Browsing by Author "Poutiainen, Hanna-Kaisa"

In this study I examined how descriptions of dressing in the Finnish girls’ literature, magazines and etiquette books written in 20the century has depicted the times they were written in, the current fashion and dress codes. I also studied how and by whom the girls’ dressing was controlled during the same time period. I analyzed how the personality of the character, her social status and attached group comes across from the clothes worn in the books. The data collected for my study consisted of descriptions of dressing included in the Finnish girls’ literature written during the 1920s, 1950s and 1980s. I have also studied articles written in relation to dressing in Finnish magazines Kotiliesi and Suomen Kuvalehti as well as etiquette books written during the same decades to bring wider context for dressing in Finland during the studied period. This study is a historical qualitative study. I have used qualitative data analysis as my method. Current fashion was not apparent in the pages of the books under study which is typical for the Finnish girls’ literature. However, the zeitgeist of the publishing time of the book could be inter-preted from the dressing descriptions. In addition, especially at the earliest decades studied, the dress code of the society was apparent both in the books and even more so in the magazines and etiquette books. How the girls’ dressed was not only controlled by internalized norms but also by their mothers. Girlhood, how to be a girl in Finnish society has been reproduced and dismantled in the dressing descriptions. Dressing is communication, also when the description of dressing is in the written format. Dress descriptions have been used to describe the personality of the character and also the changes or hopes that one has for a change in one. Social status is often readable in one’s appearance which is also true for the characters of the books studied. Dress is one way for a girl to become part of a certain group as well as to differentiate from it if wanted.