In The Twenties And Thirties There Came New Competition From Women Such As

In the twenties and thirties there came new competition from women such as Chanel, Elsa Schiaparelli, and Nina Ricci. At the other end of the scale, the Sears catalogue brought ready-to-wear fashion to the homes of ordinary American women. Now that office work and reception work among the professions was available to women, fashion became more functional and business-like, bowing to the dictates of the women who wore it.
The Second World War wrought many of the violent changes in society that we still feel today, and even then full emancipation of women and the liberalisation of sexual attitudes did not fully take hold until the latter decades of the twentieth century. Today it is not only acceptable for men and women to enjoy the same domestic interests in fashion and textiles, it is also acceptable for men and women equally not to be interested. Social activities cross back and forth over the gender border, and our society in general is freer now then ever before.
The woman's role in our society has changed in some societies it has not. The inevitable restrictions of class have played and still play a part in these roles as well, further separating and categorising the activities of all people. Historically, woman's place was in the home, and thus she developed a closer link to those matters of 'home', such as clothing, furnishings and fabrics. Later industrialisation forced her to adapt this traditional association into wages, and many women were mistreated by the very industries that served their more affluent sisters. The first well-known industrial textile designers were men. Sanderson, Liberty and Morris, all captivated the female world with their art, yet the financial power created by their business was kept just out of woman's grasp until today. The story of textiles and their social development is a story of sexual politics, of women's work made profitable by men, controlled by men and eventually freed by women.
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