Gender as Seen in Dress Codes in Early Modern and Modern France

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24500928
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: General human life sciences
• Research Institution: Japan Women's University (2015); Atomi University (2012-2014)
• Principal Investigator: UCHIMURA Rina 日本女子大学, 家政学部, 准教授 (00401597)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 服装規範 / 社交界 / エチケット / ジェンダー / フランス / モード / 花嫁衣裳 / 喪服

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study takes a close look at dress codes described and illustrated in books on etiquette mass produced in France from pre-modern to modern times and analyzes changes in the significance of “mode”, which was closely related to dress codes, by exploring the background of the shift in the focus on men to women as the subject in these books. As a result, 17th century dress codes, which functioned as a mechanism for the advancement of young noblemen in court society life, evolved with social changes over time, and by the 19th century had developed into standards that were meant to protect bourgeois women, as they became an important means for paving the way for marriages promising higher social status. The study concludes that from the early modern era to the modern era, “mode”, while being a gender-specific code, functioned as a mechanism for advancement in life for men and women alike.

Free Research Field

フランス服飾文化史