneck of Kabul on their way towards the imagined Elysium of Kathmandu”. </p>
<p>Their prime destination was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0C1_ufemvw">Chicken Street in the Shahr-e Naw</a>, a garden suburb close to the city centre, which was the most westernised part of Kabul. Once a domain of poultry vendors, Chicken Street became a tourist strip lined with antique shops, clothing, embroidery and jewellery stores, and carpet dealers. In <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17611467-across-asia-on-the-cheap">Across Asia on the Cheap</a>, the first Lonely Planet guide, published in 1973, Tony Wheeler described Chicken Street as “the freak centre of Kabul”. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413032/original/file-20210726-23-18bcxc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The Beatles in 1967" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413032/original/file-20210726-23-18bcxc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413032/original/file-20210726-23-18bcxc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413032/original/file-20210726-23-18bcxc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413032/original/file-20210726-23-18bcxc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413032/original/file-20210726-23-18bcxc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413032/original/file-20210726-23-18bcxc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413032/original/file-20210726-23-18bcxc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ringo Starr wears a sleeveless Afghan jacket at a recording session with The Beatles, London, June 1967.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://photos-cdn.aap.com.au/Image/20031216000010233576?path=/aap_dev2/imagearc/2006/11-10/6f/fc/7a/aapimage-5c58h4hf9g8qyfwf6l8_layout.jpg">AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hippie capitalism became commonplace. As some travelled, they looked for local products to sell back home in the West and, if they made a good profit, imported more. </p>
<p>Richard Neville, the Australian of <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/104264.Richard_Neville">Oz Magazine</a> fame, who bought a pustincha for himself while travelling overland from Sydney to London in 1965, encouraged this commerce. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1439793.Play_Power">Play Power</a>, his 1970 manifesto and manual for hippies, Neville recognised the larger exchange of dress occurring in Afghanistan and other countries on the Hippie Trail. He advised:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Sell your western-styled jeans in Nepal, and your long leather boots in Morocco. Once you could make 500% profit bringing back sheepskin jackets from Kabul, and you can triple your money with antique robes.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413090/original/file-20210726-17-f5l9ga.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="girl in sheepskin jacket" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413090/original/file-20210726-17-f5l9ga.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413090/original/file-20210726-17-f5l9ga.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413090/original/file-20210726-17-f5l9ga.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413090/original/file-20210726-17-f5l9ga.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413090/original/file-20210726-17-f5l9ga.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413090/original/file-20210726-17-f5l9ga.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413090/original/file-20210726-17-f5l9ga.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">To recreate the aesthetic of the early 1970s for Almost Famous, costumers put the central character of Penny Lane in an Afghan coat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181875/?ref_=ttmi_tt">IMDB</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-energy-ideas-and-cheek-to-spare-richard-neville-was-the-boy-of-oz-64881">With energy, ideas and cheek to spare, Richard Neville was the boy of OZ</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Rock ‘n’ roll</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.craigsams.com/about-me">Craig Sams</a>, a young American who also travelled through Kabul in 1965 before settling in London, became a supplier. </p>
<p>His prime outlet was <a href="https://agnautacouture.com/2012/12/16/granny-takes-a-trip-a-boutique-everybody-wanted-to-be-seen-in/">Granny Takes a Trip</a> — London’s weirdest, most extreme, most exotic, hippest boutique — on the King’s Road in Chelsea, which soon eclipsed Carnaby Street as London’s fashion centre. At first, Granny Takes a Trip sold Victorian clothes, often modified to create a slightly modern feel. By 1967, when it began stocking pustinchas, its range included Charleston dresses of the 1920s, Victorian bustles from the 1880s, Boer War helmets, African fezes, Arab headdresses and Chicago gangster suits from the prohibition era.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/37Mpd5N1ISs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Granny Takes a Trip was the London mecca of hippy chic.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The pustinchas were bought by men and women as Granny Takes a Trip was one of the first boutiques not to differentiate male from female dress. But it was men, particularly rock and pop stars, who brought Afghan jackets and coats to public attention. </p>
