The Signifying Role of the Dress in the Novel “In Search of Lost Time” (A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu) by Marcel Proust

Abstract

Marcel Proust knew how to write fashion. A fashionable dress makes a fashionable woman, and vice versa; a gorgeous, elegant woman makes her dress fashionable. The outfits of the best-dressed women in Parisian society are at one with their beautiful owners. As a result, the description of fine clothing in Marcel Proust’s novel “In Search of Lost Time” (A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu) is much more than just the accurate recreation of various dress codes and popular fashions of the time. The aim of the article is to explore how a costume “performs” in a work of literature. We assume that the attire does not simply highlight the natural beauty of a woman, but also gives a glimpse of her inner self, accentuating its strong and weak points. Through the agency of how she is clothed, we learn a lot about a woman, though the importance of Proust`s detailed descriptions has often been underestimated in academic literature.