A presentation developed for one of my graduate courses at SCAD; it documented the diffusion of the blouse as a popular element of women's daily fashion.

1. the
Blouse
Rebecca Horton, DMGT 702,
23 Apr. 2012
A case study of innovation through a
look into the diffusion of two-piece
women’s dress
Evening overblouse, 1910 via Artstor

3. Why Study the Blouse?
A CASE OF
Woman in a Green Blouse, Ernst Ludwig
Kirchner, 1913 via Artstor
engineering.
heterogeneous

4. Changing Times
1858
1910
Images: French Day Dress 1858; Women’s USA, 1910, via Life image archive

5. Spools of Innovation
1.
2.
3.
The sewing Novelty and Changing roles
machine women’s dress for women
Image: madeelinetosh via flickr

6. “…industrial innovation can be used as an
explanatory device for the evolution of fashion
trends, though only within the context of social
and cultural determinants”
-Breward, C. The Culture of Fashion: A New History of Fashionable
Dress
Image: William Morris Black and White Textiles

7. Sewing
machine
as key
innovation
Singer Sewing Machines Print,
1868, via Life image archive

8. Crinoline, lace, starched collars, plain long-sleeved
blouses for tennis, the tailor-made suit…
Image: SCAD 2011 diagram of 19th century woman’s shirt

9. Novelty and
Women’s Dress
1902 National Cloak Company Original
advertisement, via Life image archive

10. “a form of clothing suitable for the pace and
demands of urban, industrial life in capitalist
societies” -Wilson, E. Through the Looking Glass
Image: Mulberry Bend Park, New York City, 1897

11. Gibson Girl
Illustration from “Sketches and Cartoons” by
Charles Dana Gibson

12. Innovation Timeline
Rational dress society
promotes dress reform
Women gain the
Long-sleeved blouses right to vote
with starched collars
worn as tennis wear
Blouses are
commonplace
Gibson Girl amongst young
women
Many middle-aged
women are now working
Women’s suits and
serge skirts come into
Diffusion of the fashion with middle- and
Sewing Machine upper-class women
1830s 1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s

13. Sources Referenced
Breward, C. The Culture of Fashion: A New History of Fashionable Dress.”
Machester University Press, Manchester, 1995. pp. 156-157, 163
Cunningham, P. “Reforming Women’s Fashion, 1850-1920: Politics, Health,
and Art
Wilson, E. Through the Looking Glass. BBC Books, 1991. pp. 34-35, 36, 37,
48, 52, 52-53