Avoir l'étoffe - A history of professional clothing in France from the 1880s to the present day

"In the world of work, laws, rules, standards, codes and customs make the clothing. The clothing worn at work is an original combination of clothing provided or imposed by the employer and clothing left to the discretion of the workers. Whether professional, work or uniform, clothing has many functions and symbols. It hides, shows or enhances the body in order to serve the company both externally and internally.
The profound changes in professional clothing since the 19th century make it a key object of historical study. Simplified, standardised, or even abolished, work clothes involve the intervention, manipulation and view of a multitude of actors such as company managers, clothing manufacturers, workers and users.
At the crossroads of economic, social and cultural history and gender studies, this book examines clothing in all its aspects - colours, forms, materials - and analyses its place in the organisation of the economy. - and analyses its place in the organisation of companies, notably at La Poste and SNCF. This study also measures the role of work clothing in the construction of personal and professional gendered identities in order to evaluate the power of appearances in French workplaces from the 1880s to the present day."