<p>Jimi Hendrix wore his orange-red, brocaded, sleeveless pustincha over an iridescent purple shirt with huge flared sleeves in one of the first all-star rock events in England, at the Kensington Olympia in London. Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd and Pete Townshend of The Who also wore them on stage. Eric Burdon, of House of the Rising Sun fame, got married in his.</p>
<p>All four Beatles wore pustinchas inside-out in their film of the Magical Mystery Tour and on the album’s cover. When the Beatles tried their hand at retail, their Apple Boutique had shelves of them. From across the Atlantic, it appeared to Life in 1968 that pustinchas had been “launched last season in England by the Beatles and their followers”.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FlM52fUrNz4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Kinks wore sheepskin Afghan coats in their Apeman video circa 1970.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-why-traditional-persian-music-should-be-known-to-the-world-121240">Friday essay: why traditional Persian music should be known to the world</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Global appeal</h2>
<p><a href="https://sweetjanespopboutique.blogspot.com/2011/10/new-yorks-young-design-scene-1967.html">Abracadabra</a>, Manhattan’s first psychedelic boutique, soon followed. Its interior was lit by fluorescent tubes set on a flicker-flash sequence, which had particular impact since Abracadabra was filled with mirrors like a penny arcade. Its shop window featured a motorised hanger that made the clothes on it “rock ’n’ roll”.</p>
<p>When one hippie traveller returned from Afghanistan with five pustinchas at the start of 1968, Ira Seret of <a href="https://www.thestar.com/life/travel/2010/01/16/a_journey_that_goes_southwest_by_east.html">Abracadabra</a> put them in its window where they were spotted by designer Anne Klein, who had just made leather fashionable for the New York outfitter Mallory’s. When Klein asked Seret to secure more and his original provider failed to deliver, Seret went to Afghanistan himself.</p>
<p>That summer and autumn, pustinchas were in Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s and all the <a href="http://jindhag.org/remembering-istalif">glossies</a>. Vogue reported that Afghan “coats and weskits beautifully embroidered in silk floss colours” were being “shovelled out the door” by Limbo, a boutique in New York’s East Village. Life magazine featured pustinchas sent by Ira Seret to Mallory’s, worn by five female models “over bright silk jump suits and slung about with yards of Mideast jewellery”. Harper’s Bazaar devoted two pages to Mallory’s embroidered and braided vests, again presented as womenswear. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/BzMTa4JhSrK","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>Peak pustinchas</h2>
<p>The coats were cheap compared to most fashionable western clothes, even after Afghan makers more than doubled their prices in response to international demand. The one complaint was that they smelled foul when wet, due to a skin curing process more akin to pickling than tanning. This lead to Kabul’s first drycleaners to offer “exclusive no-smell treatments”.</p>
<p>By 1969, many more pustinchas were being worn outside Afghanistan than within it, as they maintained their appeal with the most beautiful people and became part of youth’s uniform. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413089/original/file-20210726-14-1x1xf0k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="hippie drawing" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413089/original/file-20210726-14-1x1xf0k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413089/original/file-20210726-14-1x1xf0k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413089/original/file-20210726-14-1x1xf0k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413089/original/file-20210726-14-1x1xf0k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413089/original/file-20210726-14-1x1xf0k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1044&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413089/original/file-20210726-14-1x1xf0k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1044&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413089/original/file-20210726-14-1x1xf0k.jpeg?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">Ronald Searle’s 1971 cover.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://thenewyorkercovers.wordpress.com/category/ronald-searle/">The New Yorker</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The enduring audience for the pustincha was, however, downmarket — their iconic status confirmed in 1971 by artist Ronald Searle in a cover drawing for the New Yorker of a long-haired, bearded, barefoot hippie with flared trousers, shoulderbag, headband and pustincha.</p>
