Mirror and Discipline: The Material Culture and Gender Coding of the Dressing Table

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-777-4_5How to use a DOI?

Keywords

dressing table; mirror stage theory; gender studies; subject formation

Abstract

This paper uses Lacan’s mirror theory and material culture studies to clarify how the dressing table evolved as a key indicator of gender politics and contributed to shaping gendered identities. It analyzes pivotal historical periods—ranging from the 18th-century court to modern times—to demonstrate the dressing table’s role in both reinforcing and challenging how women are seen and see themselves through changes in its design, materials, and mechanisms. Applying Lacanian theory to design history, the paper establishes the dressing table as a significant material site of gender politics, thus providing new insights into how material culture actively participates in constructing and contesting gendered subjectivities.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Wenlu Mao
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/30
TI  - Mirror and Discipline: The Material Culture and Gender Coding of the Dressing Table
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 8th International Conference on Economic Management and Cultural Industry (ICEMCI 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 38
EP  - 45
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-777-4_5
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-777-4_5
ID  - Mao2026
ER  -