Graduation Year

2026

Document Type

Open Access Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

History

Reader 1

Andrew Aisenberg

Reader 2

Lisa Cody

Reader 3

Jonathan Petropoulos

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Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

2026 Annika F. Gauthier

Abstract

In the midst of the French Revolution, women’s fashion underwent a complete revolution, moving from the multi-layered elaborate gowns of the ancien regime, to light, form-fitting dresses. These gowns reveal the way clothing reflects the political positions of women and the ways the French and the British used clothing to construct national identity and politics. Following research on the political symbolism and role of clothing across France and Britain, this thesis reviews fashion’s overarching connection to politics, revealing its role in the early French Revolution’s conception of women and patriotism, women’s responses to political exclusions, and rival nations’ adaptations of Revolutionary ideology. Early on in the French Revolution, women used fashion to argue for expanded citizenship, projecting their similarities to male Revolutionaries. However, during the Terror, clothing became a tool for people to mask their individual differences and political digressions. It is during the Directory, that women’s fashion changed rapidly, reflecting women’s political thoughts and feelings. In England, women’s clothing became a way to reassert British political morality. Thus it is argued that fashion throughout the French Revolution and beyond is inherently political, as it expresses how individuals want to be seen. The politics of French Revolutionary dress expose the way people use fashion to assimilate and counteract political narratives, which offers a lens for looking at the politics of today.

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