Fashion, Style & Popular Culture - Volume 7, Issue 4, 2020

This article explores the use of clothes and other accessories as markers of masculine authorial identity. Fashion and literature are contentious partners, with literature attempting to keep a firm distance from the popular trappings of the fashion world. However, writers have historically used fashion to create their identities beyond the printed word. This can be seen in examples such as Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain and the ways clothing items have become associated with their personae as men of letters. Contemporary writers are no different, yet many continue to exude ambivalence towards clothing having any effect on their images in the literary sphere. Jonathan Franzen and David Foster Wallace are two examples of writers who downplay fashion’s role in their public images. Franzen and Wallace establish their positions at the forefront of American literature not only with their fiction and non-fiction works but also in the ways they adorn their bodies and present them within visual media. Nevertheless, both Franzen and Wallace perform as specific types of masculine authors through their fashion choices. Ultimately, they use fashion to brand their authorial identities in accordance with their literary output. Franzen’s and Wallace’s willing participation in the stylization of their images to meet the masculine standards of authorial identity reveals the prevalence of gendered stereotypes regarding how authors should be represented within popular culture.

From being the emblem of decorum and elegance, the tie has seen a radical decline in Europe and Northern America since the 1990s as a result of relaxed social norms and the association of dressing down with creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation stemming from Silicon Valley. Danish dress culture is particularly informal, brought on by international tendencies towards casual dressing but also by local cultural and geographical conditions that tend to call for functional dress practice. The study is based on interviews with men living in Denmark who wear the tie as a fashion accessory rather than as part of a uniform or according to workplace dress codes. A key finding in the article is the role the tie plays in dressing up as both a social distinction marker and a vehicle for emotional empowerment and physical comfort. The tie is widely considered an icon of western culture and therefore the reclaiming of the tie is also seen as a reaction to a shift towards casual dressing within the western fashion system. Reclaiming the tie is seen here to represent a push to bring back dress etiquette as a celebration of sartorial knowledge, effort and respect.

The concept of a ‘sharing economy’ and practice of ‘collaborative consumption’ suggest making use of market intelligence to foster a more collaborative and sustainable society. The clothing behaviour of retired men can be explained by social and economic changes that expose them to new cultural influences. Our goal was to evaluate the probability of success of a clothing sharing service in a collaborative economy. Hence, we examined the possibility of sharing idle clothing through a sustainable clothing service. A survey of South Korean retirees born before 1964 revealed that male retirees wore their clothes for 4.8 years on average before they would dispose them off. Only 14 per cent of idle clothing has been shared; however, a majority of retirees surveyed showed an affirmative attitude to the concept of sharing their clothing through a service. This could become a sustainable practice.

With the United States having the highest rate of incarceration in the world – peaking in 2008 at 755 prisoners for every 100,000 residents – it is not surprising that American popular culture is saturated with images of prison. Although the experience of being in prison is associated with humiliation, punishment and a lack of choice (which is antithetical to the existence of fashion), numerous films, television shows, music videos, designers and retailers have demystified and even glamorized the ‘look’ of prison. This article explores how Americans outside of prison are able to engage with this imagery – not just as passive consumers of media, but through buying and wearing prison uniform costumes, fashions inspired by prison uniforms, clothing made by prisoners and clothing formerly worn by prisoners.

Understanding the aesthetic response to classic design has become a prominent part of the consumption process. Classic design has been equated with understanding its artistic forms through the user because aesthetic response to classic design is influenced by personal desires that are informed by, and part of, collective cultural knowledge. It is, therefore, essential to understand the aesthetic response to classic design as an expression of culturally transmitted meanings based on user data. Following a survey identifying examples of classic design, participants volunteered for in-depth interviews and to bring in and discuss self-identified classic designs from their personal wardrobes. Findings indicated that though participants described a similar cultural concept of classic, they simultaneously identified a range of concrete examples that best fit their own unique needs and experiences.

It is possible to assert that the fashion system constitutes a complex device that determines consumption agendas. Fashion clothing is massively consumed, and consumer habits are deeply affected by online advertising. These consumption practices are not simply passive, sometimes they are creative, yet they are still part of the fashion disciplinary device. In these consumption practices, a range of expressions and discourses between individuals may be detected as well as multiple subjectivities under construction within contemporary societies. The intention of this article is to shed some light on the role of online fashion consumption practices within our societies, which are traversed by daily and prevailingly online advertising and encourage increased consumption. ‘Influencers’ are one novel example of how online advertising is subtly influencing fashion consumption. Even though consumers show certain tendencies in acquiring fashion clothing from specific brands, via different digital media outlets depending on their socioeconomic status and their peer groups, their consumption practices may try to subvert the conventional formats through which fashion clothing has been consumed traditionally. Nevertheless, as much as these practices seem to promote freedom, they might confirm the tactics of the system and just be a part of the algorithmic logic that imposes certain products, reproducing established categories.

Sustainable fashion brands are increasingly facing the challenge of striking the right balance between prominence and transparency. The core theme of this article is to examine the strategic communication practices of successful Indian sustainable fashion brands – specifically how they build their value profile and message mix to achieve greater transparency in their website communication. A qualitative content analysis allows for an in-depth understanding of the brand’s communication strategy through semi-structured interviews with ‘informed consumers’ of sustainable fashion along with an exploration of brand communication on the corporate website. The analysis throws light on the importance of connecting fashion vs. sustainability message content and brand value profile to ensure transparency in communicating the brand’s engagement with sustainability.

Review of: The Art of Disney Costuming: Heroes, Villains, and Spaces Between, Jeff Kurtti and the Staff of the Walt Disney Archives (2019)

Glendale, CA: Disney Editions, 176 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-48474-122-1, h/bk, $45

Review of: The Fundamentals of Fashion Management, Susan Dillon (2018), 2nd ed.

London and New York: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 192 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-47427-121-9, p/bk, $33.23, e/bk, $23,94

Review of: Transorientalism in Art, Fashion, and Film, Adam Geczy (2019)

Great Britain: Bloomsbury Publishing, 232 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-35006-014-2, h/bk, $76.47

Review of: Work! A Queer History of Modeling, Elspeth H. Brown (2019)

Durham and London: Duke University Press, 348 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-47800-214-7, e/bk, $19.18, ISBN 978-1-47800-0266, h/bk, $82.26, ISBN 978-1-47800-0334, p/bk, $27.95