Clothing displays social situation of class
and gender in its history. In the book of Fashioning
the Bourgeoisie, the historian Philippe Perrot explores history of clothing
and its relationships between elites and middle, lower class people, men and
women. Although he deals with fashion and clothing, his approach is more close
to social history rather than material culture. Not only he focuses on history of
women’s body and clothing, but also he describes men’s clothing and social changes
in the nineteenth century Europe.
He points out three aspects of the ideal
definitions as social strategies, cleanliness, simplicity, and propriety, and
connects how clothing changed with those new aspects. Especially I was
interested in the part of cleanliness. He argues that society focused on
hygiene and cleanliness became a virtue. In his earlier chapter, he talks that “As
white became the obligatory nuptial color, even wedding ceremonies ceased being
an occasion for diverse vestimentary manifestations.” [i]This
idea of cleanliness not only encouraged people to use underwear as invisible
clothing to keep clothes clean, but also helped to wear white as daily dresses.
For working class people, wearing white clothes were not practical since they
had to work in daily bases. In that sense, clean white color dresses
represented upper class women who did not need to work.
My two wedding dresses showed interesting
contrasts when consider about those cleanliness and class perspectives. White
wedding dresses became popular after queen Victoria of England wore a white
dress in her wedding in 1840 at first time within bourgeoisies. Eventually middle
class women imitated this new trend of bourgeoisies. However, white dresses
were not practical for working class women since they remake the dress after
the wedding for daily use.[ii]
One of my wedding dresses from 1837 is not white and remade of grandmother’s
dress. White wedding dresses were not yet popular in all classes at that time.
Perrot approach to understanding meaning of clothing in social structures helps
to analyze my objects in the nineteenth century.
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