Striking Ensembles:The Importance of Clothing on the Picket Line

Abstract

Social scientists and historians have long recognized the interaction between fashion and social stratification. The present paper examines the clothing worn by women during two important strikes in the labor history of the United States — specifically, the 1909 Shirtwaist Strike in New York City and the wave of strikes in the Southern textile mills during the late 1920s and early 1930s. Although separated by a generation and geographic region, both strikes possessed similarities that reveal a great deal about the evolution of women in the workplace during the first three decades of the last century. Specifically, (1) both strikes were in industries populated heavily by women and almost de void of systematic labor organization; (2) in both strikes clothing was utilized by women to simultaneously reflect solidarity and emphasize their linkage to society at large; (3) both groups of strikers were faced with a generally hostile press—generally more concerned with what the women wore on the picket line than with the substantive issues of the strike, and (4) when juxtaposed, these strikers, and the often controversial fashions associated with them, mirrored the changing role of women over a time span marked by the right to vote, a World War, the "flapper" era, and the rise of media culture—especially the film industry. Overall, the analysis demonstrates how the study of clothing can add texture and tangibility to important events in the labor history of the United States.

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