Women's dresses from eighteenth-century Scotland: fashion objects and identities

Taylor, Emily Joan (2013) Women's dresses from eighteenth-century Scotland: fashion objects and identities. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Identity and its different constructions - national, social and personal, for example - are increasingly recognised as fundamental to understanding current and historic cultures. The reflexive relationship of identity issues with sartorial expression is a key concept within dress, fashion and textile studies. This thesis contributes to that growing body of knowledge by developing an understanding of how specific eighteenth century Scotswomen and their families related to their garments, thus bringing together contemporary study methods and understandings of identity with historic manifestations.

This study of identity is embedded within an object-study methodology, following investigative practice and cataloguing methods currently used within the international museums community. This assists the secondary purpose of the thesis, which is to highlight a breadth of largely unpublished main garment objects within Scottish public and private collections. The intimate study of these objects has revealed stories of how daily life interacted with personal taste and style, purchase methods, garment use and international markets for individuals connected to Scotland. This has contributed material understanding to wider academic research areas, most importantly the everyday lives of eighteenth century Scotswomen, issues of identity within Scotland, and how European fashion trends were adopted or adapted by individuals outside of the major fashion centres of London and Paris. Study of the garments has involved stylistic analysis of their textiles and of their construction, connecting them to other extant and depicted garments from British and international collections. Thus providing material evidence of international styles in the eighteenth century, and matching two items in a rare example of extant main garments evidencing duplication in the eighteenth century handmade clothing industry.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Due to copyright restrictions the full text of volume 2 of this thesis cannot be made available online. Access to the printed version is available.
• Keywords: Dress, textiles, fashion, identity, eighteenth-century, women, material culture, object study, museums practice, Scotland, Scottish identity, social history, clothing
• Subjects: A General Works > AM Museums (General). Collectors and collecting (General); D History General and Old World > D History (General); D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D901 Europe (General); H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman; H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races; N Fine Arts > NK Decorative arts Applied arts Decoration and ornament
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > History of Art
• Supervisor's Name: Rush, Dr. Sally and MacDonald, Professor Margaret
• Date of Award: 2013
• Depositing User: Miss Emily J Taylor
• Unique ID: glathesis:2013-4772
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 17 Jan 2014 10:06
• Last Modified: 20 Oct 2023 10:24
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.4772
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/4772