Om att höra ekon från modets värld -- och om att svara själv : konstruktionen av den ideala medelklasskvinnan mellan hemideologi och konsumtion i det sena 1800-talets Sverige
(2023) HISS33 20231History
- Abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to study how the ideal middle-class femininity was constructed through fashion in late 19th century Sweden. Fashion have often been studied through the construction of gender, but this study aspires to show how fashion history also can be enriched when combined with closely related fields such as history of the body and of women’s morality. The theoretical framework is constituted by the concept of respectability as one of the ways in which femininity is constructed. By starting in a tense set of circumstances between two different ways to describe femininity noticed in Swedish culture by the end of the century: the cult of true womanhood (which emphasised the woman as a moderate being) versus the growing... (More)
- The aim of this thesis is to study how the ideal middle-class femininity was constructed through fashion in late 19th century Sweden. Fashion have often been studied through the construction of gender, but this study aspires to show how fashion history also can be enriched when combined with closely related fields such as history of the body and of women’s morality. The theoretical framework is constituted by the concept of respectability as one of the ways in which femininity is constructed. By starting in a tense set of circumstances between two different ways to describe femininity noticed in Swedish culture by the end of the century: the cult of true womanhood (which emphasised the woman as a moderate being) versus the growing consumption-culture and the commodification of femininity (which rather emphasised consumption as the quintessential expression of femininity), the paper investigates the co-construction of ideal femininity through three parts: fashion, the body and morality. The main source materials are Swedish fashion magazines and advice manuals from the 1870’s to the 1890’s, both commodified products in the Swedish culture by the time, in which the construction of the ideal middle-class woman was present. Focusing on a set of themes present in the source materials: the obligation to please, vanity, cleanliness, health and beauty through the importance of white skin, make-up and the corset, the opportunity to walk in nature, the fashion system and recycling in the fashion wardrobe, the importance to arouse desire and the home as an institution; the thesis investigates how the co-construction of femininity were executed either by the cult of true womanhood or by the commodified femininity. The study shows how both sides were in constant conflict about what the ideal middle-class woman really represented, but that they both emphasised respectability as an important hall-mark for femininity. Further more, they both constructed the ideal woman through the ideal body and self as well as fashion, and the study shows how present all three parts were in the construction in the source materials. The ideal middle-class woman was expected to please her surroundings with her grace, beauty and moderation and to practice cleanliness and health in order to be truly ’middle-class’. But she was also encouraged to take herself into consideration when choosing her fashionable dress — fashion could be a place where her own opinions mattered. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9139450
- author
- Holmberg, Agnes LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- HISS33 20231
- year
- 2023
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- mode, genus, respektabilitet, ideal, kropp, moral, skönhet, hälsa, behag, kommodifierad kvinnlighet, medelklass, hemideologi, rådgivningslitteratur, modemagasin
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9139450
- date added to LUP
- 2023-10-02 14:49:53
- date last changed
- 2023-10-02 14:49:53
@misc{9139450,
abstract = {{The aim of this thesis is to study how the ideal middle-class femininity was constructed through fashion in late 19th century Sweden. Fashion have often been studied through the construction of gender, but this study aspires to show how fashion history also can be enriched when combined with closely related fields such as history of the body and of women’s morality. The theoretical framework is constituted by the concept of respectability as one of the ways in which femininity is constructed. By starting in a tense set of circumstances between two different ways to describe femininity noticed in Swedish culture by the end of the century: the cult of true womanhood (which emphasised the woman as a moderate being) versus the growing consumption-culture and the commodification of femininity (which rather emphasised consumption as the quintessential expression of femininity), the paper investigates the co-construction of ideal femininity through three parts: fashion, the body and morality. The main source materials are Swedish fashion magazines and advice manuals from the 1870’s to the 1890’s, both commodified products in the Swedish culture by the time, in which the construction of the ideal middle-class woman was present. Focusing on a set of themes present in the source materials: the obligation to please, vanity, cleanliness, health and beauty through the importance of white skin, make-up and the corset, the opportunity to walk in nature, the fashion system and recycling in the fashion wardrobe, the importance to arouse desire and the home as an institution; the thesis investigates how the co-construction of femininity were executed either by the cult of true womanhood or by the commodified femininity. The study shows how both sides were in constant conflict about what the ideal middle-class woman really represented, but that they both emphasised respectability as an important hall-mark for femininity. Further more, they both constructed the ideal woman through the ideal body and self as well as fashion, and the study shows how present all three parts were in the construction in the source materials. The ideal middle-class woman was expected to please her surroundings with her grace, beauty and moderation and to practice cleanliness and health in order to be truly ’middle-class’. But she was also encouraged to take herself into consideration when choosing her fashionable dress — fashion could be a place where her own opinions mattered.}},
author = {{Holmberg, Agnes}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Om att höra ekon från modets värld -- och om att svara själv : konstruktionen av den ideala medelklasskvinnan mellan hemideologi och konsumtion i det sena 1800-talets Sverige}},
year = {{2023}},
}