<p>Their international embrace fuelled new enthusiasm for Afghan clothing among some of Kabul’s elite who accepted that women should unveil but wanted Afghans to fight against foreign influences and keep Afghan customs alive. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2013/07/afghanistan-in-the-1950s-and-60s/100544/">Kabul</a> also replaced Ghazni as the Afghan centre of pustincha production. </p>
<p>In 1968, the biggest sweatshop employed 30 workers. In 1970, when demand surged not only in the United States and Europe but also, for the first time, in Japan, one company employed 160 embroiderers who completed 30 to 40 coats each day. Another company built a hostel for its 250–300 embroiderers, primarily widows and young women from the provinces where there were many skilled needleworkers.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413067/original/file-20210726-19-8ufrvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="boy makes afghan coat" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413067/original/file-20210726-19-8ufrvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413067/original/file-20210726-19-8ufrvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413067/original/file-20210726-19-8ufrvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413067/original/file-20210726-19-8ufrvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413067/original/file-20210726-19-8ufrvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413067/original/file-20210726-19-8ufrvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413067/original/file-20210726-19-8ufrvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sewing the embroidery. Afghanistan, 1974.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/herat-afghanistan-may-1974-afghan-600w-1486659932.jpg">Peter Loud/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As these coats spread round the world, they fuelled awareness of Afghanistan, even if not quite as much as one Kabuli dealer <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1971/01/18/archives/an-afghan-success-coats.html">boasted</a> to the New York Times “Before no one remembered Afghanistan,” he said. “Now everybody remembers.”</p>
<p><em>This essay is an extract from <a href="https://www.textpublishing.com.au/books/two-afternoons-in-the-kabul-stadium-a-history-of-afghanistan-through-clothes-carpets-and-the-camera">Two Afternoons in the Kabul Stadium: A History of Afghanistan Through Clothes, Carpets and the Camera</a>, to be published August 3 by Text Publishing.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165007/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span> Tim Bonyhady received funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>
How an item of traditional Afghan dress became a staple of western “hippie” fashion from the 1960s right up to today.
Tim Bonyhady, Emeritus professor, Australian National University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/161665
2021-06-01T02:43:20Z
2021-06-01T02:43:20Z
Denim jeans have long been political: now skinny jeans are in the firing line
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403675/original/file-20210601-13-ltmiz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=479%2C0%2C4876%2C3724&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last week, reports emerged that North Korea was banning skinny jeans over concerns regarding their symbolic relationship with the “<a href="https://metro.co.uk/2021/05/15/fears-mullets-and-skinny-jeans-will-tear-north-korea-down-like-a-damp-wall-14587354/">exotic and decadent lifestyle</a>” of capitalism. The crackdown on “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2021/may/26/north-korea-bans-skinny-jeans">anti-socialist behaviour</a>” also reportedly bans mullet, spiky or dyed hairstyles and piercings.</p>
<p>Although an official statement on the ban <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/north-korea-ban-skinny-jeans/">hasn’t been identified</a>, policing of personal style in North Korea is not new. </p>
<p>Political leaders have long been aware of the representational power of fashion. In her book <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300238860/fashion-and-politics">Fashion and Politics</a>, fashion scholar Djurdja Bartlett notes that “as early as the 1920s, the Bolsheviks frowned on western fashion and its Art Deco opulence”.</p>
<p>The role of dress in promoting allegiance to the nation state can come in the form of <a href="http://archive.maas.museum/hsc/evrev/mao_suit.html">a uniform</a> or via the rejection of garments seen to symbolise religious, ideological or political beliefs.</p>
