SUMMARY: Binary fashions and symbolic garments in Mexico: the túnico and femininity. 1805 -1826

Abstract

In the 19th century, the binary gender system was consolidated in Western societies, in which both, the masculine and the feminine had defined functions and representations. This work focuses on the analysis of the feminine through the fashion of the túnico, with the purpose of observing the daily life, the identity and the idiosincrasy of the middle and well-off female sectors, through the lens of the press and literature of the time: criticism, ridicule or praise. The fashion came from France and Spain and was inspired by Greco-Roman art, but what interests here is its use, its versions and the interpretations that occurred in Mexico (New Spain), in relation to tradition and modernity. Modesty, concealment, exhibitionism, seduction and beauty, as categories linked to the female body in relation with the túnico dress fashion also occupy a relevant attention.