Women in trousers: A visual archive

Munford, Becky ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1364-1176 2017. Women in trousers: A visual archive. [Online]. Cardiff: Cardiff University. Available at: https://www.womenintrousers.org/

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Abstract

From Joan of Arc to George Sand, Mary Edwards Walker to Marlene Dietrich and Colette to Coco Chanel, trouser-wearing women have been associated with transgressive acts of protest and play. Linked with periods of social and political upheaval, women’s liberation, radical thought, aesthetic innovation and erotic freedom, trouser-wearing women have historically represented an illegitimate assumption of authority and power – of ‘wearing the trousers’ – that destabilises fixed notions of sexual difference and threatens the very fabric of the social order. Women in Trousers: A Visual Archive is a collection of digital images that together tell a story about women in trousers as a history of social, cultural and political change. It offers a visual account of the complex and sometimes contradictory meanings assigned to and by trouser-wearing women in public space. Images have been drawn from a range of sources, including newspapers, periodicals, photographs, illustrations and drawings. While trousers and other bifurcated garments provide its primary focus, the archive is also home to images that illuminate more generally the history of women and dress reform in Britain, Europe and America.

Item Type:	Project Website
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Global Humanities Schools > English, Communication and Philosophy
Publisher:	Cardiff University
Last Modified:	05 Nov 2026 10:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/190681

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