‘Clothes shall mark the man’ : Wearing suits in wartime Australia, 1939–1945

Journal article

Cramer, Lorinda and Bellanta, Melissa. (2022). ‘Clothes shall mark the man’ : Wearing suits in wartime Australia, 1939–1945. Cultural and Social History. 19(1), pp. 57-76. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780038.2022.2031424

Publication dates
Authors	Cramer, Lorinda and Bellanta, Melissa
Abstract	This article aims to extend the ways in which the experiences of Australia’s Second World War civilians and returned servicemen are understood, through a close reading of four men’s suits. These suits reveal a dynamic wartime sartorial transformation that was shaped by cloth and workforce shortages, government intervention and social pressure, patriotic consumption, masculine duty and dignity. The suits shine a light on the cultural meanings of home front masculinities when men were marked by their clothes, drawing a line between men’s attentiveness to their dress and their concerns, anxieties and desires.
Keywords	Second World War; Australia’s home front; men’s suits; consumption; civilian duty; demobilisation
Year	2022
Journal	Cultural and Social History
Journal citation	19 (1), pp. 57-76
Publisher	Routledge
ISSN	1478-0038
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)	https://doi.org/10.1080/14780038.2022.2031424
Scopus EID	2-s2.0-85123848798
Research or scholarly	Research
Page range	57-76
Funder	Australian Research Council (ARC)
Publisher's version	License All rights reserved File Access Level Controlled
Output status	Published
Online	25 Jan 2022
Publication process dates
Deposited	09 Jun 2022
ARC Funded Research	This output has been funded, wholly or partially, under the Australian Research Council Act 2001
Grant ID	ARC/DP190103341

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