Women's Fashion
The way women were made to dress before the 1900's obstructed their movement and their flexibility was limited. Like corsets for example, were meant to regulate women’s behavior and show their subordinate status [1]. Long term use of corsets caused fractured ribs, collapsed lungs, displacement of the liver and uterine prolapses [2]. Physicians came around the idea that corsets compressed the genitals, which weakened the woman’s ability to bear children [3]. Corsets affected the meaning of women’s lives as they fought to change the shape of femininity and gender relations. Clothing, having had the power to help you express your gender, sexual preference, class, social status, and personality became a social struggle over meaning.
One such case that showed how much clothes affected appearances was in March of 1929. A woman named Radclyffe Hall complained to her literary agent about Colonel Victor Barker who was actually a woman named Valerie Arkell-Smith and was able to pass as a man for several years successfully [4]. This woman was able to trick her future wife and father- in- law that she was a man her entire life whom her mother crossed- dressed who always wanted a daughter. She was the living embodiment of a dictum said by film critic Annette Kuhn “Change your clothes and you change your sex.” She did not have any surgeries to turn her into a man, she simply felt like one because she behaved, lived, thought of herself as one, and was accepted as one [5].
The meanings corsetry impressed upon women’s bodies shifted with industrialization, as women’s fears of aging, imperfect, inferior, unfashionable, and unscientific bodies replaced earlier fears of moral turpitude and questionable respectability [6]. The compression that corsets caused also caused blood to flow to the woman’s head which put pressure on her nervous system, which according to Fowler’s theory, caused a personality change [7]. Feminists attacked corseting because of the potential harm it could have on internal organs and how it restricted their movements. Corset companies tried to appease women by changing the style of their corsets but some restricted them in different ways such as their ankles.
As the century came around so did health and hygiene movements while bicycling became available; it encouraged active play for adults. More so, women in college got to experience organized sports in college. This in turn heightened the desire of women for less restrictive clothing which lead to making and marketing of sports corsets made of lighter and more flexible material [8]. By 1914 another phenomenon, the tango, also started to affect the use of corsets by American women, women began removing their stiff corsets at parties in order to dance, which caused manufacturers to come up with dance corsets [9].
Within the next decade, flappers who had come about the previous decade, corsetlessness remained a phenomenon even with the alarm it caused. After world war I ended shorter skirt lengths appeared which resulted in the appearance of women’s bare legs, became a controversy [10]. This caused college deans to make dress codes while in turn made women decide to make short skirt defense leagues. Popular press argued whether this was seen as new immodesty or the new freedom in women’s dress and behavior. As this occurred manufactures tried to make new corsets for women so they could buy from them. Some publishers even scared women into running back to the stores to buy corsets for fear of aging.
Corsets stayed around for a long time. Women were able to break free from the restraining corsets that wouldn’t let them move as freely as they wished. Yet manufacturers tried their best at making corsets for every occasion and most of the time it worked. Just to make sure they sold corsets they started to accommodate to certain age groups. Either way having been able to wear different clothing, more flexible corsets helped them with their freedom in society. They were able to join in sports and dance as much as they wanted and got past gender roles.
1) Fields, J. (1999). 'Fighting the Corsetless evil': Shaping corsets and culture, 1900-1930. Journal of Social History, 33(2), 355- 356 http://library.calstate.edu/longbeach/articles/record?id=FETCH-LOGICAL-c3124-bdea4bf6fd516323561d540d4d12c5f859275fe37bd9875f67bfa27a7c31ff1f1
2) Hartman, Dorothy W.. Women’s Roles in the late 19th Century. http://www.connerprairie.org/learn-and-do/indiana-history/america-1860-1900/lives-of-women.aspx
3) Hartman, Dorothy W.. Women’s Roles in the late 19th Century. http://www.connerprairie.org/learn-and-do/indiana-history/america-1860-1900/lives-of-women.aspx
4) Doan, Laura. (1998). Passing fashions: Reading female masculinities in the 1920s. Feminist Studies, 24(3), 663. http://search.proquest.com/docview/233180175
5) Doan, Laura. (1998). Passing fashions: Reading female masculinities in the 1920s. Feminist Studies, 24(3), 663. http://search.proquest.com/docview/233180175
6) Fields, J. (1999). 'Fighting the Corsetless evil': Shaping corsets and culture, 1900-1930. Journal of Social History, 33(2), 356 http://library.calstate.edu/longbeach/articles/record?id=FETCH-LOGICAL-c3124-bdea4bf6fd516323561d540d4d12c5f859275fe37bd9875f67bfa27a7c31ff1f1
7) Hartman, Dorothy W.. Women’s Roles in the late 19th Century. http://www.connerprairie.org/learn-and-do/indiana-history/america-1860-1900/lives-of-women.aspx
8) Fields, J. (1999). 'Fighting the Corsetless evil': Shaping corsets and culture, 1900-1930. Journal of Social History, 33(2), 357 http://library.calstate.edu/longbeach/articles/record?id=FETCH-LOGICAL-c3124-bdea4bf6fd516323561d540d4d12c5f859275fe37bd9875f67bfa27a7c31ff1f1
9) Fields, J. (1999). 'Fighting the Corsetless evil': Shaping corsets and culture, 1900-1930. Journal of Social History, 33(2), 358 http://library.calstate.edu/longbeach/articles/record?id=FETCH-LOGICAL-c3124-bdea4bf6fd516323561d540d4d12c5f859275fe37bd9875f67bfa27a7c31ff1f1
10) Fields, J. (1999). 'Fighting the Corsetless evil': Shaping corsets and culture, 1900-1930. Journal of Social History, 33(2), 362 http://library.calstate.edu/longbeach/articles/record?id=FETCH-LOGICAL-c3124-bdea4bf6fd516323561d540d4d12c5f859275fe37bd9875f67bfa27a7c31ff1f1
One such case that showed how much clothes affected appearances was in March of 1929. A woman named Radclyffe Hall complained to her literary agent about Colonel Victor Barker who was actually a woman named Valerie Arkell-Smith and was able to pass as a man for several years successfully [4]. This woman was able to trick her future wife and father- in- law that she was a man her entire life whom her mother crossed- dressed who always wanted a daughter. She was the living embodiment of a dictum said by film critic Annette Kuhn “Change your clothes and you change your sex.” She did not have any surgeries to turn her into a man, she simply felt like one because she behaved, lived, thought of herself as one, and was accepted as one [5].
