Mode kā temats Latvijas teritorijas seniespiedumos
Fashion as a Topic in Early Prints of the Territory of Latvia

Summary/Abstract: Since its existence, fashion has fascinated or, on the contrary, caused confusion in society. This is confirmed by the historical evidence on the fashion of the time found in the printed works. The written information, sometimes accompanied by fashion illustrations, reflects the latest styles of clothing and accessories popularized in society. Along with these, there were also publications by individual authors, in which they shared their opinion of fashion, thus allowing us to look at it from a new prism – from the eyes of fashion contemporaries and former fashion historians. Fashion as a topic of discussion and debate in early prints published in the territory of Latvia can be dated from the late eighteenth century. The article is dedicated to the study of the early prints texts devoted to fashion published in the territory of Latvia, with the aim to find out how fashion was perceived and evaluated by authors of the relevant time. The article focuses on the attitudes expressed by the authors of the publications and the meaning given to the fashion phenomenon and individual fashion trends in the context of gender and social class affiliation. Representatives of various fields have written about fashion. They looked at it from different points of view and mostly devoted critical evaluations. Most of them considered the fashionable dresses popular in society tasteless and inappropriately expensive, and fashion as a phenomenon that harms a person’s (mostly women’s) morality.

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