Utilitarian Perspective on Women’s Dress in the Early Twentieth Century and Irrational Fashion

This paper aims to read Jean Rhy’s “Illusion,” a short story about Miss Bruce, who collects fancy dresses in her closet, but never goes out in those dresses. She only goes out in her masculine, tidy, simple clothes, and she secretly buys the most frivolous dresses and keeps them in her closet. To understand her distorted desire for the fashionable dresses, the paper delves into the contemporary discourse on women’s fashion? psychological, socio-economical, and feminist’ understandings of fashion during the early twentieth century. They all strongly criticize women’s fashion because it is not only too decorative and dysfunctional but also uncomfortable, thus, distressful on women’s body. They assume a utilitarian perspective and promote natural, healthy, and practical clothes. Miss Bruce, however, sees an opportunity to become alternative beings through the ‘unnatural,’ ‘unhealthy,’ and ‘impractical’ dresses and finds pleasure in her secretly hidden dresses. In terms of efficiency, the fashionable and trendy dresses of Miss Bruce might fail to perform the very fundamental function of clothes in real life; however, they fulfill her fantasy and give her utmost gratification. (Mokpo National Maritime University)