物質時尚與裁縫女工：以英國維多利亞時期期刊為例

Material Fashion and Needlewomen in the Victorian Periodical, 1840s-1850s

本文以服飾縫製的物質層面為出發點，探討英國1840 年代初期到1850 年代末期大眾期刊所刊登的詩歌、短文、故事中有關裁縫女工意象的再現。文中剖析時尚產業背景下人力剝削的物質性具現，同時藉由裁縫女工精巧的針線活功夫，闡述維多利亞時期女性勞工如何利用物質商品生產與製造的技術能力，建構大眾的消費需要和習性。由此進而檢視大眾媒體如何運用裁縫女工痛苦憂傷的形體，展現勞動女性在商業生產方面的貢獻中所內蘊的文化價值。

This essay is an investigation of the material aspects of sewing by looking at the representation of needlewomen in the mass-circulation magazines, in the form of poems, short articles and stories, in the 1840s and 1850s. It does so by raising basic questions about how the practice of sewing underlies the material embodiment of exploited human labor within the context of Victorian fashion industry, as well as how needlewomen’s production and making of material artifacts constitute the needs and practices that make up consumption. Special attention will also be paid to the way in which the distressed figure of the needlewoman reveals much about the cultural value of her contribution to the commercial world.