Coupons, Clothing and Class: The Rationing of Dress in Ireland, 1942–1948. (June 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Fitzpatrick, Orla
• Is Part Of: Costume. Volume 48:Number 2(2014)
• Page Start: 236
• Page End: 259
• Publication Date: 2014-06
• Subjects: clothes rationing, -- Second World War, -- Irish dress, -- 1940s Ireland, -- Dublin, -- Elizabeth Bowen; Costume -- Periodicals; Costume -- History -- Periodicals; 391
• DOI: 10.1179/0590887614Z.00000000052
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0590-8876

Abstract

Abstract : This paper will explore how clothes rationing impacted upon the population of Ireland during the Second World War and how the restrictions were encountered by the general population. It allows for a reconsideration of the period with particular reference to notions of respectability and class, and how these were manifested in dress and fashion. It will also examine the concept of Dublin as a destination, both during and after the war, for the purchase of Irish manufactures and clothing types which remained scarce in Britain and on continental Europe. It will draw upon a diverse range of sources including the espionage reports provided to Winston Churchill by the Anglo-Irish writer, Elizabeth Bowen, contemporary fiction, memoirs, travelogues, government papers, newspaper reports and advertisements. These vivid accounts will reveal much about a period which has received little consideration from dress historians within the Irish context.