BELL JARS AND BELL BOTTOMS: HOW SYLVIA PLATH’S NOVEL “FASHIONED” FEMALE YOUTH CULTURE

"Reading the Bell Jar through the lens of fashion not only provides insight into Esther’s identity crisis, breakdown, and rehabilitation, but also invites readers to reflect critically upon decades of fashion since the era of The Bell Jar’s publication. Fashion theory is particularly useful while reading The Bell Jar-- as Professor of Women’s Studies Margaret Stetz contends, “the paths toward maturity along which heroines [of coming-of-age novels] navigate are so often paved with cloth.” Stetz notes that clothing is a primary means by which young women learn and perform their cultures’ standards of femininity; consequently, clothing typically assumes a prominent place in novels that chronicle a female protagonist’s journey from young adulthood to seasoned adulthood."