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You Are What You Wear: Clothing and American Authors of the Early 20Th Century

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You Are What You Wear: Clothing and American Authors of the Early 20Th Century Abilene Christian University Digital Commons @ ACU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Electronic Theses and Dissertations Spring 5-2018 You Are What You Wear: Clothing and American Authors of the Early 20th Century Alyssa Q. Johnson Abilene Christian University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd Part of the Literature in English, North America Commons Recommended Citation Johnson, Alyssa Q., "You Are What You Wear: Clothing and American Authors of the Early 20th Century" (2018). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 77. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at Digital Commons @ ACU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ ACU. ABSTRACT Though clothes are often said to “make the man,” they are not frequently said to build a character. This thesis explores the ways in which clothing was a performative tool for those who wore it during the 1920s in America as well as for authors who wrote about this world in which they lived. This study’s theoretical framework is inspired by Judith Butler’s concept of the performative; it is also influenced by historical research into the clothing of the 1920s. Primary texts explored include F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Tender Is the Night, Nella Larsen’s Quicksand, and Jessie Redmon Fauset’s Plum Bun: A Novel without a Moral. In each of these works, clothing is used symbolically as a way to emphasize thematic elements, but it is also used as a tool through which the author builds characters. Through careful crafting of the self’s appearance, individuals choose to either conform to the world around them or to subvert it. Furthermore, these characters use clothing to specific purposes, mirroring the utility of garments in the real world, whether one is examining contemporary society or a specific era like the Jazz Age. You Are What You Wear: Clothing and American Authors of the Early 20th Century A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Graduate School Abilene Christian University In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by Alyssa Quinn Johnson May 2018 This thesis. directed and approved by the candidate's committee, has been accepted by the Graduate Council of Abilene Christian University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree '''/ r- ~~ ~ ~e:;;:~~ ;> Assistant Provost for Graduate Programs Date Thesis Committee Dr. Steven Moore, Chair -:E2.~~ Dr. Cole Bennett Professor Sandy Freeman To Steven Moore and Kylo Ren, because I said I would. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Rather than taking the time to list each of the ACU Language and Literature professors individually, suffice it to say that each of them has played a huge role in my development as a scholar and as a kinder, more thoughtful human being. Thank you all for being the best part of what ACU has to offer. Special thanks to my committee. To Sandy Freeman, for sharing her passion for costuming with me. To Cole Bennett, for the answers to my endless questions, your neverending willingness to help me with problems both school-related and completely irrelevant, and the cat pictures. To Steven Moore, for constant encouragement throughout this project, patience, and “Highways / Byways.” Finally, thanks to my family and friends for their support, senses of humor, and willingness to listen every time I say, “Fun fact!” For your generous ears and your generous hearts, I am truly thankful. TABLE OF CONTENTS I: Threading the Needle: Introduction and Theoretical Framework………………………1 II: More than Zoot Suits and Flappers: Fashion in the 1920s……………………………20 III: Gatsbean Uniforms: Chiffon Dresses, Military Garb, and the Infamous Pink Suit….49 IV: Tender Is the Night and Tender Is Your Skin: Tanning and Crafting the Performative Body……………………………………………………………………………...67 V: Building a Character from the Clothes Up: Nella Larsen and Quicksand……………85 VI: The Empress Has New Clothes: Plum Bun and Passing as a Ruse………………...110 VII: Finishing the Hem: Conclusion and Implications…………………………………130 IIX: Works Cited………………………………………………………………………..136 LIST OF FIGURES 1. Green Dress………………………………..……………………………………..23 2. Yellow Dress……………………………..………………………………………25 3. Robe Sabat………………………………..……………………………………...28 4. Evening Dress………………………………..………………………………......30 5. Mary Campbell, Miss America 1922-1923……………………………………...36 6. Dress with Bow……………………………..……………………………………43 7. Ensemble from Chanel, Coco……………..……………………………………..44 8. Arrow Collar Man……………..