‘Biography of the self’: Why Australian women wear 1950s style clothing

Abstract

This article aims to understand why one cohort of Australian women choose to wear anachronistic clothing, in this case, 1950s inspired and styled clothing, and more so, why they choose to wear this style of clothing as part of their everyday lives. While some wearers of anachronistic clothing, such as civil war re-creators or Jane Austen enthusiasts, dress for particular social events and revert to ‘everyday’ clothing in their daily lives, this research seeks to examine why this cohort of 1950s fashion aficionados maintain this aesthetic in their everyday work and social lives. The research findings are based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with 27 Australian women, aged from their 20s to their 60s, living in urban and regional locations. The purpose of the project was to uncover the psychological and sociological reasons for their sartorial everyday choices. In doing so a number of issues emerged notably interpretations of what constituted 1950s styled clothing. In the discussion of the findings, it was found that the reasons for this fashion choice were complex ranging from personal, psychological, sociological, gendered, nostalgic and political reasons for adopting this style.