The vital influence of women’s fashion writing
While much as been written about the artistic and political factors that inspired British Aestheticism, few scholars have addressed the vital influence of women’s fashion writing.
While much as been written about the artistic and political factors that inspired British Aestheticism, few scholars have addressed the vital influence of women’s fashion writing.
This lecture in SMU's Dedman Life Sciences Building on May 4 will explore the fashion journalism of two prolific but largely forgotten female aesthetes – Graham R. Tomson and George Fleming. Excluded from male literary clubs and from publishing in more prestigious venues, Tomson and Fleming strategically repurposed the appropriately feminine genre of the fashion column to articulate their tastes, to hone their artistry, to advance their careers, and to develop crucial professional networks.
Studying their fashion writing illuminates the complex interplay between women’s writing in the popular press and the broader Aesthetic movement at the turn of the century.
