MA, Kent State University, 2023, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History
American women in the 1800s lived in a social structure designed to reinforce traditional womanhood. This was emphasized and visualized by the restrictive popular fashions for women, characterized by long skirts and restrictive undergarments. Women's fashions began to change as mass production and consumption became paramount to American womanhood at the turn of the century. However, it would not be until the events of World War I where women's fashions transformed to what we would recognize today as modern. As American women mobilized in both civilian and military roles, they adopted working uniforms that were more practical, economical, and safe than popular fashions at the time. Postwar, women's modern fashions embraced the shortened hems and boxy, or boyish, cuts that increased the physical mobility of women. This gave ammunition to social critics who worried about the “masculinization” of American women as they adopted these new styles that mimicked men's fashions, with straight lines and short haircuts like the “bob”. These critics voiced fears about the collapse of traditional womanhood, and in extension, the collapse of American society. Combining historical and material culture analyses, this thesis aims to complicate the view of scholars that the 1920s was a largely stagnant period for the equality of women. Viewing this turbulent and tension filled period of American history through the lens of fashion complicates this understanding and shows how American women created spaces for resistance in their everyday lives.
Committee: Kenneth Bindas (Advisor)
Subjects: American History; American Studies; Gender; Gender Studies; History; Modern History; Museum Studies; Womens Studies