Sewing in Russia

Sewing in Russia

In 1893, at the World Columbian Exhibition in Chicago, the Ministry of Finance presented samples of goods produced in Russia. These products were exhibited in two separate pavilions of the exhibition, one of which was devoted to the production and arts, and the other to women. The first pavilion demonstrated the growing industrial power of Russia; it presented products of virtually all industrial sectors, including the textile, metallurgical and chemical industries. A description was attached to each exhibit: a brief history of the factory at which it was produced, statistics on labor, mechanics and raw materials required for its production. Everything was different in the Women's Pavilion: other countries brought a lot of goods produced by women, but in the Russian part you could find only countless samples of needlework (with minor exceptions) - from the simplest items of clothing, see for details, to the most complicated embroidery and knitting. Neither the history of the production of samples presented in the Women's Pavilion, nor the statistics reporting how many women work in this area were included in the catalog: it included only endless descriptions of the exhibits themselves.

It would be difficult to imagine a brighter contrast between the two pavilions. Statistics of the Production Pavilion took into account female workers, but the catalog featured exclusively male names. As a result, the work done by men turned out to be a universal indicator of technical progress, effectively canceling the contribution made by female workers to the development of industrialization in Russia. The exhibition presented by Russia in the Women's Pavilion consisted of samples produced at home, in a monastery or a classroom, but not in a factory. The actual conditions in which women were engaged in needlework were considered too insignificant to be taken into account in the catalog, although it described in detail the equipment and indicated the amount of raw materials that men need to produce a variety of manufactured products presented in the Production Pavilion. Women only needed a pair of needles, thread and fabric. Thus, the works of women presented at the World Columbian Exhibition belonged to the pre-industrial era and were a kind of a step backward, into the past, to the early forms of manufactory production, compared with which industrial production was a step into the future.

The selective approach to presenting Russian achievements at the exhibition reflects the paradox of perception of sewing as a professional occupation in the Russian economy. Despite the fact that representatives of both sexes worked in this area, sewing was considered solely as women's work. Although during the second half of the nineteenth century, the number of women employed in this field in Russia only increased, many men also earned their living by sewing. However, the designs created by the efforts of male tailors, there was no place in any of the pavilions of the Chicago exhibition. Moreover, the Russian organizers did not present the goods produced by women in other areas, apparently believing that they were not worth the attention of the public. Thus, the importance of sewing as a predominantly female work was emphasized. Most often done at home, sewing was an integral part of women's household chores. Tailor's craft gave them the opportunity to earn money without leaving home and not becoming part of the industrial machine, and thereby preserved their role in the family. At the Columbian show, the Russian government wanted to show the world exactly this romanticized, homely image of a woman. It may seem that sewing as a term describes the simple act of working with a needle and thread, however, during the XVIII and XIX centuries this process became much more complicated, as evidenced by the Chicago exhibition. Even 20 years ago, Anna Phillips and Barbara Taylor pointed out that “the definition of a craft has a pronounced gender characteristic ... The craft is far from being an objective fact of the economy, and is often an ideological category imposed on certain types of work due to gender and physical the powers of the workers who perform it. ” The controversial nature of sewing reflected the changing conditions of sewing production and the ongoing disputes about the role of women in Russian society. Thus, the gender differentiation of sewing played a key role in the development of the domestic lifestyle and the gender division of labor in imperial Russia and in the fashion industry.

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