Lace and velvet: gender issues from the Eufrasia Teixeira Leite’s redingote in the end of the 19th century

Abstract

This article discusses gender normativity based on the investigation of a riding coat from the Eufrasia Teixeira Leite heritage, belonging to the collection of the Casa da Hera Museum, in Vassouras, Rio de Janeiro. Redingotes were men's coats of English origin used for traveling on horseback; Men's tailoring incorporated them into fashion and adapted them to women's clothing in the 18th and 19th centuries. The aforementioned coat, catalogued in the collection as T1140, is from the end of the 19th century, has a traditional redingote structure, although it has adornments that refer to the aristocratic costumes of the Old Regime France. This study seeks to identify this garment as an object that demystifies the binary notions typical of the categorization of so-called male or female. Recognizes historical research as a tool for reviewing personal beliefs about gender roles that tend to consider them as normative. Not all costumes correspond to the fashion of their time, and they could be created for the countless fancy dress balls and parties that were part of the upper class in the 19th century.