Fashion, Feminism, and Fascism: The New Woman and the Crisis of Modernity in France and Germany, 1920-1945.

Date of Award

2009

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Harvey, David

Keywords

Fashion, Femininity, French Women, German Women, Fascism, Crisis of Modernity, Natalism, Depopulation, Occupation, Fashion Industry

Area of Concentration

History

Abstract

This thesis examines the role of the New Woman in France and Germany in the interwar period through the lens of women's fashion. Women's clothing is examined as an example of feminine rejection of conservative political and social ideology within the context of depopulation, economic depression, and the new atmosphere of gender equality that arose in the 1920s. On an international scale, women's clothing and the French fashion industry serve to highlight the international tensions between France and Germany that eventually erupted with the outbreak of the Second World War. Ultimately women consistently fashioned themselves in styles that went against conservative and fascist ideology. Their ability to do so against strong cultural and political suppression demonstrates the power of individual choice with regard to fashion, as well as the various failings of the conservative and fascist powers that tried to restrain them.

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