西方兩性服飾差異化於十九世紀達到最高峰。流行服飾反映時代的社會意識與文化,也是婦女角色具體化的符徵。本文旨在探討1851至1875年間美國服飾改革運動的脈絡、意涵及其與時尚流行間的關係。美國女權運動團於1851年發動服飾改革運動,期望藉由鼓吹婦女身體的解放,以利達成解放婦女的目標。與女權運動結合的服飾改革引起社會強烈的反感,女權團體並未成功達成婦女身體解放的目標。水療團體與後起的「美國服飾改革協會」持續以健康的訴求推動服飾改革。本文利用史料文獻分析法,探索參與服飾改革運動團體的訴求、互動關係,以及服飾改革運動的社會意涵。
The purpose of this study is to understand the social context of American dress reform movement, and its interrelations between the cult of womanhood and gendered fashion dress. The dress reform movement, often studied from the feminist or health reformers' point of view, was in fact a continuous social movement for women wearing pants. This study adopts a historical research method to investigate the dress reform movement between 1851 and 1875. Using historical data, the study first examines how the dress reform was promoted by the feminist and other social groups, and how a woman in a pantanloon was evaluated as a betrayer of the cult of womanhood. The study also examines how the fashion power and gender ideology impacts on women wearing or not wearing pants in the nineteen century American.