Speaker Feb. 21 to
discuss clothing and gender
Clothing as it
relates to gender is the topic of a presentation Feb. 21 at Shippensburg
University. The event, at 4
p.m. in Grove Hall Forum, is sponsored by the Shippensburg University Fashion
Archives and Museum.
Dr.
Jo B. Paoletti, associate professor of American studies at the University of
Maryland in College Park, will present a lecture based on her book Pink and
Blue: Telling the Boys from the Girls in America.
Paoletti’s
journey through the history of children’s clothing began when she posed the
question, “When did we start dressing girls in pink and boys in blue?” To
uncover the answer, she looks at advertising, catalogs, dolls, baby books,
mommy blogs and discussion forums, and other popular media to examine the
surprising shifts in attitudes toward color as a mark of gender in American
children’s clothing.
She
chronicles the decline of the white dress for both boys and girls, the
introduction of rompers in the early 20th century, the gendering of pink and
blue, the resurgence of unisex fashions, and the origins of today’s highly
gender-specific baby and toddler clothing. Her work
incorporates consumer studies, cultural studies and material culture, drawing
on primary sources ranging from cartoons and paper dolls to vintage clothing
and baby books.
Paoletti
teaches courses related to everyday American life, including popular culture,
fashion and consumerism, and material culture. She earned a bachelor’s degree
in clothing design from Syracuse University, a master’s degree in textiles from
the University of Rhode Island, and a doctorate in textiles from the University
of Maryland. Her training is in the history of clothing and fashion, and she
has published many articles on gender differences in American children's
clothing.
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