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4. Suitably Feminine This chapter
traces the media representation of menswear for women and the stars who
popularized it. One of the primary sites of struggle over gender roles
in the 1930s was the workplace, and working women figured significantly
in Hollywood films. These characters enact a range of tensions around
women's social and economic autonomy. Such tensions can be seen in the
decade's contrast between the adoption of menswear by women and a simultaneous
revival of neo-Victorian, feminine styles. Costume played a significant
role in Hollywood's negotiation of the contradictory roles that working
women played in the 1930s. Casual menswear clearly signified glamorous
androgyny, but tailored, professional clothing was often associated in
films and magazines with the need to guard against sexual harassment in
the workplace.
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