The latest posts on this site focused on archaeology, a subject that offers the chance to encounter also very inspiring and iconic characters. The proof? French archaeologist, explorer, novelist and journalist Jane Dieulafoy.
Born in 1851 in Toulouse, France, from a wealthy family, Jeanne Henriette Magre married Marcel-Auguste Dieulafoy in 1870. In the same year the Franco-Prussian conflict started and Marcel volunteered. Jane followed him dressed in a soldier's uniform and fought at his side becoming a noted sharpshooter.
When the war was over Marcel and Jane started travelling to Egypt and Morocco for archaeological and exploration work. From 1879 on, Marcel decided to dedicate himself to archaeology, fascinated in particular by the relationship between Oriental and Western architecture. In 1881 the couple visited Persia for the first time travelling to Tehran, Esfahan and Shiraz (they returned to Persia later on for further expeditions), falling in love with the place despite the difficult situation they found and the fact that they caught high fevers.
Jane led massive (all-male) crews and meticulously documented her journey and excavations via photographs, illustrations, and writings (the latter would be later published in two volumes). Quite a few artifacts and friezes the couple found in Susa were sent back to France, among them also the Lion Frieze on display at the Louvre where two rooms in the museum were named after Jane.
Jane and Marcel kept on travelling, visiting Spain and Morocco between 1888 and 1914. In the meantime, the French government conferred upon her the title of Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1886 and she published two novels, Parysatis (1890) and Déchéance (1897).
When Marcel was sent to Rabat, Morocco, during the First World War, Jane followed him, but she was forced to return to France after she contracted amoebic dysentery and died in Pompertuzat in 1916.
Jane was known for dressing in men's clothing and wearing her hair short during her travels. As she explained in her diary about Persia, at the time it was easier for a woman to move freely when dressed like a man. Yet she kept on dressing in men's clothing when she went back to France, and she received a special "permission de travestissement" from the government since cross-dressing was against the law. She stated she dressed in men's clothing for practical reasons, explaining "I only do this to save time. I buy ready-made suits and I can use the time saved this way to do more work."
Loyal to her husband (theirs was a marriage of equals), Jane spoke out about women's rights and during the First World War petitioned to allow women to have a greater role in the military. Jane was featured on the magazine Femina in August 1902: the photograph accompanying the article showed her in her living room, dressed in a man's suit. Her garb and look contrasted with the surrounding environment and in particular with the hearth - a symbol of comfort and stability and of a woman's conventional role in the domestic environment.
There is a lot of talk at the moment about gender fluidity in fashion, the silliest thing about it being the focus on gender fluid people who do not feel confined to the male or female identity or to specific male/female roles, as if this lack of boundaries were the most important thing. In a nutshell, it's as if the fashion industry celebrated gender fluidity for the sake of it (with a "genderless collection", "genderless models" or such labels), without highlighting people's achievements.
Though Jane Dieulafoy often stated she felt like a woman even though she liked dressing as a man, she was first and foremost an archeologist, historian and celebrated writer. Maybe the time has come for the fashion industry and in particular for the fashion media to start reshifting the focus on people's achievements, inspired maybe also by historical characters from the past who may take the unlikely roles of new icons of style, without labelling people and superficially emphasising sex orientation and gender (or genderless) identity.
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