<p>Whether banning Western fashion in the Soviet Union or the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/french-burqa-and-niqab-ban">burqa in France</a>, political control over what we wear has always been controversial. But what is it about skinny jeans that apparently inspires denunciation by North Korea today? </p>
<h2>The skinny on skinny jeans</h2>
<p>Slim or tight-fitted trousers are a direct descendant of tight men’s <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300218725/dress-age-jane-austen">breeches worn in the 1800s</a>. </p>
<p>Their denim offspring emerged in the 1950s as part of the counter-cultural movement. Most often worn in a dark wash with a cuffed hem, the jeans, favoured by the likes of <a href="https://www.esquiresg.com/features/elvis-presley-85-anniversary-style-history-influence-icon/">Elvis Presley</a> and <a href="https://denimology.com/2020/04/denim-nostalgia-marlon-brando-and-james-dean#:%7E:text=And%20did%20you%20ever%20wonder,in%20any%20denim%20lover's%20closet.">Marlon Brando</a>, were a gender-neutral representation of alternative lifestyles in the wake of the second world war. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403673/original/file-20210531-15-1vli1m3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403673/original/file-20210531-15-1vli1m3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403673/original/file-20210531-15-1vli1m3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403673/original/file-20210531-15-1vli1m3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403673/original/file-20210531-15-1vli1m3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403673/original/file-20210531-15-1vli1m3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403673/original/file-20210531-15-1vli1m3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403673/original/file-20210531-15-1vli1m3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Marlon Brando rocking his jeans in The Wild One.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stanley Kramer Productions</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the 1960s, jeans in the “drainpipe” style — black and ultra-skinny — became synonymous with rock and roll.</p>
<p>Through the 1970s and 80s, the UK embraced the punk look – pioneered by designer <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/vivienne-westwood-punk-new-romantic-and-beyond">Vivienne Westwood</a> and the <a href="https://pitchfork.com/features/from-our-partners/9943-rip-it-to-shreds-a-history-of-punk-and-style/">Sex Pistols</a>, which saw tight jeans ripped, stained and safety pinned. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403672/original/file-20210531-27-nvwlnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403672/original/file-20210531-27-nvwlnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403672/original/file-20210531-27-nvwlnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403672/original/file-20210531-27-nvwlnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403672/original/file-20210531-27-nvwlnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403672/original/file-20210531-27-nvwlnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403672/original/file-20210531-27-nvwlnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403672/original/file-20210531-27-nvwlnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Clash: skinny jeans were punk for a while.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Helge Øverås/Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The 1990s brought baggy styles for rave dancing, bootlegs and retro flares. But skinny jeans didn’t stay gone for long. The 2000s saw them taken up, again by subcultures — <a href="https://i-d.vice.com/en_us/article/59bwj5/emo-was-the-last-true-subculture">emos</a> and goths, who wore them super tight and low on the hips. </p>
<p>By the 2010s they seemed <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2013/jan/09/skinny-jeans-fashion-trend-refuses-to-die">destined to stick around</a> after being championed by <a href="https://www.vogue.fr/fashion/fashion-inspiration/diaporama/style-file-20-fashion-lessons-from-kate-moss/24693">Kate Moss</a>, the <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2021/04/10447107/kate-middleton-skinny-jeans-knee-high-boots">Duchess of Cambridge</a> and <a href="https://www.thezoereport.com/p/michelle-obamas-high-waisted-skinny-jeans-are-a-smart-year-round-piece-15554397">Michelle Obama</a>.</p>
<h2>Death by TikTok</h2>
<p>Rumblings of change in the denim market were first heard in the late 2010s, when fashion journalists including Sarah Spellings claimed we could begin <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2018/12/low-rise-jeans-predicted-to-come-back-in-2020.html">counting down to the return of low-rise jeans</a>. The rise of 90s nostalgia fashion, popularised by models such as <a href="https://www.instyle.com/fashion/street-style/bella-hadid-90s-trends">Bella Hadid</a>, bought a return of wide-legged fits and exposed midriffs. </p>
