Fashion Writing: Situation (un)Critical

Matthews, Rachel ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3561-6166 (2013) Fashion Writing: Situation (un)Critical. In: 5th Global Conference – Fashion: Exploring Critical Issues, 4 September 2013 - 7 September 2013, Mansfield College, Oxford University UK.

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Abstract

The field of fashion communication has been undergoing a transformation in the last decade through the integration of digital technology and the subsequent changes in communication that this has enabled. This paper explores some of these changes, through textual analysis of fashion writing in the public domain. By tracing influential voices or ‘fashion tastemakers’ in contemporary fashion media, this research looks at fashion ideas and how these are being produced and circulated as written expression. It is concerned with the nature of discourse and language in current fashion media, and how this may be used to gain insight into the structures and social order within the fashion system. Lasswell constructed a definition of an act of communication in 'The Structure and Function of Communication in Society' (1948). His description of communication as 'Who, says what, in which channel, to whom, with what effect' has been employed here, enabling the structure of communication to be broken down into inter-related parts to better analyse specific changes in fashion communication. In addition, Foucault’s ideas on discourse provide a framework to understand how some of the social and cultural practices of the fashion system influence and are reflected in the language of contemporary fashion tastemakers. This research uses the writing of fashion tastemakers as a way of understanding the significance and complexity of some of the changes in fashion communication. It identifies a persistent element of fashion discourse that continues to exist in fashion media, despite the difference and variety that now form such a strong feature of this field. The paper discusses why some types of discourse circulated in the fashion media (and supported through ‘discursive practice and formation’) are able to maintain their authority and resist change while the rest of the system continues to evolve.