Conjuring clothing: Gendered pockets and ephemeral afterlives in Victorian performance magic

Performance magic in the Victorian period was dangerous, exclusive and naturally relied heavily upon concealed spaces and clothing. The late nineteenth century, however, saw an increase in the marketing of performance magic towards women, particularly through the popular press. Articles such as the ‘Conjuring for Ladies’ (1889) series sought to amend the gender imbalance seen in both conjuring as a profession and as a hobby for pleasure. In terms of costume, however, female magicians both amateur and professional were at a disadvantage in regard to the hidden apparatus inherent in male magicians’ clothing. Men had many options for assisting with tricks, such as rigged waistcoats fitted with a profonde, a hidden back pocket depicted in Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin’s Card-Sharpers (1891) as an essential mechanism to assist with card tricks, which women were unable to utilise due to its traditional attachment to a waistcoat. This chapter explores conjuring’s complicated relationship with concealed spaces during the nineteenth century by focusing upon these examples of pockets and the later legacy of conjuring ephemera primarily as symbols of gender divisions within the profession. It then registers ways in which the dangerous world of professional magic could, nevertheless, penetrate domestic space by giving an account of an antique chest lined with publicity materials for the magician Mr Moon.