BA Fashion History and Theory

My dissertation explores whether cross-dressing within WWI Prisoner of war camp theatre was an expression of sexuality or a form of escapism through dress and performance. It discusses the varied world of prisoner of war camps and investigates the scale and intricacies of all elements of the theatre. Through these investigations it sorts to show how important entertainment and the need for escapism was and how sexuality and gender could be explored under the guise of performance. It also investigates how costume and fashionable dress played a crucial role in constructing gender ideals and representing a normalised version of pre-war society.

Vienna’s position as an important European fashion city at the beginning of the twentieth century was primarily established by Jewish enterprise, and much of its history is now lost because of the Shoa. Yet, the lives of its creators afford an insight into this history. My thesis examines representations of Jewish femininity, attitudes towards modernity and difference expressed by clothing and photography through the lives of two Jewish career women in interwar Vienna: department store proprietor Ella Zirner-Zwieback and studio photographer Madame d’Ora. Pioneers of their time, they each made a significant contribution to the Viennese fashion industry through their work.   

The thesis seeks to explore key themes of leisure and fashion in the post-war period, focusing on the local context of Southend-on-Sea. Chapter one explores representations of the 1950s, including archival film and newspaper articles. The following chapter looks at surviving dress from the Southend Museums Service archive. The case study of a cream sateen swimsuit is analysed in detail and related to the wider themes of fashion and leisure in this post-war context. In the final chapter, an oral testimony provides a narrative of lifestyle in the 1950s, including fashion, leisure and the seaside experience at Southend.   

This thesis studies the life and work of Elizabeth Miller. A female photographer born in 1907 who successfully inserted herself into a male-dominated sphere by working for both American and British Vogue for the entirety of her career, documenting not only fashion but the front lines of a total war. Although a very successful and acclaimed photographer Miller did not achieve this success with ease. She, like many before here, had to overcome many social obstacles to reach her success, only having two shows in her lifetime before her recent resurgence. There is noticeably an imbalance between the number of acclaimed male photographers and females, with the males dominating photographic history. This is not to say that there aren’t successful female photographers; there have been many women who set the stage for other women. It is important to further study  these women and the full extent of their work. Lee Miller among other female artists have had a huge influence on both photographic and fashion history and deserve to be studied to the same extent.  

My dissertation explores the rise and shifting perception of kawaii in Japan. By chronologically tracing one of its origins in the early twentieth century, it investigates the role of shōjo artists leading up to Japan’s involvement in World War II. From here, it explores the existence of kawaii in terms of culture and aesthetics as well as the arrival of a ‘cute’ consumer culture and fashion subcultures – notably the Lolitas. My investigation is brought into the twenty-first century through the findings of two focus groups with Japanese students that centered around perception and experience and provided key primary research for my investigation.