<p>By 2019, skinny jeans were reportedly being usurped by so-called “<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-mom-jeans-and-nostalgia-in-a-time-of-uncertainty-133510">mom jeans</a>”. And that was before 2020 forced everyone indoors, where comfort trumped more fitted styles. </p>
<p>Gen Z “Zoomer” TikTokers finally rang the death knell for skinny jeans — adding a beat and some dance moves, of course. In early 2021, <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dp4w5/genz-millennials-skinny-jeans-generation-wars">TikTok videos mocking Millennials</a> for their side parted hair and tight denim-clad legs went viral. </p>
<p>So, if they’re no longer cool, why might North Korea want to ban them?</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_8og9R5WoCA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Bin them or burn them. Your choice.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dressed-for-success-as-workers-return-to-the-office-men-might-finally-shed-their-suits-and-ties-153455">Dressed for success – as workers return to the office, men might finally shed their suits and ties</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Trouser power</h2>
<p>What we wear on our legs has long been a subject of particular political significance, especially in terms of class and gender differentiation. </p>
<p>During the French Revolution, full length trousers became synonymous with the ideals of <em>liberté</em>, <em>égalité</em>, <em>fraternité</em> — but only for men. Women remained bound by the <em>Ancien Régime</em>, excluded from wearing trousers and from the social freedoms they allowed. </p>
<p>It followed that in the <a href="https://www.proquest.com/openview/277dc1934b6b0b06e39f72faee03fed7/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=60407#:%7E:text=The%20political%20protest%20for%20women's,alternative%20vision%20of%20female%20emancipation.">fight for suffrage</a>, trousers became a symbolic garment in the emancipation of women as political subjects. </p>
<p>In the 1960s, meanwhile, blue denim became a symbol of the <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/denim-political-symbol-1960s-180976241/">US civil rights movement</a> and in 1978, Levi Strauss & Co began large-scale shipments of jeans behind the Iron Curtain. </p>
<p>Analysis today shows specific denim brands are aligned with <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/are-your-jeans-red-or-blue-shopping-americas-partisan-divide-11574185777">political preferences</a>: American Democrat voters tend to wear Levis, while Republican voters are more likely to prefer Wrangler jeans. Brands may also seek to <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/political-fashion-fatigue">align themselves with consumers</a> by voicing support for specific issues.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403681/original/file-20210601-21-1ajnry5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403681/original/file-20210601-21-1ajnry5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403681/original/file-20210601-21-1ajnry5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403681/original/file-20210601-21-1ajnry5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403681/original/file-20210601-21-1ajnry5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403681/original/file-20210601-21-1ajnry5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403681/original/file-20210601-21-1ajnry5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403681/original/file-20210601-21-1ajnry5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Wrangler jeans stall at an Australian rodeo show. Recent research in the US found Republican voters were more likely than Democrats to wear Wrangler jeans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jordan Baker/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most recently, a chief minister within India’s Bharatiya Janata Party government faced condemnation after he <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-56453929">tweeted</a> that women were immoral for wearing jeans that exposed their knees.</p>
<p>Across India women took to social media to voice their exasperation, posting photographs of themselves wearing torn denim with the hashtag <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-women-in-india-reclaimed-the-protest-power-of-ripped-jeans-157666">#RippedJeans</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1372526520623800324"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-women-in-india-reclaimed-the-protest-power-of-ripped-jeans-157666">How women in India reclaimed the protest power of ripped jeans</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Jeans are still provoking the powerful. Still, if the reports from North Korea are correct, railing against this symbolic garment may have given those willing to rebel a clearer sense of what to wear.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161665/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Harriette Richards receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>
Drainpipe, torn or skinny, denim jeans have a history of unsettling the powerful.
