Purity

Today I seemed to fall down a hole of information. We have just been introduced to our new task, all about fashion trends. Within this task, we have been grouped into teams of 8 or 9, given a trend/trend story, and asked to create three mood boards about these trends, explaining its history, how it has translated into shops, and then how it has then travelled to people and the streets. My team has been cursed with the trend of 'Purity'. Now for all I have found my research very interesting, I fear it shall be close to no use at all when it comes to creating the mood boards. However, I have decided to share some of my findings, and take you on the journey of discovery I have been on today.

Today I focused on the history of purity.

Now, the first thing that I searched were synonyms for purity; my search gave me answers like virtue, clarity, morality, piety, worthiness and rectitude.

Then, I continued on my search.

A lot of the things I looked at had a connection with the colour white; Priestesses in ancient Egypt and Rome wore white, the Pope has worn white since 1566 as a symbol of purity and sacrifice, Islamic pilgrims wear white, people within the Shinto religion of Japan wear white.

White wedding dresses were never worn outside of the royal family, until the 19th century when Queen Elizabeth wore a white lace wedding dress which then continued to inspire a fashion for white. Within weddings, the white wedding dress has come to symbolise virginal innocence and new beginnings.

A main thing my search brought me to was the Social Purity Movement. This is something I hadn't heard of before my search, but I found it extremely interesting. In the late 19th century, the social purity movement sought to abolish prostitution and other sexual activities that were considered immoral according to the christian morality. The movement was composed of mainly women, and was active in english speaking nations from the late 1860's till about 1910, creating an important influence on the contemporary feminist, eugenic and birth control movements. The roots of the movement lay in early 19th century moral reform movements, such as radical utopianism (the pursuit of a state in which everything is perfect), abolitionism (the want to end all slavery), and the temperance movement (abstinence from alcohol). In the late 19th century 'social' was a euphemism for 'sexual'; the movement first formed in opposition to the legalisation and regulation of prostitution, and quickly spread to other sex-related issues, such as raising the age of consent and sexually segregating prisons.

Another large point my research brought me to was the celebration known as a Purity Ball. This is an event where young women make a public pledge of purity in front of the party, then continuing onto a father daughter dance in which the fathers vow to protect their daughters chastity until they're married off to another man.

The new knowledge of this event led me down a deep rabbit hole. The idea of a father being in charge of their daughters purity until they pass her to another man was a thing the internet was not a fan of, and so I did some more reading, of blogs and such, and got some interesting views.

Historically, virginity was linked to controlling women's bodies, through monitoring fertility or paternal ownership, and within this system, women's bodies were (and are) presented as products for consumption, tools for labor, and a conduit for the continuity of a bloodline. Virginal obsession and the myth of purity are nothing new. Virginity is historically rooted in establishing paternity and entrenched in male ownership, as men did not want to be with a woman who had already been with another man, out of the chance of embarrassment that she might carry another man's baby. The notion of purity, especially when it is coerced or projected onto a young girl, relegates her worth to a dangerous devision. She is either pure or she is not. Now I disagree with this greatly. A woman is completely in ownership of her own body and purity in that sense is an opinion not something someone is or isn't. I do not believe it is up to men to protect a woman's "innocence" or virginity, whether it be their father or partner.

One thing I came across was simply a list of things that are often associated with the colour white, as they are things you wish to be associated with cleanliness; fridges, dishes, toilets, sinks, bed linen, towels, doctors, nurses, scientists, chefs, bakers, butchers. For all this isn't history, I had never thought of that point before and how the idea of cleanliness and being clean is pure.

A couple of other things I thought to research but have yet to were; the idea of blood purity and how Nazi Germany wanted the Arian Race, The crusades and how that was a religious battle in which the christians wore white, the use of white in christian baptisms, and the use of purification prayers in religions such as Islam.

This was a subject I found very interesting. However, I'm not too sure how my findings will help my group in any way. But we shall see.

Ta Ta for now, My Lovelies.

Miss Blue.