Clothing, Class Deception, and Identity in Late Nineteenth-Century Fiction

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• transition between lady and working woman swiftly and effectively

• fashionable clothes are troped as a means of moving—or attempting to move—up the social ladder

• desire to dress well is explicitly identified by her father as her motivation for marrying above her statio

• deceptive qualities of dress, and more explicitly how lower-class women are able to utilize these attributes in order to achieve—and in Ethelberta’s case maintain—their social ambitions

• gender as it is about clas

• ntends to utilize her dress as a means of obtaining the best match.

• maintain her position in society by virtue of appearance,

• sending out a positive financial and social message to potential suitors through her garments.

• accurate indication of Nancy’s real social position

• certain degree of grace, exemplified in her choice of garments:

• during their courtship, indicative of how fashion can easily mislea

• Her clothes represent a certain degree of sensuality that Jude is keen to explore

• false hair is often worn by those among the “better class … I bought it just for a fancy …

• discrepancies between provincial and city fashions

• The fact that she has adopted false hair in order to fulfill male expectations confirms these suspicions in Jude.

• evelopments in garment production, marketing, and retailing allowed these groups to make and buy clothing

• fashion trends

• ashionable dress was the perfect vehicle through which to express wealth and leisure. I

• potential threat to the existing social hierarchy. I

• To follow fashion [was] to claim equality