Gilda de mello e souza and the emergence of the fashion field in Brazil (1800 - 1990)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to reconstruct the history of a work: the dissertationessay, which in 1950 conferred to Gilda de Mello e Souza the doctoral degree in Social Sciences, situating it in the academic context and intellectual generation of the time in which it was written, as well as in the development of the field of fashion, in Brazil. Published in book form 37 years later, entitled O espírito das roupas - a moda no século XIX, it gained recognition and became a monument-work for its field. Beyond its intrinsic qualities, it is only possible to reach its significance by revisiting the sources that gave it its support, its temporality as well the circumstances that surrounded the field elaboration; above all, situating it within the scope of the emergence of the field – as conceptualized by the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu.