Style and Gender

The style and ornamentation of the students who lived in College Hall (1875-1914) appears to follow gender norms set forth by society. The students wore highly feminized clothing in all aspects of their life (from athletics, to formal and informal wear as well as when expressing their ethnicity and beyond). Although we attempted to find evidence of students wearing gender neutral or masculine clothing, we couldn’t find many examples. This lack of documentation could be the result of pressure the students may have felt to dress in a feminine manner. Appropriate attire for female students at the time seems to be long skirts with modest blouses that were often high-necked and long-sleeved. Although their choices in dress seem very chaste to us now, the change in clothing style from the 19th century to the early 20th century has been described as “extreme” by an older Wellesley College graduate. 

Community question: Do you feel comfortable expressing your gender identity through clothing at Wellesley?  (Please answer in the Google Form below)

History club gatherings were a common place where students would dress up as past presidents, parliament members or house of commons members. In the image the women don suit jackets but still have their traditional skirts under. When examining their faces you see some have put on fake mustaches or drawn on thicker eyebrows. They also adorned their heads with top hats or wigs. These costumes aren’t too far off from how men of the period actually dressed which I think makes it more comical. The costumes served as a break from the traditional clothing most women were confined to. They got to have some fun and laugh at men in high positions of power. In some ways it could serve as a political commentary on the lack of inclusion for women in these powerful institutions.

Theater productions and academic clubs also offered students the opportunity to express other genders. With no males on campus the female students would take on the roles of male characters. A production of A Midsummer Night's Dream shows women dressed in traditional male costumes with pants and boots. The trunk hose pants were common for noble men of the renaissance period sometimes having slashes with different colors. The boots in particular are especially masculine when compared to the boots females would weather which were heeled. Their hair was also put up to mimic men's hairstyles looking flat and parted to the side. In the early 1900’s women had interactive up-dos that were slightly poofy and adorned. It is sort of ironic that in a Wellesley production of a Shakespeare play women are playing men's roles when historically men would play the women's roles. 

Community Question: Is your style different at Wellesley compared to other spaces (work, home, etc.)?  (Please answer in the Google Form below)

Style in the early 20th century also underwent radical changes, especially during and after WW1 (1914-1918), right after the College Hall fire. In the 1910 photo of Phi Sigma Society members, Wellesley students display several trademark styles, including the classic puffy-looking updo seen in many photos from the College Hall era. These students’ hair is likely pinned up in a bun or in curls. They all sport high-neck collared blouses and ankle-length skirts, cinched at the waist but otherwise loose, in all light colors.

The 1921 Glee Club photo illustrates stark changes in fashion trends and new forms of femininity post-WW1. Most notably, students seem to favor darker colors, especially darker skirts and jackets. The skirt lengths are shorter - now ending mid-calf, and the necklines lower. Some students are sporting plaid, and others decorative collars, signaling greater individuality in style and differences in personal taste expressed through clothing. There is also a wide variety of hairstyles, with many students sporting shorter cuts, similar to the bob popularized later that decade. These stylistic changes likely parallel the radical changes in gender roles during the early 20th century (for example, the 19th amendment, which granted women the right to vote, was ratified in 1920), with new trends reflecting growing ideas of equality, and pathing the way for the popularization of flappers and greater sexual liberation later in the 1920s.

Community question: Has your style changed during your time at Wellesley? (Please answer in the Google Form below)

The style and ornamentation of current Wellesley students are very diverse. There is no one look that embodies Wellesley’s student body or even one class year. This diversity in style is also representative of current students who are very diverging in their likes, dislikes, hobbies, and gender identities. Nowadays one can identify as a woman and dress in a variety of ways that is outside the scope of traditional standards of femininity. Although there is still progress to be made, it has become more common and accepted for women to dress outside of traditional standards. If we look at the submissions of current Wellesley students, all three students identify as cis females. However, their styles lie along different parts of the feminine to masculine spectrum. 

Objects from the WCHAP Excavation