Making Great Strides : Suffragism, the Hobble Skirt, and the Discourse of Media

Sammanfattning

Fashion and clothing have always been a cultural vessel of self-expression, but how has it also been used as a tool of societal control and an expression of a perceived mass ideal? Throughout history, women have been treated as second class citizens and often as political chess pieces within the grander scheme of the western narrative of society. Often, this dominance over women was exerted covertly through spaces they were allowed to occupy, namely dress, fashion, and especially within media. The discourse of feminism, fashion, and media’s influence surrounding them, will be explored through the analysis of the Edwardian fashion trend, the hobble skirt.