The Fashion Trends of Inequality: How The Victorian Era Fashion Showed Women's Struggle For Rights
Do you like fashion? Are you interested in women's fight for equal rights? Well then this is the podcast for you! Join me in this episode where I take a deep dive into documents that showcase Victorian Fashion. I will make connection of how the strict fashion of corsets represented how women were forced into sexist stereotypes. I hope you will tune in to a very fun and interesting podcast!
You brought a really unique idea of equating women's physical bodies to their place in society. As you said in your podcast, women had to make themselves small physically with corsets, and similarly can’t have pockets because gives them less freedom and mobility. The limiting of and unequal standards body is representative of the unfairness of Victorian society for women. I think it was really smart to parallel and contrast how women in the 1920s versus the Victorain era is a great connection as well especially matched with your source because it spoke about disdain for Victorian styles during the time, as opposed to a current piece that would analyze it. Moving away from that style is liberating both emotionally and physically and so by having diff clothing and ability for movement, women then were able to have more movement in society overall. A question I have is, was there a connection between women entering different spheres (outside of the home) more during the 1920s as their clothing style changed? Essentially, was their new freedom only in clothing or also in mobility?
ReplyDeleteI like that you made the idea of “passing down” a corset sound like an obligation as a mother would want their daughter to be respected and accepted by society, instead of outliered like they would if they were not following dress code. As you start your podcast connecting the corset to motherhood. Do you think that the women of the 1920s were wearing styles that would be approved by their mothers, the way that corsets were? Also women’s outward expression of happiness in their freedom of the 1920s being assessed“boyish grin,” really does show that this liberation was a new phenomenon that, even a female writer, considered their joy manly because only men until that point had had the casual freedom of movement and mobility that women were getting through the separation of corsets and less constraining clothing. Having sources from both time periods your contrasting in you podcast shows unanimous female abhorrence to the clothing that they were wearing. Fashion is so important and in the Victorian era women were subordinated and they literally wore it on their body by being physically constrained in the same way society was. It was a great listen!
I found your podcast so interesting! I loved how you started with the question of having a corset being passed down from mother to daughter early on in life. This raised my curiosity as before the woman is even a woman mothers are pressuring such an unhealthy thing for young girls to wear. When you mentioned the picture of a mother and a daughter with a mirror and a corset I wonder what the mirror could symbolize overall? Could it represent an ideal that the mother has that she wants to mirror to her daughter? I never thought how clothing can show how women's clothing can represent how they are treated in society because as you said women have to make themselves shrink emotionally and physically in public to please men. I related it to in class when we talked about how women had clothes that don't need to be able to work in for example they had very small pockets compared to the men. I have loved the history of the Roaring Twenties and I found it so interesting how you used music to change the time period you are talking about . Also, how you compared how women spoke up in the Roaring 20's and how differently they approached women's fashion. I loved your podcast overall especially the gaps of instrumentals to separate parts it gave a breath of fresh air to the podcast! I will now think of how clothing can represent how people are treated in society!
ReplyDeleteI loved this podcast, Elizabeth! You immediately "sold" this podcast when you mentioned women's fashion and the equal rights of women. I love fashion and I thought it was so captivating that you started the podcast with a question asking how weird it would be if the first item our mom passed down to us was a corset. This question not only pushes listeners to think critically, but it makes listeners feel as if they are emerged in the Victorian period from the very start of the podcast. I also love how you detailed how women gained more power and representation in society after corsets were no longer a staple and forced upon women. While women were expected to embody a typical stereotype of having a tiny waist, wearing elegant dresses, and looking luxurious, your detail on this changing during the Roaring Twenties was captivating(and I love the music in the background too)! In the Roaring Twenties, the female boyish combo of clothes helped women leave behind the stereotype of what women were confined/expected to be in fashion and in life. Why was the Roaring Twenties an avenue of change for women's clothing? Did this change in women's clothing influence men's power and dominance in society? I found it really exciting when you detailed how clothes were no longer constricting like corsets were, but instead, women could wear comfy clothes which liberated them from previous Victorian fashion like corsets. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to your podcast and would love to listen to another one!!
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ReplyDeleteYou did a beautiful job of highlighting the disturbing features of corsets/fashion expectations for women during the Victorian Era. I especially liked that you took us through a timeline essentially for how women slowly began to earn their voice in their decision of many fashion choices. I found myself reflecting on ideas I didn’t consider in detail before. I completely agree with your interpretation of corsets forcing women to take up less space in society. I think the concept of pockets is ironic because in some ways it frees women to feel they have a purpose and ability to keep important things on their person, but at the same time, it almost tells us that they are meant to hide things or be hidden themselves- perhaps in society. The infuriating idea that continued to cross my mind as you spoke is that corsets and other feminine fashion during the time were a direct result of the patriarchal desire to keep women insignificant and submissive. Again, well done!
I loved listening to your podcast! You did an amazing job in explaining how corsets were restrictive to women in the Victorian era. I like how you begin the podcast with the fact that passing down corsets between mothers and daughters was seen as “normal” during that time. I think it put the audience in the perspective of how normal wearing corsets were. The advertisement you mentioned also enhanced that idea, especially since the advertisement revolved around the notion that passing down corsets was expected of mothers. Your focus on the word “sensible” in the podcast really emphasized the pressure Victorian society had on mothers that they had to raise their daughters to fit society’s standards. Mentioning the advertisement also taught me that, not only was this practice known by women, but Victorian media aided in the practice of wearing corsets. I also really liked how you changed the subject to fashion in the 1920’s. Being that 1920’s fashion gave women more mobility and liberated them from the constraints of Victorian fashion was really eye opening to how important it is to study fashion, for it speaks so largely to how women were perceived during that specific time. That being said, not only did I learn more about the corset, but your podcast had an emphasis on the importance of studying fashion in history and I found that very intriguing. For me, it puts into perspective how far we have come as a society and our ability to wear whatever we want. Before, I didn’t see the fact that I can go to class in sweatpants as a luxury, but it totally is! All in all, I really liked this podcast!
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