Fashion is ubiquitous, and it plays a significant role in the contemporary global market, in the creative industries and in urban social space. In the realms of art, history, philosophy and cultural studies, however, fashion is often regarded as a subaltern, peripheral or even unorthodox topic. Hence, this study aimed at remapping the relationships among the interdisciplinary and conflicting notions of fashion, determining which and how fashion theories are applicable to the real fashion industry in a specific place at a particular time, apprehending the nuanced mechanisms involved, and seeking to create a substantial case for the social construction of fashion. In general, the research investigated how the global fashion industry and the print media in Hong Kong appropriate, negotiate and re-create ideas of fashion. The research questioned how and why fashion media personnel represent certain luxury brands as fashionable through textual and visual signs, how they learn and improvise their ideas of fashion at the outset, and how they adapt and negotiate fashion’s meanings. The presentation will be in three parts. First, the literature on interdisciplinary fashion theories, the fashion business and case studies will be reviewed to explain the delicate and unobserved process of fashion communication. An empirical study of fashion marketers’ and media personnel’s perceptions, and their creation and negotiation of fashion meanings will be presented. This involved participant observation and in-depth interviews in two different but highly connected fields: as a fashion reporter in the editorial team of a Hong Kong fashion magazine; and as a marketing assistant in the PR and marketing team of a British luxury accessory brand. The rapport built through the fieldwork facilitated thirty-six in-depth interviews with Hong Kong and mainland Chinese fashion media personnel, including the editors, copywriters, advertising sales managers, graphic designers and photographers of twelve publications; Asian fashion bloggers, marketing personnel from global fashion conglomerates, fashion distributors and consultants from across the Asia-Pacific region. The results demonstrate the complex construction and negotiation of fashion culture(s) in Hong Kong and mainland China (in relation to the West) on the personal, organizational, industry and national levels. Whether and how far Western fashion theories can be applied to Asia’s fashion industry and media business is discussed. The results of this interdisciplinary study elucidate the evolution of the fashion media and fashion meanings in Hong Kong and mainland China since the 1980s, unveiling the unique and little-understood apparatus of Asia’s fashion industry in the global context. The “four myths of fashion” theorized by the researcher explain the conflicting imaginaries and hybridized patterns of fashion—It is at once mainstream and niche; is manifested officially and personally; is preset yet negotiable; is at once commercial and creative; comprises both Western and Asian elements; is communicated both top-down and bottom-up; is uprising or decaying at the same time; goes premium and mass in chorus. They also lead readers to look through the simultaneously constraining and enabling nature of fashion—the fashion simulacra—in the postmodern capitalist world in realistic social setting. / published_or_final_version / Sociology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Dissertation submitted in compliance with the requirements for the degree of Master's of Technology: Fashion, Durban Institute of Technology, 2003. / This study addresses the relationship between the clothing behaviour and identity of African South African women in the corporate world, with reference to black identity and Western style of clothes. Central to these two issues the study tried to focus on the factors which may have an influence on the clothing behaviour of African South African women. Clothing as communication and factors which influence people's clothing behaviour were also covered to find out why people wear the clothes they wear. The sample consisted of African South African women (n =100) in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. Research was conducted by means of a structured questionnaire. The qualitative method provided a systematic investigation of the topic. The research methods included descriptive and inferential Statistics. Three hypotheses were formulated for the investigation. Each of the clothing variables was examined relative to the hypothesized relationship. There were fifty-one clothing variables employed in the analyses. The results exhibited a need for ethnically influenced clothes for African South Africans. The findings indicate that there was symbolic meaning attached to ethnically influenced clothing and beads, and that the symbolism attached to clothing items can influence a person's clothing behaviour. Recommendations were noted and followed by the Conclusion. / M

