Did Apparel (Eighteen-eighties - Nineteen-twenties) Help American Women’s Emancipation? A Socio-Literary Problematic Response

摘要

This essay endeavors to assess if and when and how some dramatic changes in American fashion (from the eighteen-eighties to the nineteen-twenties) contributed to women's emancipation. Since during this period clothes and accessories—as described in important literary texts (by James, Chopin, Dreiser, Fitzgerald, Larsen, among others)—went through a number of set-backs, the answer is positive, but with qualifications.