FASHION AND WOMEN: THE PRACTICE OF SEWING AND THE FEMININE WORK IN BRAZIL IN THE YEARS 1950 AND 1960

Abstract

The construction of Brazilian female learning with fabrics, threads and sewing machines is analyze in this text through two different textual genres in knowledge transmission: a didactic book and a Magazine. The first is Método Vogue associated with the School of Pattern making and Sewing "São Paulo" and authored by Antonio Campagnolli. It is unknown how much it was published, but in 1967 it is in the nineteenth edition. This didactic material enabled thousands of women to practice pattern making and sewing with their correspondence courses that supported by Instituto Universal Brasileiro, stimulated sewing learning with its propagation to the interior of Brazil through the Post Office. The second is Jornal das Moças, a weekly Brazilian magazine published by Editora Jornal das Moças Ltda in Rio de Janeiro. Between the years 1914 to 1961 in its pages women of all ages found orientations on diverse aspects, including fashion and sewing. Both sources are support to understand the female relationship with the practice of pattern making and sewing: the book to understand the teaching of that craft to women and the magazine as support of the female image dissemination associated to sewing. In this intention, we limited the analysis to the 1950’s and 1960’s because of the government support on spread the teaching of that craft. The text divided into three parts explore the association of pattern making and seam with feminine image; its media diffusion and its contribution to the education of women to the professional and domestic labor.

Keywords:
education and work; cutting and sewing; fashion; female