…………………………………………………58 ii CHAPTER I THREADING THE NEEDLE: INTRODUCTION AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK The 1920s provide a rich cultural setting that is highly appealing to filmmakers. Movies such as Chicago, The Artist, The King’s Speech, the television series Downton Abbey, and the many iterations of The Great Gatsby demonstrate interpretations of the zeitgeist of the period as well as the rich availability of interesting visual rhetoric. Visually, much of the period has come to be represented through costuming. Great changes were happening societally as well as sartorially, changes that reflect and shape each other. After the first World War, the world experienced a paradigm shift that was helped along by changes in fashions. Dress in the 1920s, the focus of this thesis, exemplifies these global changes. Clothing has a clear and direct relationship to the culture it adorns; therefore, the actual garments a given culture wore are less important than the reasons they wore them. Not only is costume a cultural mirror, but it also serves a rhetorical purpose, particularly when utilized in literary works. Through history and literature, we can note evidence of important cultural changes that happened between WWI and the beginning of the Great Depression. During this era, American culture experienced great economic changes as well as shifting gender politics; these changes are visible both in garments from the period and in sartorial descriptions of characters in Jazz Age literature. Fashion is an indication of what a culture believed was flattering, appealing, beautiful, and powerful; in 1 2 this thesis, I seek to clarify these elements for American Modernists, including both expatriates and Harlem Renaissance authors. As Elizabeth Wilson writes, “we wear inscribed upon our bodies the often obscure relationship of art, personal psychology and the social order” (Qtd. in Harris 74). That which we place upon the body is an important expression of artistry (or lack thereof); furthermore, garments are powerful rhetorical tools. Because “clothes are both public and personal,” they can lead to insights about the wearer as well as the culture at hand (Kaiser 3). Additionally, clothing is a means through which wearers frequently rebel against the status quo. A good deal of the changes in fashion during the early 1900s were driven by the desire to rebel against the strict fashion codes of earlier decades. Clothing, regardless of the wearer’s intent, is always coded with meaning. Therefore, interpreting clothing as a text leads us to various rhetorical insights, particularly when we examine a specific period and theoretical lens. Judith Butler argues that gender is performative and constructed through various “stylized repetitions of acts.” Clothing frequently serves a function of construction and distinguishing genders; as a performative mask, it wields great power. However, its power is stronger than merely that of gender differentiation. Butler’s thesis inspires me to examine other ways in which clothing as a performative tool can shape perceptions of the wearer, for example, demonstrating or creating the illusion of class distinction. Clothing is performative in various ways, exemplified in garments from the 1920s as well as the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nella Larsen, and Jessie Redmon Fauset. While other theses and dissertations have explored similar topics, none I have found examines the period as a comprehensive whole. Additionally, none I have found compares and contrasts the contemporary worlds 3 of the Harlem Renaissance and the expatriate, often more well-known authors. I want to bring various ideas about these texts into conversation under the idea that clothing is performative, both in Judith Butler’s sense regarding gender, but also with consideration to social class distinctions as well as individual rhetorical teloses and identities. It is important that we understand the ways in which clothing continues to “perform” roles for us because they constitute an integral part of identity. In many ways, just as characters become what they wear, we become the garments we choose to put on. Understanding Costume and Dress Before examining the context this thesis will focus on, it is helpful to remember the purposes of clothing. Dress is considered by Michael and Arianne Batterberry to serve three primary functions: protection, decoration, and to arouse the emotions of sex and fear. Additionally, every society has exhibited dressing for the sole purpose of decoration. In fact, Batterberry and Batterberry use the metaphor of an envelope that conceals and holds the body for clothing. They cite a study by Dr. Leo Spiegel in The Journal of Genetic Psychology whose experiment showed that when children were asked to describe a beautiful woman, most “responded in terms of clothing and hair,” leading Dr. Spiegel to determine that “[t]he emphasis on the envelope of the body is so
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