Abstract
Trousers have traditionally been men’s clothing that women have not been allowed to wear. In this article, I study the history of women’s wearing of trousers in the twentieth-century Finnish context by analysing women’s own memories and experiences of the trouser trend. My research material consists of written reminiscences, which I use, first, to reconstruct the social and cultural factors that framed women’s choices. Second, I approach their personal preferences and choices by analysing their narrative identities in the context of dress. My analysis shows that the cultural norms, conventions and expectations about a proper dress were crucial for adopting a new fashion trend. The most important factor in the choice of apparel was, however, the sensual, embodied experiences of wearing clothes. 
Highlights
Women as Consumers and Wearers of FashionWomen’s wearing of trousers has become an important symbol and milestone in both fashion history and gender history because it represents women’s emancipation on many levels
Most previous studies on the social and cultural history of women wearing trousers focus on the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Fischer 2001; Warner 2005; Buckland 2005; Welters 2005; Rabine & Kaiser 2006; Comstock 2011; Warner 2013) or during the Second World War (Buckland 2005; Hall, Orzada & Lopez-Gydosh 2015)
Attitudes towards women’s dress changed during the Second World War as women stepped into jobs and service positions vacated when men left for the war front
Summary
Women’s wearing of trousers has become an important symbol and milestone in both fashion history and gender history because it represents women’s emancipation on many levels. “They were quite a shock back these trousers”, wrote a woman, born in 1931, in her answer to the Folklore Archives of the Finnish Literature Society, which gathered reminiscences on the history of wearing trousers among women in Finland She had started to wear them in the mid-1940s, but her mother-in-law, for example, never put them on (SKS KRA Housut 298.2006, respondent born in 1931). The history of women’s trousers has been previously discussed mainly by focusing on the role of the fashion industry in initiating and popularising trousers for women. These studies highlight how fashion designers, clothing manufacturers and retailers, fashion magazines, Hollywood films and film stars and other fashion idols revolutionised women’s dress. Women’s trousers are a good example of a fashion that was not easy to adopt, since the trousers fashion was established as early as the 1920s, women did not fully embrace it, or were not given full access to it until the 1970s, and in some cases not even after that (e.g. Vincent 2009: 130–132)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
