Paper short abstract:

In my paper I discuss changes of dress as a change of body techniques. The paper is based on my research project on the adoption of trousers in women’s dress in post-war Finland.

Paper long abstract:

Clothing and dress have traditionally been typical subjects of the ethnological study of the material culture. Recently, in the dress studies, the dress has been studied as a technique of body and as a gendered bodily practice. Researchers of dress have participated in the theoretical discussions of the body and embodiment by pointing out that the human bodies that are being studied are usually dressed bodies and that dress has a central role in the ways in which people know how to use their bodies. Dress is also the means by which bodies are made decent, appropriate and acceptable.

In my paper I discuss the change that took place in women's dress and in their lives as trouser-wearing became acceptable for women. Trousers have traditionally been a male garment and the symbol of masculinity as well. Therefore, the change in dress was also a major change in the ways in which body and gender was performed and understood. The paper is based on my ongoing research project on the adoption of trousers in women's dress in post-war Finland. The research material consists of written oral histories in which women (aged 50 to 80 years) reminiscence the process of adopting the trousers and the public discussion it aroused. I ask, how did women themselves experience the change in dress? How did it change their techniques of body and the way they performed gender?