The Aesthetics of Mainstream Androgyny

339 Pages·2017·3.9 MB·English

The Aesthetics of Mainstream Androgyny:
A Feminist Analysis of a Fashion Trend
Rosa Crepax
Goldsmiths, University of London
Thesis submitted for the degree of Ph.D. in Sociology
May 2016
1
I confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own.
Rosa Crepax
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Bev Skeggs for making me fall in love with sociology as an
undergraduate student, for supervising my MA dissertation and encouraging me to
pursue a PhD. For her illuminating guidance over the years, her infectious enthusiasm
and the constant inspiration.
Beckie Coleman for her ongoing intellectual and moral support, all the suggestions,
advice and the many invaluable insights.
Nirmal Puwar, my upgrade examiner, for the helpful feedback.
All the women who participated in my fieldwork for their time, patience and interest.
Francesca Mazzucchi for joining me during my fieldwork and helping me shape my
methodology. Silvia Pezzati for always providing me with sunshine. Laura Martinelli
for always being there when I needed, and Martina Galli, Laura Satta and Miriam
Barbato for their friendship, despite the distance.
My family, and, in particular, my mum for the support and the unpaid editorial services.
And finally, Goldsmiths and everyone I met there for creating an engaging and
stimulating environment.
Thank you.
Abstract
Since 2010, androgyny has entered the mainstream to become one of the most
widespread trends in Western fashion. Contemporary androgynous fashion is generally
regarded as giving a new positive visibility to alternative identities, and signalling their
wider acceptance. But what is its significance for our understanding of gender relations
and living configurations of gender and sexuality? And how does it affect ordinary
people's relationship with style in everyday life?
Combining feminist theory and an aesthetics that contrasts Kantian notions of beauty to
bridge matters of ideology and affect, my research investigates the sociological
implications of this phenomenon.
My thesis explores in what ways the new androgyny, apparently harmless and even
radical, paradoxically reinforces traditional gender roles, and legitimatises particular
kinds of femininity over others also in terms of class, sexuality and ethnicity. It
interrogates whether this trend, and by extension contemporary mainstream fashion in
general, can oppose traditional values, and investigates the relationship between the
aesthetic sphere and socio-cultural inequality. In response to classical theories of
fashion, and filling a gap in contemporary ones, my study also focuses on social class,
now often overlooked, in the analysis of style.
These questions are examined from a twofold perspective: first I investigate
representation to identify ideological patterns of legitimation and de-legitimation arising
from fashion intermediaries' portrayal of the trend. I then look at how this visual
material becomes an object of affective engagement, and analyse emotional responses
to the aesthetics. To do this, I employ a mixture of traditional methods, such as
semiotics and discourse analysis, and experimental ones, like the collection of creative
ethnographic data.
I explore the particular aesthetics associated with the androgyny trend and consider how
it is configured by the different fashion intermediaries, what its presence online entails,
and what is its relationship with the wider public and their everyday negotiations of
identity.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Introduction: Androgyny, Fashion and Why They Matter
Questioning the New Androgyny 10
Androgynous Fashion and Style in Culture and Society 17
Fashion and Sociological Investigation: 26
Dress and Style as Markers of Class
Outlining the Chapters 36
Chapter 2
Aesthetics Through Ideology, Class and Gender:
Theoretical Underpinnings
Introduction 44
Political, Gendered and Affective Bodies 46
Emotional Attachments, Affect and Feeling Difference 54
Positive and Negative Affectivity in Context 56
Aesthetics Between Bodily Sensations and Ideological Functions 59
Class as a Cultural Manifestation
and the Supremacy of the Higher Classes 62
Class as an Affective Manifestation
and the Portrayal of the Working Classes 68
Conclusion 73
Chapter 3
Investigating the New Androgyny: Methodology
and Methods
Introduction 77
Understanding Fashion Intermediaries 79
Finding a Space for the Audience 88
Translating the Complexity of the Fashion-Communication
Scenario into a Researchable Entity 90
The Methods (I): Semiotics 94
The Methods (II): Discourse 99
The Methods (III): Street Style Photography 102
Conclusion 108
Chapter 4
Mapping the Themes: Representation and androgyny as a Trend
Introduction 111
Affluent Lifestyle 114
Minimalist Refinement and the Domestic Ideal 121
The Heterosexual Wife and the Sophisticated Femme Fatale 128
Rebellion and Resistance 135
The Alien and the Work of Art 143
Conclusion 146
Chapter 5
Pulling Off the Androgyny Trend: The
Androgynous Body?
