Seamstresses and fashion merchants

disputes over the right to dress women in 18th century Paris

Abstract

This paper analyzes the disputes, in 18th century Paris, about the production work of women’s clothing and its underlying meanings; specifically, the disputes about who should produce the clothes considered appropriate for women. Thus, we examine the consolidation of justification discourses about sewing and the creation of fashion trends as jobs appropriate for women and which should be preferably done by them. For this, we focus on the dispute between male and female workers for the right to dress women. This is more evident in the case of master seamstresses (maîtresses couturières) and fashion mer- chants (marchandes de modes). In a certain way, the defense of the so-called “needle works” as a female domain meant an ambiguous rearrangement of understanding of sex and the definitions of gender roles. In conclusion, the rhetoric mobilized to defend women’s work changed from an axis of moral discourse, based on its social function and on the protection of the modesty of female consumers, to one based on the definition of work suitable or un- suitable for each sex. Finally, if on one hand there was an expansion of the legitimate work of women, with the recognition in the form of corporations of seamstresses and fashion merchants, on the other hand this expansion was based on the restriction of gender roles that women could play in this sector. Thus, a distinction was made in the affairs of fashion between works considered suitable for women and works suitable for men.