Heroic consumption. Polar exploration and the rise of masculine fashion 1890–1930

The purpose of this project is to examine how the heroic masculinity associated with polar exploration integrated men’s fashion into modern consumption society at the turn of the twentieth century.

On the surface, the fashion of polar explorers might look like no other, but I aim to show its role in constructing a masculinity that included fashionable consumption, despite contemporary culture gendering it as feminine.

In this project, I argue that polar exploration brought men’s fashionable consumption to the fore at a time when it was otherwise obscured.

Drawing inspiration from theories of fashion and consumption, the project reconceptualizes polar expeditions as sites for consumption.

The empirical focus will be on two fashion brands, Jaeger and Burberry, whose early histories are inextricably linked with that of polar exploration. The project includes a variety of primary