This project explores Oscar Wilde's work on painting, the art of dress, and home decor, referred to collectively in his lectures as the 'decorative arts.' While it has become commonplace to assert that Wilde's plays and essays subvert the status quo, few scholars have studied Wilde's work on the decorative arts to substantiate his status as a writer arguing for social and political change. Through an analysis of Wilde's North American lecture tour and his editorship of The Woman's World, as well as his approach to painting, clothing, and home decor in his more well-known work, I argue that Wilde conceives of the decorative arts as a means of expressing and inciting dissatisfaction with the social and political realities of Victorian England. / As I show, Wilde subtly presents avant-garde art, sartorial details, and home decor items as functional ornaments. The formal elements of a painting foster receptivity and, by extension, sensitivity and compassion. Unconventional attire functions as a visual symbol of discontent with social and physical conformity. In light of Wilde's published support of women's emancipation, his writings on home decor imply that the well-decorated house, rather than the Victorian wife, should be responsible for creating domestic harmony. / Wilde's penchant for the decorative arts has long remained the domain of anecdote; the following study instead positions Wilde's interest in the decorative arts as a defining, and insightful, aspect of his oeuvre .

Deuteronomy 22:5 has sparked much interest and wonder for both readers and interpreters of the Bible, throughout Jewish history. Divided into three parts, the verse reads as follows: "A woman should not have keli gever (man's apparel, utensil or tool) on her; a man should not wear simlat isha (a woman's dress, robe, mantle, tunic); anyone who does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God." Each part of the verse has raised questions among exegetes, like how to define its key terms simlat isha and keli gever and what is the nature of the abomination. This thesis explores the responses to these questions through a presentation of the Jewish exegetical history of Deut. 22:5 from biblical times to the present. It demonstrates how the interpretations of this verse varied the application of the biblical law derived from it and thereby affected and altered dress codes, interactions, behhviours, and daily habits of Jewish men and women throughout history.

In this paper I will critically reflect upon an intercultural experience connected with appearance, dress, and the different mutual perceptions of 'others' in public space in current Moscow and Vienna. I will construe this experience as fundamentally different attitudes towards informal behaviour, appearance and gender ambivalence. One of the main causes of this situation I have located in the 1960s, a period of anti-authoritarian subcultural upheaval in the Soviet Union as well as 'the West'. The very different social, economic and political contexts of their emergence and their further ('socialist' vs. capitalist) trajectories are, as I will argue, at the root of the perceptions and connotations of casual wear and behaviour in the public spaces of present-day Moscow and Vienna.(author´s abstract) / Series: WU Online Papers in International Business Communication / Series One: Intercultural Communication and Language Learning

The central theme of the thesis is how clothing and, to a lesser degree, fashion affected the lives of women in the period from 1919 to 1949. The practical impact of clothing on women is rarely assessed to the same degree as other essentials of life such as food and housing, yet obtaining, maintaining and renewing clothing stocks were issues of the utmost importance to women, particularly those from low-income households, in the inter-war period and the Second World War. The first half of the thesis concentrates upon the role of clothing in the home and in popular culture in the inter-war period. Of particular importance is the role of clothing in the household budget, a subject which has received limited attention from social historians. In households with limited incomes, finding the means to purchase clothing was problematic, and women often resorted to unconventional methods of saving and spending. The role of clothing in middle-class households is examined as well, with an emphasis on the many varieties of shops which supplied ready- to-wear clothing, as well as souces of made-to-measure clothing. And, while antiquarian and sociological studies of fashion abound, little has been written on the practical impact of fashion in the lives of ordinary people. With the development of a mass market after the First World War, the influence of fashion was extended to most of the social classes. Rather than re-examining the changing modes themselves, it is useful to study the impact these fashions had upon people: in the way they regarded and treated one another; and in the way they perceived themselves. The study of the inter-war years thus offers a foundation from which to examine the role of clothing in the Second World War. The price of clothing and footwear rose steeply in the early months of the war, but stabilised once rationing and austerity measures took hold. The ways in which women budgeted, saved for and purchased clothing are discussed, with an emphasis on how these methods differed from pre-war habits. Although the development and implementation of government initiatives is described, the latter portion of the thesis concentrates on the practical effects of such schemes in the day-to-day lives of the British people. The role of fashion in the wartime economy is addressed as well. Austerity programmes stalled any extreme changes in fashion, people wore the same clothing year after year, and uniforms were almost universal. Nevertheless, issues of fashion and style remained important to the public, who in any case were encouraged to maintain high standards of dress and appearance as a sign of patriotism.

Exegesis (MA--Art and Design) -- AUT University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references. Also held in print (65 leaves : col. ill. ; 30 cm. + 2 discs) in City Campus Collection (T 700.453 WOO)

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Oct. 30, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-234).

Thesis (M.A.-Res.)--University of Wollongong, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf 137-145.

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Canterbury, 2008. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (p. 142-153). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Dissertation (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Mémoire (M. A.)--Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 1989. / Programme de maîtrise en arts plastiques extensionné de l'UQAM à l'UQAC. CaQCU Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU