Representações de moda feminina nas revistas ilustradas brasileiras do início do século XX

Abstract

The present paper aimed to study the representations of feminine fashion in brazilian weekly publications from the beginning of the twentieth century. Assuming that the fashion, as a social phenomenon, produces discourses, tells histories and reveals gender conventions and differentiations, this research project investigated the possibility of comprehending this phenomenon along with the historicity of feminine representations, historical context and graphic productions from the beginning of the First Republic. In order to guide the caricatures analysis, the author did a survey of the studied magazines, such as: A Bomba, O Olho da Rua, A Carga, O Itiberê, Ilustração Paranaense, O Jazz, Careta e Fon-fon!, all of them available in Casa da Memória’s physical collection. After compiling a list of 252 images correlated to the theme, this work proceeded to the effective caricature analysis. This paper utilized a Peirce’s semiotic optic, with which Martine Joly corroborates; allying plastic, iconic and symbolic signs to a historic-interpretative vision, the author analysed 18 images, subdivided in these seven themes: woman as a metaphor, public spaces, fashion and irony, advertisement, appearance, private spaces, seduction. The majority of the representations prioritized a eugenic, elitist and sexist discourse. The cartoonists, when applying visual artifices that alluded to the feminine fashion, translated the social imaginary of the white and high-class elite of that period, creating types and patterns to an idealization of the modern woman on the pages of those magazines.