| José Clavijo-Fajardo, Beatriz Cienfuegos and José Cañuelo were the editors of El Pensador (1762–64), La Pensadora Gaditana (1764) and El Censor (1781–83, 87) respectively. Throughout their articles these writers addressed topics related to fashion and education, both men and women's. These critics held that the development of fashion did not exclusively impact commerce and international trade. In their collective opinion, fashion also represented the growth of personal aspirations, as well as the new framework of social divisions. By establishing that fashion is an absurdity, these commentators drew conclusions about the detrimental manner in which individual and social identities were constructed through externals. As a counterpart and in competition with these negative examples of social and cultural identity fueled by the developing international markets, these journals proposed the natural man, a fashion of the individual domesticated, unpretentious and whose worth resided on the inside. These journalists determined the ideal way in which Spanish culture should conform and express itself, adopting the role of arbiters of taste and behavior in urban Spain during the 18th century.; The first chapter examines the cultural and social identity of the editors of these newspapers and under what circumstances they were published. The goal of this exercise was the reform of manners and in so doing all members of society would ideally have access to express their opinion. However, the textual practices exclude and expose to ridicule those who hold differing opinions. In the process of exclusion, the criticism of fashion was the primary instrument. Chapter two establishes the concerns of the intellectual community related to Spain's political and commercial situation and its lag behind the rest of Europe. I outline the worries of the intellectuals regarding economics, culture and society caused by the development of strong international markets and an increasing foreign influence. The association of feminine forces with the threat of an increasing foreign debt created the negative image that emerged in relation to all things feminine.; The focus of chapter 3 is the impact that feminine fashions had on the traditional social order in the capital city. Foreign fashions became the criteria of inclusion or exclusion from certain cultural spheres, measuring the value of people. In chapter 4, I study the connection that these critics established between seeing, imagining as the basis of their criticism towards superstitious ways and consuming as the basis of their criticism towards the modern development of the international market. As part of the effort to discipline the forces that direct consumption decisions—sight and imagination— El Pensador, La Pensadora Gaditana y El Censor adopt the task of distinguishing between positive and negative ways of observing. In this process, they offer themselves as the incarnation of the ideal observer establishing their authority in interpreting the surrounding world. Against the model proposed by the speaker, petimetres, petimetras and anachronistic characters are represented as weak and vulnerable to the spectacle of the exterior appearances. |
