2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Study for family life on the chenge of clothes in the family

Research Project

Project/Area Number	24650472
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	General human life sciences
Research Institution	Tokyo Kasei Gakuin University
Principal Investigator	YAMAMURA AKIKO 東京家政学院大学, 現代生活学部, 准教授 (60279958)
Project Period (FY)	2012-04-01 – 2014-03-31
Keywords	衣生活 / 家庭生活 / エプロン
Research Abstract	Within the family, we wear clothes mainly for relaxation, sleeping, and domestic chores. Since those clothesare seen only by family members, so those garments are hidden inside the lives of indeviduals. The author believes that based on past transformations in clothes worn within families, is it possible toclarify the ideals of family life. I take up the apron as a garment of domestic labor for housewives. Based on the frequency of wearing the apron after the Second World War, I will clarify the ideals of domestic chores within families and for those who play a central role in domestic labor, and examine the power of clothing upon one's everyday life. Because the feminine aspects of the apron, which ussed to be premised on housekeeping labor by women, were sometimes overemphasized or denied, it consequently helped it become somewhat obsolete. On the other hand, because gender equality is assumed in the family, the apron helped strengthen the bonds among family members.