‘Condemned as unnatural’: 10 images of 19th-Century Parisian women who lived and dressed as men

While feminised versions of male styles were socially acceptable, wearing male clothing was not. This famously did not stop George Sand, the groundbreaking author and journalist who shunned gender conventions, living and loving as she chose. For Sand, wearing male clothing wasn’t intended as a provocation, it was simply more practical. She wore it “to gain access to spaces reserved for men, such as the theatre stalls, because men’s clothing was more economical than women’s attire, and because she wished to enjoy freedom of movement and action,” Kisiel tells the BBC.