People who transgress fashion norms are often viewed with suspicion, distrust, or even disgust. Yet going against the grain can also empower, by getting us and our causes noticed…
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19th Century Mourning dress: clothing customs to commemorate the dead
Formal rituals of bereavement became a yardstick of behaviour. The study of mourning dress provides an insight into the social position of women, in particular. Women bore the heaviest burden of the mourning ritual, becoming social outcasts for their first year of widowhood.
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Feminine Design Icon, or Symbol of Female Oppression?
Just as an online photograph today might show an attractive woman beaming behind a bowl of salad, an advertisement in the 1940s or ‘50s may have depicted a pretty, apron-clad woman smiling alongside a packet of soap powder.
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