Young Woman in Street Dress 1872

Edgar Degas captured this young woman in street dress with pastel on paper. Degas's Paris was one of both industrialization and empire, a place where class, race, and gender were highly performative. This young woman’s attire places her within the bourgeoisie. The way her dress tightly laces her form, draws attention to the social expectations placed on women of this class, who were often valued for their appearance and ability to perform the role of a respectable woman. Degas renders this woman of color with dignity, yet her averted gaze and posture may speak to a sense of constraint and self-consciousness, reflecting the limitations and scrutiny faced by women of color in Parisian society. The composition emphasizes her isolation. Degas asks us to consider both the beauty and the burdens of visibility in a society marked by strict social codes, leaving us to ponder the complex interplay between identity, representation, and lived experience.