Ladies of Labor, Race Rebels, and Fashion - Jennifer

I was very excited to read about the references to fashion mainly in Enstad's Ladies of Labor book but also in Kelley's Race Rebels. Enstad's introduction was very unique in its connection of her research and the content of her book to women's connection with French heels at the turn of the century. This historical additive to her introduction, I think, really helped show the direction she wanted to take her book and showed the connection between upper and lower class women of the time. What Enstad does is not graze over what many other scholars would deem frivolous, such as fashion, but intertwines it within her book. She discusses fashions connections to race and class by saying "When an immigrant woman bought a fashionable hat and put it on at home, then, she created herself as a "woman" and as an "American." The "hat" becomes a symbol throughout her book, as did the French heels to begin Ladies of Labor. While the first chapter really contextualizes what fashion did for the women Enstad represents in Ladies of Labor, fashion is present throughout the book, not just in the first chapter. My favorite recollection of fashion comes about when Enstad discusses the strikes at the factories and how fashion is connected to these. What Enstad is telling us is that fashion is a larger part of our cultural and social history than we probably have thought, and to me that is the unique and essential part of her work.

Although Kelley does not spend as much time on fashion it is a part of his book. Fashion is first introduced in his introduction when he and the other McDonald's workers tried to reinvent their uniforms to become cooler and more individualized at their jobs. Fashion becomes an important aspect of his Kickin' Reality, Kickin' Ballistics chapter when he describes the outfits commonly associated with rebel identity and the significance of a Raiders hat or starter jacket. What I think needs to be taken from these books is the social context of fashion that is usually overlooked in historical and social works. We know from history classes and even our discussions this semester that at times what someone did or did not wear was important, such as what servants wore as to not disturb the complex master/servant relationship of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. At other times fashion may not be so pivotal, but in either case I like that it is addressed, especially in Enstad's book, as being a large part of the social context both Erstad and Kelley are writing about.