A Separate Sphere: Dressmakers in Cincinnati's Golden Age, 1877-1922 (Costume Society of America Series)

Dressmaking, considered a natural extension of womenâ s proper work in the home, was a common and lucrative employment for women in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It afforded creative expression, prestige in the community, and even the possibility of financial independence. Yet as entrepreneurs, dressmakers faced unique business pressures, and with the advent of department stores and widespread mass production of womenâ s clothing, most were forced out of business. Coinciding with the exhibition Cynthia AmnÃus organized for the Cincinnati Art Museum, this work examines the nineteenth-century ideology of womenâ s separate sphere, the early feminist movement, women in the workplace, and dressmakers as artisans and professionals. More than 140 stunning custom-made garments, historical photographs, and dressmakersâ labels document the superb artistic and technical skill of the women who produced fashionable dress in Cincinnati from 1877 to 1922. Bracketing AmnÃusâ s incisive study are essays by Anne Bissonnette on the eccentric tea gown, Marla Miller on the pitfalls of researching womenâ s cultural work, and Shirley Teresa Wajda on the dressmakersâ wealthy clientele. In all, A Separate Sphere offers a careful look into the lives of women struggling with ideological boundaries. Chronicling choices made by and imposed on both working-class women and their affluent counterparts, it reveals how these women managed to enhance their prescribed sphere for themselves and for the community at large.