Description
Book SynopsisIn contrast with scholarship on women and gender in the modern period, the author asserts that the rise of the absolute state, with its centralising and unifying tendencies, could actually increase women's economic, social, and legal opportunities and allow them to thrive in corporate organisations such as the guild.
Trade Review“
Fabricating Women offers a richly textured and much-needed look at the experience of working women that will enhance our understanding of the old regime in a variety of ways. This well-grounded portrait of one area of history simultaneously throws light on far broader issues, such as the role of the state, the working of the economy, and the legal status and economic opportunities of women.”—Gail Bossenga, author of
The Politics of Privilege: Old Regime and Revolution in Lille“A welcome contribution to the literature on women’s work in preindustrial Europe. This is so well placed in the economic and social history of the period that it will become a classic among the books that define the age.”—Daryl M. Hafter, author of
European Women and Preindustrial Craft"Crowston establishes herself in the forefront of scholars working on the eighteenth-century French economy, in a book that rightfully belongs on the shelf next to those of Thomas Brennan, Jean-Marc Moriceau, and Steven Kaplan." -- James B. Collins * Enterprise & Society *
"Crowston provides fascinating insights into the lifestyle of the most prosperous dressmakers, and her book will delight students of material culture." -- Pamela Pilbeam * American Historical Review *
Table of ContentsList of Figures and Tables
List of Abreviations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part One: Making the Goods
1. Seamstresses and the Culture of Clothing in Old Regime France
2. From Mending to
modes: Trade Hierarchies and the Labor Market
3. Tools, Techniques, and Commercial Practices
Part Two: Making the Guilds
4. The Royal Government, Guilds, and the Seamstresses of Paris, Normandy, and Provence
5. The Tailors and the Seamstresses: Corporate Privilege, Gender, and the Law
6. Women’s Corporate Self-Government: The Administration of the Parisian Seamstresses’ Guild
Part Three: Making the Mistresses
7. Career Paths in the Seamstresses’ Trade: From Apprenticeship to Mistress-ship
8. Marriage, Fortune, and Family: The World of the Mistress Seamstress
9. Making the New Century: The Seamstresses,
fin et suite Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
