Late 19th-century elites tried to change certain habits and behaviour of Mexico City's popular classes, which were considered to run counter to the demands of civilization and progress thus delaying the consolidation of the capital city's urbanization as a referent of modernity. In this context, the wish to modify clothes and hygiene habits of popular sectors became a paramount concern for Porfirio Diaz's administration. The aim of this article is to analyze the connotations clothing had for Mexico's leading sectors and to study the social response to the coercion destined to alter dressing and sanitation habits in a given group of capital-city dwellers.
clothing; hygiene; popular classes