Identity and its different constructions - national, social and personal, for example - are increasingly recognised as fundamental to understanding current and historic cultures. The reflexive relationship of identity issues with sartorial expression is a key concept within dress, fashion and textile studies. This thesis contributes to that growing body of knowledge by developing an understanding of how specific eighteenth century Scotswomen and their families related to their garments, thus bringing together contemporary study methods and understandings of identity with historic manifestations. This study of identity is embedded within an object-study methodology, following investigative practice and cataloguing methods currently used within the international museums community. This assists the secondary purpose of the thesis, which is to highlight a breadth of largely unpublished main garment objects within Scottish public and private collections. The intimate study of these objects has revealed stories of how daily life interacted with personal taste and style, purchase methods, garment use and international markets for individuals connected to Scotland. This has contributed material understanding to wider academic research areas, most importantly the everyday lives of eighteenth century Scotswomen, issues of identity within Scotland, and how European fashion trends were adopted or adapted by individuals outside of the major fashion centres of London and Paris. Study of the garments has involved stylistic analysis of their textiles and of their construction, connecting them to other extant and depicted garments from British and international collections. Thus providing material evidence of international styles in the eighteenth century, and matching two items in a rare example of extant main garments evidencing duplication in the eighteenth century handmade clothing industry.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:586853 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Taylor, Emily Joan |
| Publisher | University of Glasgow |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://theses.gla.ac.uk/4772/ |
Page generated in 0.0021 seconds