Dressing up Modernism: Fashion, Self Perception, and Urbanization in Virginia Woolf’s The New Dress, Mrs. Dalloway, and Orlando: A Biography
Vitiello, Naomi
Vitiello, Naomi
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Abstract
This thesis explores the significance of fashion and urbanization in the literary works The New Dress, Mrs.Dalloway, and Orlando: A Biography written by the modernist author Virginia Woolf. The thesis aims at concentrating on two theoretical approaches: Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, to argue how the role of fashion is crucial in the construction of identity and Georg Simmel’s essay Fashion to explore the ways fashion reflects the characters’ identity and urban modernity. Both perspectives reveal how Woolf’s characters fulfill personal and societal expectations through clothes within the changing metropolis of early 20th-century of London. In The New Dress, Woolf portrays Mabel’s deep self doubts and struggle to belong in the high society. In Mrs.Dalloway, clothing illustrates Clarissa’s desire to maintain a relevant appearance in the society and in Orlando a Biography, Woolf investigates gender dynamics and transformation through the fluid relationship between fashion and self identity.
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Thesis (B.A. in English Language and Literature, Minor in Creative Writing)--John Cabot University, Spring 2025.
Date
2025
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Fashion in literature, Virginia Woolf, 1882-1941
Citation
Vitiello, Naomi. "Dressing up Modernism: Fashion, Self Perception, and Urbanization in Virginia Woolf’s The New Dress, Mrs. Dalloway, and Orlando: A Biography". BA Thesis, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. 2025.