Publication Date

7-1977

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

Sallye Russell, Virginia Atkins, Martha Jenkins

Degree Type

Master of Science

Abstract

One dressmaker, Mrs. A. H. Taylor of Bowling Green, Kentucky, was studied in order to draw attention to the role of the dressmaker in American fashion. A biography of Mrs. A. H. Taylor and the business history were compiled; available designs were analyzed in relation to current fashion; and an investigation of the business organization was made. It was found that the dressmaking establishment played an important role in the lives of women of that time period. Fashionable custom fit clothing was made available to local residents and to mail-order customers. The establishment was one of the few businesses which offered women employment in that area. Through a comparison with contemporaneous fashion magazines, the examples of Mrs. Taylor's work which were available were found to be in current fashion, although many distinctive individual characteristics were noted. By the late 1920's the acceptance of ready-to-wear items and the death of Yrs. Taylor had brought about the decline of the dressmaking establishment, thus ending an important phase of American life.

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Business | Economics | Education | Family and Consumer Sciences | Fashion Business | Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | History | Labor Economics | Social History | Women's History | Women's Studies

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