Decorated Men: Fashioning the French Soldier 1852-1914

Author: Matthews David, Alison

Source: Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture, Volume 7, Number 1, 1 March 2003 , pp. 3-37(35)

Publisher: Berg Publishers

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Abstract:

This article reintroduces the French soldier into the fashionable landscape of the nineteenth century. Using the Second Empire cavalry officer as a case study, it takes issue with John Flugel's theory of the Great Masculine Renunciation by exploring the officer's sexualized image in caricatures, photographs and literature. It then addresses the constant dialogue between military uniforms and women's fashions. In the section “Fashioning Uniformity,” the uniform embodies the tension between standardizing nationalist projects and the struggle for individual identity. Finally, it explores how the French Army tried to use fashion to rehabilitate its public image after losing the Franco-Prussian War.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.2752/136270403778052168

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