This thesis researches the role clothes and fashion played in the performance and representation of gender in a Swedish fashion magazine between 1830 and 1835. It also examines the performance of the magazine itself in reproducing idealised appearances, behaviours, and the concept of fashion towards a middle-class readership. A distinction is made between dress and fashion, where dress is understood as the tangible act of clothing, the body and fashion are a collective and conscious belief that grants clothes with an intangible extra added value. The analysis is divided into two chapters. The first focuses on the magazine’s communication on the usage and functions of clothes, as well as how, where, and when they were meant to be worn. This chapter also includes an analysis of the concept of fashion and the magazine’s understanding of it. The second chapter focuses on the performance, gender, and the body, what type of performances can be detected, and their relation to clothes and fashion. The magazine comments on its role and responsibility as a vessel of information on fashion and reinforces the existence of the fashion concept. Fashion was seen as an unavoidable force of nature at the same time as delicate since the act of dress could disrupt the idea of fashion by being worn by too many, thus considered too common. The idea of an external appearance matching internal essence was stressed for both women and men. Clothes visualised a “true” inner self of a person and should ideally overlap, signifying sincerity instead of deception. Dressing for occupational and occasional circumstances was applicable for both women and men. Marriage attire, however, was only directed at women, although men were represented in 47 % of the fashion plates, and information was being relayed concerning men’s fashion, making this absence noticeable.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-530381 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Bergström, Elina |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Historiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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