The meanings corsetry impressed upon women’s bodies shifted with industrialization, as women’s fears of aging, imperfect, inferior, unfashionable, and unscientific bodies replaced earlier fears of moral turpitude and questionable respectability [6]. The compression that corsets caused also caused blood to flow to the woman’s head which put pressure on her nervous system, which according to Fowler’s theory, caused a personality change [7]. Feminists attacked corseting because of the potential harm it could have on internal organs and how it restricted their movements. Corset companies tried to appease women by changing the style of their corsets but some restricted them in different ways such as their ankles.
As the century came around so did health and hygiene movements while bicycling became available; it encouraged active play for adults. More so, women in college got to experience organized sports in college. This in turn heightened the desire of women for less restrictive clothing which lead to making and marketing of sports corsets made of lighter and more flexible material [8]. By 1914 another phenomenon, the tango, also started to affect the use of corsets by American women, women began removing their stiff corsets at parties in order to dance, which caused manufacturers to come up with dance corsets [9].
Within the next decade, flappers who had come about the previous decade, corsetlessness remained a phenomenon even with the alarm it caused. After world war I ended shorter skirt lengths appeared which resulted in the appearance of women’s bare legs, became a controversy [10]. This caused college deans to make dress codes while in turn made women decide to make short skirt defense leagues. Popular press argued whether this was seen as new immodesty or the new freedom in women’s dress and behavior. As this occurred manufactures tried to make new corsets for women so they could buy from them. Some publishers even scared women into running back to the stores to buy corsets for fear of aging.
Corsets stayed around for a long time. Women were able to break free from the restraining corsets that wouldn’t let them move as freely as they wished. Yet manufacturers tried their best at making corsets for every occasion and most of the time it worked. Just to make sure they sold corsets they started to accommodate to certain age groups. Either way having been able to wear different clothing, more flexible corsets helped them with their freedom in society. They were able to join in sports and dance as much as they wanted and got past gender roles.
1) Fields, J. (1999). 'Fighting the Corsetless evil': Shaping corsets and culture, 1900-1930. Journal of Social History, 33(2), 355- 356 http://library.calstate.edu/longbeach/articles/record?id=FETCH-LOGICAL-c3124-bdea4bf6fd516323561d540d4d12c5f859275fe37bd9875f67bfa27a7c31ff1f1
2) Hartman, Dorothy W.. Women’s Roles in the late 19th Century. http://www.connerprairie.org/learn-and-do/indiana-history/america-1860-1900/lives-of-women.aspx
3) Hartman, Dorothy W.. Women’s Roles in the late 19th Century. http://www.connerprairie.org/learn-and-do/indiana-history/america-1860-1900/lives-of-women.aspx
4) Doan, Laura. (1998). Passing fashions: Reading female masculinities in the 1920s. Feminist Studies, 24(3), 663. http://search.proquest.com/docview/233180175
5) Doan, Laura. (1998). Passing fashions: Reading female masculinities in the 1920s. Feminist Studies, 24(3), 663. http://search.proquest.com/docview/233180175
6) Fields, J. (1999). 'Fighting the Corsetless evil': Shaping corsets and culture, 1900-1930. Journal of Social History, 33(2), 356 http://library.calstate.edu/longbeach/articles/record?id=FETCH-LOGICAL-c3124-bdea4bf6fd516323561d540d4d12c5f859275fe37bd9875f67bfa27a7c31ff1f1
7) Hartman, Dorothy W.. Women’s Roles in the late 19th Century. http://www.connerprairie.org/learn-and-do/indiana-history/america-1860-1900/lives-of-women.aspx
8) Fields, J. (1999). 'Fighting the Corsetless evil': Shaping corsets and culture, 1900-1930. Journal of Social History, 33(2), 357 http://library.calstate.edu/longbeach/articles/record?id=FETCH-LOGICAL-c3124-bdea4bf6fd516323561d540d4d12c5f859275fe37bd9875f67bfa27a7c31ff1f1
9) Fields, J. (1999). 'Fighting the Corsetless evil': Shaping corsets and culture, 1900-1930. Journal of Social History, 33(2), 358 http://library.calstate.edu/longbeach/articles/record?id=FETCH-LOGICAL-c3124-bdea4bf6fd516323561d540d4d12c5f859275fe37bd9875f67bfa27a7c31ff1f1
10) Fields, J. (1999). 'Fighting the Corsetless evil': Shaping corsets and culture, 1900-1930. Journal of Social History, 33(2), 362 http://library.calstate.edu/longbeach/articles/record?id=FETCH-LOGICAL-c3124-bdea4bf6fd516323561d540d4d12c5f859275fe37bd9875f67bfa27a7c31ff1f1