Dans la première moitié de l’époque moderne, période de troubles politiques et religieux ainsi que de découvertes géographiques ouvrant de nouveaux débouchés commerciaux, la question du chapeau et des autres couvre-chefs est abordée sur les plans technique, commerciaux, à la fois dans la capitale, à la Cour, dans le royaume et à l’étranger, esthétiques avec l’évolution des formes et des décors (broderies, panaches, enseignes) mais aussi sociaux (manières et fonctions de leur port). Ce commerce, transformé par le castor et l’obligation sociale du port d’un couvre-chef, dans le contexte particulier du Paris de l’époque, a un impact fort sur l’évolution des fortunes des chapeliers de la ville et sur les garde-robes des Parisiens et des gens de la Cour. Sans vestige archéologique, les informations, éparses, se trouvent par exemple chez les moralisateurs et les auteurs de l’époque, chez des graveurs français tel qu’Abraham Bosse, chez des peintres flamands comme Jan Miense Molenaer, ou dans les archives judiciaires, comme possibles motifs demeurtres. Loin de n’être qu’un accessoire vestimentaire, le couvre-chef à l’époque moderne est un élément essentiel dans la définition de l’humanité d’un individu et de sa sociabilité : c’est par lui qu’il indique son appartenance nationale, son âge, sa fortune, son métier, son rang social ou sa maîtrise des codes de civilité, notamment par rapport à l’institution médiévale du salut. Cette importance du couvre-chef est remise en cause sur les plans politique et religieux par les Protestants mais aussi par la découverte de nouvelles sociétés dont le rapport au vêtement relativise l’approche européenne traditionnelle. / In the first half of the early modern period, time of political and religious troubles, and of great geographical discoveries that opened new trade opportunities, we approached the subject of hat and headdresses history in their technical, commercial (in the capital, the Court, the kingdom and abroad), esthetical (evolutions of forms, embroideries, feathers, hat badges) and social ways (manners and signification of wearing them). In the peculiar Parisian context of this period, this trade, changed by the apparition of beaver and the social obligation to have everybody’s head covered, has a deep impact not only on the evolution of the Parisian hatters’ wealth but also on Parisians’ and Courtiers’ wardrobes themselves. Without headdresses preserved, details about them are scattered in documentary sources: for example, we can find them in the writings of authors and moralizing people, in engravings of French people like Abraham Bosse, in works of Flemish painters like Jan Miense Molenaer, but also in criminal archives where they can be sometimes even motives of murder! Far from just being clothing accessories, headdresses in the early modern period are essential to socialize and characterize human beings: through them, we can grasp national identity, age, wealth, profession, social status and knowledge of civility rules (especially to raisesomebody’s cap to someone, a tradition established from medieval times). Also, at that time, their importance is reconsidered because of the challenge by the Protestants about their social significance and by the discovery of new societies with other relation to clothes, which put the traditional and European approach into perspective.

“Perpetual little girl” – Gender coding of the costume design-profession: A critical discourse analysis is a bachelor’s thesis in Performance Studies written by Yonna S. Thil in the spring of 2023 at Stockholm University. This study focuses on the gendering of the costume design-profession, as well as the gendering of theatre professions in general and attempts to answer the question “How does female gender coding affect the professional role of the costume designer?”. Fashion history and theatre history is used to map out the ways in which the costume designer is at a point of intersection between fashion, a highly feminized phenomenon, and theatre, a system which has excluded women from the practice for thousands of years. Statistics from Stockholm University of the Arts and interviews with both male and female costume designers working in theatre and film in Sweden tell the story of how the feminization of their profession affect the practice. The study includes comparisons with male coded professions in the theatre system, questions of the wage gap between male and female coded professions as well as discussions of the artistic genius and charismatic authority.