Abstract

While social history museums are to be applauded for collecting and exhibiting nineteenth-century women's costume, exhibitions which use 'dress' are frequently responsible for perpetuating myths about Victorian women, myths which mistakenly assume that our female forebears were universally tiny, and that their clothing was always scrupulously clean. This paper argues that the incorporation of, and engagement with corporeal feminist theories, when researching women's dress, will harvest a much richer understanding of a specifically feminine 'past'.

Date published: January 2000