Writing melancholia : light and dark in the sartorial aesthetics of antipodean literature

Clothes have a significant presence in literature, in terms of both the construction and the reconstruction of a historical moment and its literary representations. Of particular interest in this article is the role of clothes and sartorial fashion in the aesthetics of such historical moments, and how the literary representation of dress contributes to the production of distinctive national aesthetics in the antipodes – New Zealand and Australia. In particular, this article considers the use of light and dark in the dress represented in two contrasting texts, in order to explore the ways in which fashion functions in the writing of melancholia. The aesthetics of melancholia are determined by both light and dark, not simply by darkness. It is the contrast between the two that produces the sense of unease and loss that engenders the melancholy aesthetic. In considering the use of light and dark in the sartorial aesthetics of two antipodean literary texts it is possible to reflect upon the particularities of sartorial aesthetic modes in order to open up questions concerning the role of literary fashion in the construction of national aesthetic identity.