This is how Nancy describes her reasons for joining Kitty and wearing men’s clothes, “whatever successes I might achieve as a girl, they would be nothing compared to the triumphs I should enjoy clad, however girlishly, as a boy” (Waters, 123). Yet, she meets a woman named Kitty Butler, who acts as a male impersonator and her lifestyle greatly appeals to her. The story revolves around Nancy Astley, who lives a conservative life and helps her family run an oyster restaurant. Overall, Sarah Waters emphasizes the importance of cross-dressing and impersonation because these themes allowed her to develop the plot and create female characters who can reject the gender rules accepted by the society.
wearing the clothes associated with members of the opposite sex. However, her characters can acquire new roles in the world of men only by cross-dressing, in other words. Sarah Waters departs from this tradition and describes women’s adventures in the world of men. Traditionally, in picaresque novels, women act mostly as supporting characters who accompany and help men.
It should first be noted that Tipping the Velvet has the element of a picaresque novel which means that it describes the adventures of a character, who impersonates oneself as someone else and overcomes various difficulties in effort to achieve happiness or success (Hermans, 136). Secondly, in this way she is able to express her lesbian identity without incurring the indignation of other people who were normally prejudiced against any form of homosexuality or deviance from existing norms. These strategies allow Nancy to better understand the society in which she lives and people’s attitude toward homosexuality. Cross-dressing, drag, and passing as men offers the main character more opportunities and freedom. Overall, clothing plays an important role for them for two reasons.
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