Harriette Richards, Research Associate, Cultural Studies, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/160598
2021-05-11T05:20:47Z
2021-05-11T05:20:47Z
Long before Billie Eilish, women wore corsets for form, function and support
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399611/original/file-20210510-21-1cdmqee.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1636%2C2048&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Craig McDean for British Vogue</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Singer Billie Eilish’s new look for British Vogue, in which she trades her baggy clothes for lingerie — most notably a series of corsets — has sparked much debate.</p>
<p>Eilish has previously spoken of her choice to <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/billie-eilish-baggy-clothes-calvin-klein">hide her body shape</a>, and <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-9537505/Billie-Eilishs-lingerie-Vogue-shoot-praised-celebs-ditching-signature-grunge-look.html">some saw the Vogue photo shoot as a sell-out</a> or succumbing to <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanschocket2/billie-eilish-calls-out-sexist-creepy-headline">patriarchal beauty standards</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.vogue.co.uk/news/article/billie-eilish-vogue-interview">In the article accompanying her Vogue cover</a>, Eilish predicted such criticism, suggesting people would say: “If you’re about body positivity, why would you wear a corset? Why wouldn’t you show your actual body?”</p>
<p>But, she continued: “My thing is that I can do whatever I want.” </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/COdpcnqlhg2","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Corsets have long sparked debate. First worn by women in the 17th century, their form has changed over centuries. Throughout the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1057713.The_Art_of_Dress">18th century</a>, most stays (as they were then known) were in the shape of an inverted triangle — wider around the chest and narrowing in to the natural waist. Corsets were typically made of cotton, sometimes covered in a fabric like silk, and in the 19th century, whalebone inserts were popular to create structure.</p>
<p>As the waistline of dresses rose through the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44174546-dress-in-the-age-of-jane-austen">Regency period</a>, corsets changed to a straighter silhouette. When 19th century dresses were designed to highlight women’s natural curves, corsets changed also. </p>
<p>In the first half of the <a href="https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1920-1929/">20th century</a>, corsets were largely phased out as new styles of dress emerged, requiring less structure, and as new forms of undergarments became available. In her photo shoot, Eilish references <a href="https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/why-the-house-is-divided-on-billie-eilishs-corset-and-leggings-reinvention-for-british-vogue-cover-9596651.html">mid century pin-ups</a>; corsets are now having a fashion moment, with <a href="https://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/gallery/corsets-for-women">a reported surge in online searches</a> for them after the Vogue cover appeared.</p>
<p>The most enduring image of a corset-wearer is of an upper-class lady having the laces pulled tighter and tighter to appear beautiful and waifish for a ball. Given this, corsets are often viewed as a patriarchal symbol of female oppression and restriction, forced upon women to contort their body into aesthetically pleasing shapes – whether <a href="https://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a2518/kim-kardashian-corset-guide/">Kardashian curves</a> or the <a href="https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1900-1909/">“S” shape</a> desired in the Edwardian era. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399651/original/file-20210510-13-sgred5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two women baling hay." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399651/original/file-20210510-13-sgred5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399651/original/file-20210510-13-sgred5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399651/original/file-20210510-13-sgred5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399651/original/file-20210510-13-sgred5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399651/original/file-20210510-13-sgred5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399651/original/file-20210510-13-sgred5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399651/original/file-20210510-13-sgred5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Corsets were the functional bras of the day – women wore them for their every day work, as in Julien Dupréca’s The Hay Harvesters, c. 1880.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Grohmann Museum at Milwaukee School of Engineering</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But women wore corsets while doing their daily chores: going to the market or helping with cooking or cleaning. Corsets had to be functional rather than restrictive.</p>
<p>Corsets are perhaps best thought of as a long-line bra. An everyday corset provided breast and back support. Rather than restricting women into certain forms, it provided support and the freedom to go about their day. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399650/original/file-20210510-18-68zzcv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two women in ballgowns." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399650/original/file-20210510-18-68zzcv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399650/original/file-20210510-18-68zzcv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1034&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399650/original/file-20210510-18-68zzcv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1034&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399650/original/file-20210510-18-68zzcv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1034&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399650/original/file-20210510-18-68zzcv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1300&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399650/original/file-20210510-18-68zzcv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399650/original/file-20210510-18-68zzcv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1300&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">During the Regency period, corsets were designed to highlight women’s curves, like in this image from a fashion magazine in 1828.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Victoria and Albert Museum</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There were more structured corsets designed to be worn for balls and soirées. A little fancier, perhaps made of nicer material, and designed to be laced slightly tighter. But the lacing was not intended to cut off breath, and instead to create a pleasing silhouette.</p>
