Femininity, modernity, dress and the modern museum: 1870-1945
Lucia Jakich
What does it mean to be a modern woman? And what did it mean for women through history?
For women in the 1870s the world was a closed place, most upper class women could not leave the house without a male chaperone, and opportunities to participate in public life were limited. There was a revolution coming, a revolution of industry, society and culture. Rapid industrialisation, increasing political participation from women, and better education were transforming society faster than ever before. With this came a series of distinctive fashions, each telling of the trials and tribulations its own period. Starting in the 1870s a bustle was an innovation that allowed for greater ease of movement for walking in the city streets. Then, the departure from the bustle allowed Edwardian women to commit militant protests for the right to vote. By the golden age of Modernism in the 1930s, women were leading radically different lives to their mothers and grandmothers. Then World War Two presented newfound horrors and freedoms, unimaginable just a decade before. The women of the war, in their suits, work boots, and overalls, were braving a modernity that had become monstrous. We cannot possibly know the stories of every Victorian lady, Suffragette, or Second World War spy, but through their clothes we can glimpse many lives at once.
For women in the 1870s the world was a closed place, most upper class women could not leave the house without a male chaperone, and opportunities to participate in public life were limited. There was a revolution coming, a revolution of industry, society and culture. Rapid industrialisation, increasing political participation from women, and better education were transforming society faster than ever before. With this came a series of distinctive fashions, each telling of the trials and tribulations its own period. Starting in the 1870s a bustle was an innovation that allowed for greater ease of movement for walking in the city streets. Then, the departure from the bustle allowed Edwardian women to commit militant protests for the right to vote. By the golden age of Modernism in the 1930s, women were leading radically different lives to their mothers and grandmothers. Then World War Two presented newfound horrors and freedoms, unimaginable just a decade before. The women of the war, in their suits, work boots, and overalls, were braving a modernity that had become monstrous. We cannot possibly know the stories of every Victorian lady, Suffragette, or Second World War spy, but through their clothes we can glimpse many lives at once.