This thesis examines the meanings of forms of fashioned femininity in Britain in the post-war period. Drawing on a range of popular, academic and media texts, the widespread social, political and cultural disdain for the feminised decorative is defined and discussed. Modernist rhetoric and taste, the championing of design austerity, masculinity, bohemianism and appropriations of functional working-class fashioning are shown to be linked to the emergent tastes of Second-Wave feminism. In contrast, fashionings associated with working class and other disdained communities of women, defined here as 'feminine excess', whether in hair, make-up, jewellery or dress is shown to be demonised across historical and contemporary contexts by the arbiters of taste, expressed in key Modernist and feminist texts. Whereas both Modernism and facets of feminism are viewed as occluding and repudiating cultures and forms of working-class femininity, the emergence of queer theories and the rise of camp in popular culture is also critiqued here as ultimately confining discussions of and approbation for fashioned feminine excess to within the ironic discourse of drag. In the absence of research on, in particular working-class women's experiences and dis/pleasures in fashioning femininity, empirical data from female participants discussing their own histories of and tastes in fashioning is analysed alongside memory-work findings. Participants' contributions are discussed in two key chapters that focus on the significance of forms of identification in the self-fashioning of excess, specifically the iconic, excessive model of Dusty Springfield for women and girls growing up in Britain in the 1960s and, secondly, the complex array of meanings of hair and hair fashioning in constructing feminine and feminist selves. Throughout both the significance of class, notions of cultural difference, glamour and other pleasures in the processes of fashioning femininity. In a further chapter an array of media texts are analysed alongside insights generated by research participants focussing on the trope of jewels and jewellery. Desires for, pleasures in and identifications with female stars and Royals through their fashioning of glittering models of excess are charted across an array of popular texts consumed by communities of girls and women. Self-conscious, middle-class tastes for dissident fashioning and ironic appropriations of working-class excesses exemplified in punk or trailer trash vogues are compared to the non-ironic dissidence of Royal Taste, a form of feminine excess exemplified by stars such as Elizabeth Taylor and Shirley Bassey who, it is argued, have usurped the Royal aura in the post war period symbolised in their excessive will to adorn. This thesis concludes with a reflection on the obduracy of discriminatory trashing of working class forms of fashioning femininity and the consequences of this in terms of cultural justice. The hegemony of Modernist taste in paradoxically subordinating and appropriating otherness is critiqued alongside feminist neglect of the productive processes and loci of fashioning. This thesis calls for a re-evaluation of the existing institutional, modernist and feminist demonising of the other, excessive woman, highlights the constructedness of all fashioning and details the cultural value of disdained women's fashioning regimes and tastes.

This thesis considers the figure of the metrosexual, a contemporary archetype of stylish masculinity that has received considerable attention in the global media. It traces the development of a style-conscious and consuming masculinity in the West since the eighteenth century, through the figures of the dandy, the playboy and the new man. It also traces the discourse that has emerged in relation to metrosexuality in the Western media, from its first mention to the present. The metrosexual represents a significant departure from the norms of Western masculinity, most notably in his relationship to the homosexual and homoerotic. This thesis considers the implications of such a version of masculinity as they relate to women, gay men and theories of masculine subjectivity.

Dissertation submitted in compliance with the requirements for the Masters Degree: Fashion, Durban Institute of Technology, 2004. / This study sought to reveal conceptual connections between experienced social reality and garment products as cultural artefacts. Evaluation of the aesthetic fashion appeal of garment products was seen as a specialised interpretive skill. Modelling of essential elements of fashion meaning in South African men's leisurewear aimed to render professional interpretive acumen more widely accessible / M

No description available.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Masters Degree in Technology: Fashion Design, Durban University of Technology, 2013. / This study aims to investigate the effect anti-establishment branding has on teenage consumer behaviour within the action sports market, as well as the various factors which influence teenagers when purchasing clothing. The study challenges the notion that teenage consumers respond to, and are influenced by the unconventional marketing campaigns of action sports brands. The results of this study indicate that the action sports market initially captivated the attention of the youth by offering teenagers a sense of acceptance through rebellion. Unfortunately, as the movement grew in popularity the exclusivity of the movement decreased and the clothing associated with it became viewed as too ‘mainstream’ by the wearers. Although the anti-establishment movement is striving for individuality and shies away from conformity, the study found that there appears to be a misconception in the notion that all ‘brands’ are susceptible to ‘trends’ which are driven by ‘designers’. Therefore, there can never be a pure ‘anti-establishment brand’ as the concept of a brand rejects the purpose of anti- establishment rebellion. / National Research Foundation

