ABSTRACT
Middle-class magazines and newspapers warned women of false or low-quality goods masquerading as worthy items, shady shopkeepers who took advantage of female pocketbooks and persons, and “bargain” sales luring unwary customers to make unwise purchases. The sale of fashionable clothing at cheaper prices in the new retail emporiums threatened not only the stability of the middling classes by increasing the competition from, it also threatened the respectability of the middle classes by encouraging middle-class women to participate in a fraudulent culture of consumption. The shopping that seemed to many critics to be a purposeless accumulation of unnecessary goods was for many women an important vocation—the pursuit of fashion. Throughout the changes in English retail from specialty shop to emporium to department store, women shopped for the best quality at the lowest price. For women of the middling classes, shopping emporiums and factory imitations of luxury accessories made fashion an attainable ideal.
