Picturing the American Suffragist: Style and Satire in the Postcard Age, 1900-1920
Raissa Bretana
Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice
About this Item
- Title
- Picturing the American Suffragist: Style and Satire in the Postcard Age, 1900-1920
- Contributor Names
-
Bretana, Raissa (Author)
-
Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York. Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice (Degree granting institution)
-
Font, Lourdes M. (Thesis advisor)
- Date
- 2019
- Degree Information
- M.A. Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York 2019.
- Department: Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice.
- Advisors: Font, Lourdes. Committee members: Denyse Montegut.
- Abstract
- From its beginnings during the mid-nineteenth century to its culmination in 1920, the American Women's Suffrage Movement experienced several iterations under shifting leadership, party ideologies, and political strategies. During the final push of the campaign in the twentieth century, the leaders of the movement placed an emphasis on image in an effort to build support for the cause—both in the strategic styling of its female supporters and through the illustrations circulated to generate public awareness. One of the most provocative forms of visual media was the suffrage postcard, which proved a valuable promotional tool for suffragists and anti- suffragists alike. This study focuses on the period of the suffrage movement that overlaps with the Golden Age of the Postcard (1905 to 1917), and takes into account the dramatic evolution of fashionable dress that also takes place during those years.The postcards—most of which belong to the Kenneth Florey Collection of Woman Suffrage Memorabilia—serve as the primary objects of inquiry. By analyzing the modes of dress depicted in these postcards, in this paper I investigate the female archetypes that have recurring roles in suffrage imagery: the Virtuous Mother, the Timeless Allegory, the Dowdy Harridan, the Masculine Woman, the Flirtatious Ingénue, and the Frivolous Fashionista. The study then assesses the calculated role that fashion plays in creating these stereotypes. Through the exploration of these different engagements with fashion—adherence, obsession, absence, and subversion—this paper begins to decode the stylized characterizations of the American suffragist that continue to shape contemporary perceptions of early feminists.
- Subject
- Fashion in art
- Women
- Suffragists
- Feminism
- Kenneth Florey Collection of Woman Suffrage Memorabilia
- Postcards
- Rights
- In Copyright
- The copyright for this work is held by its author/creator(s). Usage of this material beyond what is permitted by copyright law must first be cleared with the rights-holder(s). This work has been made available online by the Fashion Institute of Technology Gladys Marcus Library strictly for research and educational purposes. If you are the copyright holder for this work and have any objections to this work being made available online, please notify us immediately at [email protected].
- This item must not be sold to any third party vendors.
- Identifier
- FIT Repository ID: etd_000156
- pqdiss: 22619595
- ISBN: 9781088390665
- Related Materials
- Also available from ProQuest
- Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 81-04.
- Language
- eng
- Publisher
- Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
Citation
Bretana, R. (2019). Picturing the American Suffragist: Style and Satire in the Postcard Age, 1900-1920 [Master's thesis, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York]. FIT Institutional Repository. https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/424
Bretana, Raissa. Picturing the American Suffragist: Style and Satire in the Postcard Age, 1900-1920. 2019. Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, Master's thesis. FIT Institutional Repository, https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/424
Bretana, Raissa. "Picturing the American Suffragist: Style and Satire in the Postcard Age, 1900-1920." Master's thesis, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, 2019. https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/424