Repackaging Rousseau : femininity and fashion in old regime France

Author

Jones, Jennifer M.

Document type

Article (journal)

Language

English

Source

French historical studies. 1994, Num. 4, Vol. 18, 939-967

ISSN

0016-1071

Abstract (en)

This article examines the ways in which the 18th c. French fashion press creatively repackaged Rousseau's ideas about femininity for the benefit of the fashion industry. The fashion editors took the existing discourse on fashion, which since the 17th c. had associated clothing consumption with aristocracy, luxury, and women's theatricality, and transformed it so that the consumption of fashions could be rendered compatible with domesticity. The editors did so by suggesting that fashion was fundamentally a product of taste rather than wealth and luxury. Broadly, the article suggests that by looking closely at the ways in which gender identities were shaped and negotiated within the realm of commerce, historians may be able to move beyond rigid understandings of the ways in which notions of public and private marked women's place within 18th c. French culture.

Subject (en)

• General history of art -- 1400-1800 -- Decorative arts -- Textiles and costume -- France
• Fashion
• France
• 1700-1800
• Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 1712-1778
• Costume
• Philosophy
• Femininity
• Gender (sex)
• Commerce
• Ancien Régime (France)

Subject (fr)

• Histoire générale de l'art -- 1400-1800 -- Arts décoratifs -- Textiles et costume -- France
• Mode
• France
• 1700-1800
• Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 1712-1778
• Costume
• Philosophie
• Féminité
• Sexe (catégorie)
• Commerce
• Ancien Régime

Origin

DatabaseBHA (Inist-CNRS/GRI)

Identifier19960401-00284848

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