Stockholm university
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Marie Helena Tengroth UlvängAssociate Professor

Research projects

The standardized body: Swedish clothing industry, ca. 1930–1970

The research project "The standardized body: Swedish clothing industry, ca. 1930–1970" is led by Assistant Professor Marie Ulväng, Stockholm University. The project's main language: Swedish Research subject: Fashion Studies Subdiscipline: "Svensk konfektionsindustri".

Research
With style and quality: The Swedish coat factory, 1930–1970

The research project "With style and quality: The Swedish coat factory, 1930–1970" is led by Assistant Professor Marie Ulväng, Stockholm University. The project's main language: Swedish Research subject: Fashion Studies Subdiscipline: "Svensk konfektionsindustri"

Research

Publications

Publikationer från Uppsala universitets publikationsdatabas

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

  • Clothing Economy and Clothing Culture: The Farm Wardrobe from a Gendered Perspective in Nineteenth-Century Sweden

    2021. Marie Ulväng. Gender and History 33 (2), 365-389

    Article

    This article examines the clothing of landowning farmers in inland Swedish from a gendered perspective during industrialisation in the nineteenth century. It considers clothes as possessions and goods within a European framework of trade and influence. In particular, it shows how clothing was a means of expression that changed during the course of industrialisation and how gender became an important factor in the supply and making of clothes. In the region examined, clothing changed from being a local fashion, characterised by similarities in material and workmanship between men's and women's clothes, to become a part of fashion in general with its emphasis on differences between men's and women's wardrobes. In the early nineteenth century, the female wardrobe accounted for a higher value as it included a greater share of garments made of manufactured fabrics. In late nineteenth century, when industrial forestry had replaced livestock farming as the main source of income in the area, men's wardrobes grew in value due to increased demand for tailor-made garments and purchased fabrics. By contrast, women's garments were often made of simpler fabrics and sewn by seamstresses. These changes responded to the growing breadwinner-homemaker ideal and to national-romantic ideas about folk costume - two tendencies that emphasised female domesticity and home-woven fabrics.

    Read more about Clothing Economy and Clothing Culture

  • Med tvål, vatten och flit: Hälsofrämjande renlighet som ideal och praktik, ca 1870–1930

    2021. .

    Book (ed)

    Med tvål, vatten och flit: Hälsofrämjande renlighet som ideal och praktik, ca 1870–1930

    Med tvål, vatten och flit handlar om människors förhållningssätt och praktiker kring renlighet och hälsa årtiondena kring sekelskiftet 1900. Vid den här tidpunkten hade de vetenskapliga rönen om hur sjukdomar spreds ringat in människors hem och kroppar som särskilt farliga platser. Renlighet var emellertid mycket mer än bara en hälsofråga – rengöringsivern var en drivande faktor i flera stora samhällsförändringar. Boken bidrar till att fördjupa diskussionen om renlighet i relation till klass, kön, arbete, konsumtion och rumslighet ur ett nordiskt perspektiv.

    Kampen mot den samhällsfarliga smutsen fördes brett och på olika nivåer i samhället. Boken ger inblickar i den långa och komplexa renlighetsprocess som samhället genomgick. Bakom det över tid mer flitiga tvålanvändandet dolde sig förmaningar, förhandlingar och konflikter kring hur renlighetsarbetet skulle utföras och av vem. Tvålens herravälde var inte självklar utan tillkämpad.

    I bokens tio bidrag utforskas särskilt interaktionen mellan debattörer, föreningar, institutioner och enskilda individer. Hur gick renlighetsarbetet till och hur togs det emot? Vem och vad behövde rengöras och på vilka grunder? Vad innebar renlighet i olika sammanhang och för olika individer? Boken synliggör hur förhandlingar kring renlighetens ideal och praktik gått till genom undersökningar av hur renlighetsidealet presenterats, propagerats, uppfattats, ifrågasatts, omsatts och ibland haft andra bevekelsegrunder än avsändaren avsett.

    Bidragen är skrivna av ekonomhistoriker, etnologer, historiker och idéhistoriker från Danmark, Finland, Norge och Sverige. Boken vänder sig till studenter, forskare och andra intresserade av ett historiskt perspektiv på renlighet.

    Read more about Med tvål, vatten och flit

  • Tea, coffee or printed cotton? Farm households’ consumption of goods in Northern Sweden, 1760–1820

    2021. Marie Ulväng. History of Retailing and Consumption 7 (2), 137-161

    Article

    This article explores the landowning farm households’ consumption of foreign and manufactured goods in the hinterland of northern Sweden in 1770 to 1820. A set of probate inventories shows that the farmers in this particular area – a remote but central transit area for goods between the Norwegian coast and southern Sweden – were part of the general historiography of consumption. However, the findings of tea and coffee utensils, porcelain, printed cotton, silk fabrics and worsted fabrics show that their consumer behaviour – defined as ‘semi-industrious’ – was shaped by the area’s characteristics. The farmers increased their market participation and consumption of goods without breaking their existing consumption culture. They simply acquired more of the same – worsted fabrics for clothing and accessories in printed cotton and silk fabrics. The pattern of consumption is explained by the area’s firm population structure, strong class barriers and practical aspects such as poor housing. The manufactured fabrics responded to many purposes in the farmers’ day-to-day lives. The worsted fabrics were durable, warm and exclusive and the accessories fashionable. Compared with tea and coffee utensils, porcelain, clothing was a versatile belonging that did not need a home to be shown.

    Read more about Tea, coffee or printed cotton? Farm households’ consumption of goods in Northern Sweden, 1760–1820

  • En såfa något kåstbar: Snickarna, möblerna och hushållen i västra Härjedalen 1780–1870

    2021. Marie Ulväng. Härjedalsrokoko under två sekler, 164-205

    Chapter
    Read more about En såfa något kåstbar

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