Submitted in partial fulfillment for the Masters in Technology Fashion, Department of Fashion and Textiles, Durban University of Technology. Durban. South Africa, 2014. / My study is a qualitative research self-study. The aim of the study is to demonstrate how my multi-cultural origins have created in me my unique South African-ness and how this uniqueness has manifested in my art of fashion design. As a critically reflective practitioner-researcher trying to improve my professional practice, I have used multiple methodologies to answer the question in the title of my introspective study, “A Narrative Self-Study: How do I demonstrate my multi-cultural origins in my art of fashion?” I have used critical reflection, action research, narrative enquiry, and auto-ethnography to account for how my discovery of my amaXhosa and amaMpondo roots has interacted with my Bosotho-ness, and my Born-again Christian awareness. I have thus transformed my understanding of myself, my values, my beliefs about myself and the world around me. I collected the data in a number of different ways: I reflected on the lived experiences of my childhood; I observed and participated in cultural rituals, and reflected on these lived experiences; I used unstructured interviews to talk to many people who provided information which I recorded using a digital camera and took notes. These experiences and reflections enabled me to develop a Mix-and-Match Fusion Fashion design range of outfits. My Mix-and-Match Fusion Fashion design range incorporates a number of elements which identify with all of my cultural origins. I believe that my Mix-and-Match Fusion Fashion range demonstrates my South African-ness in my art of fashion design. It represents and expresses, symbolizes and celebrates the transition of my beliefs and understanding of my journey of self-discovery involving my five personas. I have used visual methodologies to analyse my designs and employed visual analysis to discuss my findings. I believe that Africans are increasingly proudly wearing and accepting their traditional attire as high fashion. I believe that the design of my Mix-and-Match Fusion Fashion range is suitable for the Southern African market, and demonstrates that I have effectively used my multi-cultural origins to improve my art of fashion.

A temática deste estudo tem como investigação a sociologia da moda a partir da telenovela brasileira Avenida Brasil, que pode ser considerada um estudo de caso onde demonstra a forma de consumo das camadas periféricas da sociedade. A Moda tem sido alvo de reflexões e estudos de alguns filósofos, economistas, sociólogos e psicólogos durante os últimos três séculos. As contribuições da sociologia para o estudo da moda podem ser divididas em dois períodos: o primeiro a partir do final do século XIX à primeira metade do século XX, onde autores como Spencer, Simmel, Tarde e Veblen, publicaram livros e ensaios que contêm esclarecedoras hipóteses deste fenômeno social complexo. O segundo período estende-se desde os anos cinquenta do século passado até os dias atuais e apresentam trabalhos de estudiosos que ao lado de observações intuitivas também contêm pesquisas sobre o fenômeno da moda. Esta pesquisa visa traçar argumentos sobre o fenômeno da moda a partir de alguns filósofos conhecidos (de Kant a Rousseau, de Nietzsche a Benjamin) e na área da sociologia igualmente considerados (de Tarde para Blumer, Baudrillard Spencer, Simmel e Crane). Uma antologia que parte também, de alguns textos traduzidos pela primeira vez do italiano, oferecendo uma visão das teorias sociológicas sobre a difusão da moda e suas características fundamentais / The theme of this study is to research the sociology of fashion from Avenue Brazil Brazilian soap opera, which can be considered a case study which demonstrates how to use the peripheral layers of society. The fashion has been the subject of studies and reflections of some philosophers, economists, sociologists and psychologists over the last three centuries. The contributions of sociology to the study of fashion can be divided into two periods: the first from the late nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth century, where authors like Spencer, Simmel, Tarde and Veblen, published books and essays containing enlightening hypotheses of this complex social phenomenon. The second period extends from the fifties of the last century to the present day and present works of scholars who with intuitive observations to also contain research on the phenomenon of fashion. This research aims to outline arguments about the phenomenon of fashion from some well-known philosophers (Kant to Rousseau, Nietzsche Benjamin) and in sociology also considered (Afternoon to Blumer, Baudrillard Spencer, Simmel and Crane). An anthology that also part of some translated for the first time the Italian texts, offering a vision of sociological theories on the diffusion of fashion and its key features

A literary text is a means for critics to analyze societal influence on the author, and both fashion and body modification serve this same function because they are legible texts with which to interpret the psychological motivations of the wearer in the cultural context in which he or she lives. Fashion theorists such as Roland Barthes and J.C. Flugel have detailed the reasons that they believe dress evolves throughout time, and the following thesis applies their theories to Melville's first novel Typee. In the first chapter, entitled, "Moral Fibers: Dress as the Extension of Self," much emphasis is given to archetypes of dress such as the veil, the corset and military uniforms in the Orient and the Occident. The second chapter, "Cut From the Same Cloth: Body Modification as Semiotic Modality," discusses ritualistic tattooing as a mode of literary expression. / by Tealia DeBerry. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.