<p>While in a few cases, corsets could have an effect on rib structure, these were extreme, and a minority. Research has <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2015/11/16/how-corsets-deformed-the-skeletons-of-victorian-women/?sh=3772516d799c">refuted</a> “the longstanding medical belief that corseting was responsible for early death.” Most corsets were worn without incident. </p>
<p>Just as women today might wear shape wear for a night out, women of the past used corsets to make themselves feel more beautiful. </p>
<p>But interpreting this as women playing into patriarchal beauty standards strips these women of their agency. Women chose their own dresses, and the undergarments that went with them, and they decided how tight their corsets were laced.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399657/original/file-20210510-18-3ee8dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A ball" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399657/original/file-20210510-18-3ee8dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399657/original/file-20210510-18-3ee8dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399657/original/file-20210510-18-3ee8dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399657/original/file-20210510-18-3ee8dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399657/original/file-20210510-18-3ee8dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399657/original/file-20210510-18-3ee8dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399657/original/file-20210510-18-3ee8dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Corsets worn under ball gowns like these women wore in Court Ball at the Hofburg, painted by Wilhelm Gause c.1900 were likely nicer, and more tightly laced – but they were still practical.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Historical Museum of the City of Vienna</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Spreading misconceptions</h2>
<p>Some of our misconceptions around corsets come from museums and television.</p>
<p>Corsets shown in museums are often laced to their tightest, and therefore smallest possible circumference, but they were more likely to be worn with space between the lacings. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399659/original/file-20210510-23-if3ki4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A beautiful corset, with a tiny waist." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399659/original/file-20210510-23-if3ki4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399659/original/file-20210510-23-if3ki4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399659/original/file-20210510-23-if3ki4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399659/original/file-20210510-23-if3ki4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399659/original/file-20210510-23-if3ki4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399659/original/file-20210510-23-if3ki4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399659/original/file-20210510-23-if3ki4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Corsets on display in museums – like this 1891 example from Maison Léoty in the collection of The Met – are often shown laced at their tightest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Metropolitan Museum of Art</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Additionally, those corsets in museums are the ones that survived. Everyday corsets, suffering from normal wear and tear and were unlikely to last, so those still around today might be the fancier corsets, designed to look beautiful and thus smaller than average. </p>
<p>Television has also done us a disservice when it comes to corsets. </p>
<p>We have numerous scenes of women being laced far too tightly into their corsets, complaining of being unable to breathe, or even fainting from lack of breath (think of the Featheringtons in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8740790/">Bridgerton</a> or Elizabeth Swann in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0325980/">Pirates of the Caribbean</a>). </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yb0CR4xcKZQ?wmode=transparent&start=172" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Often, actors are interviewed after taking part in a period piece and protest about how <a href="https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/celebrities/news/g24261075/actresses-wearing-corsets-period-dramas/">uncomfortable corsets were to wear and act in</a>. </p>
<p>This discomfort was likely true, but not because the corset itself is the problem. Historically, corsets were individualised pieces of clothing, whereas corsets used for period dramas are less likely to be made specifically for an actress. </p>
<p>Describing corsets as “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210215-how-the-controversial-corset-made-a-comeback">controversial</a>” or “<a href="https://www.thecut.com/2017/03/corsets-are-more-popular-than-ever-and-thats-troubling.html">restrictive</a>” reveals our modern views on items of the past.</p>
<p>It also points to much wider tensions in society – who do we dress for? How do we interpret body positivity? </p>
<p>At the end of the day, Billie Eilish is a young woman, experimenting with a new style, and that’s wholly her choice. And the corsets she wears have a long, expressive history.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160598/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Boddy 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>
Billie Eilish received criticism for wearing an ‘oppressive’ corset on the cover of Vogue. But for centuries, the clothing gave women support in work, and in play.
Rachel Boddy, PhD Candidate in History, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.