Introduction 149
Bodies in the Fashion Market, Stylisation of the Self and Value 151
The Androgynous Body as a Project: 155
Transformation, Cultivation and Consumption
The Androgynous Body as Cyborg Femininity 164
The Aestheticised Moral Affectivity of the Androgynous Body 172
Androgynous Body Consciousness 177
Conclusion 181
Chapter 6
The Re-mediation of the Androgyny Trend:
Blogs, Legitimation Struggles and Affective Negotiations
Introduction 185
Bloggers and the struggle over Legitimacy (i): 187
Minimalist Refinement, the New Androgyny
and the Insider's Look
Bloggers and the Struggle over Legitimacy (ii): 194
Excess, the New Androgyny and the Outsider's Look
Blogging about Androgyny as a Public Intimate Engagement 201
with Affect and Creativity
Blogging as an Intimate Experience Between Writers 206
and Readers: Are They Peers?
Conclusion 211
Chapter 7
Engaging/Disengaging with Androgyny and Reconfiguring the Trend:
Affective Online Interaction
Introduction 215
Androgyny and the Affectivity 217
of Contemporary Fashion's Online Audience Engagement
Direct Engagement: the Audiences' Imagined Audience 219
and Personal Investments in Androgynous Fashion
Bashing and Judging 219
Investing 228
Indirect Engagement: Online Procrastination as a Tool 232
for the Mainstream Reconfiguration of the Androgyny Trend
Social Class and Online Participation 232
Creativity and Semantic Alterations 234
Conclusion 242
Chapter 8
Androgyny on the Streets:
Street Style and Symbolic Play
Introduction 245
Street Photography, Access and Hanging Out 248
Wearing Androgyny (I) Androgynous Fashion in Real Life 252
Wearing Androgyny (II) Androgynous Fashion and Business 257
Smelling Contemporary Fashion: Perfume and Style 262
Comfort and Spontaneity Versus Femininity in Everyday Life 264
Old Clothes and Sitting on the Streets with Friends 271
White, Black and Bright Colours 275
Dressing for the Occasion 279
Creativity 282
Conclusion 286
Chapter 9
Conclusion: Making Sense of the New Androgyny
and Assessing its Potential
Introduction 290
Towards a More Androgynous Future? 296
Androgyny in the Contemporary Fashion Scene: 305
Self-Presentation and Negotiations of Identity
An Alternative Model of Fashion Distribution: 310
Variations in Aesthetic Distinction
The Potential and the Future of Androgynous Fashion 316
Conclusion 320
Bibliography 323
Social media references 346
List of Tables 351
List of Figures 351
Appendix 1 353
Appendix 2 354
Appendix 3 355
Chapter 1
Introduction: Androgyny, Fashion and Why They Matter
Questioning the New Androgyny
In the past few years, androgyny has gained a significant prominence in Western
women's fashion that can be compared to the popularity and the clamour caused by the
Garçonne look of the 1920s, the Glam ambiguity of the 1970s or the unisex style of the
1990s. In 2010, The New York Times commented on the androgyny tendency, arguing
that not since the 1970s has there been such a media frenzy about gender bending styles;
only this time, instead of stressing the mysterious charm of ambiguity, such portrayals
focus on 'empowerment' and 'pride' (Van Meter 2010). The article quotes the editor of
LOVE magazine Katie Grand's comments on how this new positive attitude of the
fashion industry towards androgyny is reflected by its very presence in high fashion
advertising, as well as in Vogue magazine and in Oprah Winfrey's popular TV show.
After being flirted with for decades, androgyny has recently entered the mainstream, to
such extent that new discussions spark everyday on the internet about whether the
trend has already gone too far.
The androgyny trend is seen in many places: in photoshoots (New Dandy - Flair Sept
2011, New Kid in Town - Vogue Paris Oct 2012, Macho Libre - US Elle 2012, Rebel
Rebel - Vogue UK Sept 2013, Boy Talk - Vogue UK Sept 2012 are only a few examples)
and advertising campaigns (Calvin Klein AW11, Donna Karan AW12, Miu Miu AW12,
Burberry AW10) as well as in catwalk trend reports, articles, fashion blogs and so on.
LOVE magazine even released an entire Androgyny Issue for SS11. Large high street
clothing chains, such as River Island or Topshop, offer a wide selection of 'boyfriend
blazers', 'tomboy crop tops' and 'boyish shorts'. Even a recent popular trend in designer
perfumes encourages women to 'borrow from the boys' and experiment with fragrances
that mix masculine and feminine olfactory notes together (Elle Sept 2014). In fact,
10