I am getting ready to present my paper, “Who’s Wearing the Pants? How The New York Times Reported the Changing Dress of Women” at its conference in San Francisco. In it, I examine how the New York Times represented women wearing pants from 1950 through 1975. I found various themes against women wearing pants ranging from political to religious to workplace issues.Some of these articles were in the women’s pages and some were in the hard news sections and editorial sections. Current New York Times columnist Gail Collins wrote of this time: “It was a convoluted expression of the classic view of sexual differences: women did not wear the pants…

I am applying for a UCLA Research Fellowship in order to go through the extensive papers of the designer Bonnie Cashin. She has often been referred to as one of the “Mothers of American Sportswear.” I would focus on the 1950s and 1960s, her post Broadway and Hollywood years as she designed for middle-class women. As New York Times fashion writer Bernadine Morris wrote in 1968: “Women buy Cashin clothes because they are cozy and comfortable, not because they bowl people over.” I hope to examine her interaction with fashion journalists at newspapers. I initially came across Cashin’s work with women’s page editor and fashion journalist Eleni Epstein, the longtime…

I am applying for a UCLA Research Fellowship in order to go through the extensive papers of the designer Bonnie Cashin. She has often been referred to as one of the “Mothers of American Sportswear.” I would focus on the 1950s and 1960s, her post Broadway and Hollywood years as she designed for middle-class women. As New York Times fashion writer Bernadine Morris wrote in 1968: “Women buy Cashin clothes because they are cozy and comfortable, not because they bowl people over.” I hope to examine her interaction with fashion journalists at newspapers. I initially came across Cashin’s work with women’s page editor and fashion journalist Eleni Epstein, the longtime…

Today, I am working on my paper, “Who’s Wearing the Pants? How The New York Times Reported the Changing Dress of Women,” which has been accepted for presentation at the National Communication Association convention in San Francisco – where Lance and I got married. I looked at the literal and symbolic power of women wearing pants. Religion was used as a common reason for women to stay in skirts and dresses. Politics were also part of the debate over women wearing pants. Even restaurants were part of the debate as they would decline serve to a woman wearing slacks.