Reading Plath’s novel through the lens of fashion not only offers new insight into Esther’s identity crisis, breakdown, and “recovery,” but also invites readers to turn a critical eye toward contemporary fashion practices. Although Esther’s clothing-related anxieties are born of mid-twentieth-century American misgivings and mores, the concerns that the novel raises about fashion, femininity, and identity are still relevant to modern readers, particularly young women.
ATHENA KELLYANN SHORT
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