In this advertisement by American Apparel we can see a young woman in a bedroom setting, lying on the bed wearing what appears to be nothing but a pair of over-the-knee socks, with the brand’s logo and a broad white stripe preserving at least some of her modesty. The image is overtly sexual which is hardly surprising considering a quick search online revealed many more American Apparel advertising campaigns that are of similar ilk, some even more overtly sexual and some even starring actual porn stars. This image itself could be perceived as pornographic as the angle of the photographer could be seen as the view of a lover taking sexual images of their partner. However, the fact that this seemingly intimate moment is an advert, is published and can be viewed by the general public, gives the feeling of revenge porn or some such; although we know that it isn’t, this is the impression I get when looking at the image, that something private has been made public.  

American Apparel is well known for its controversial advertising, with some of their adverts having been banned in certain countries as they were deemed too sexual and some even “seeming to sexualise a child” (Sharkey, 2015). They certainly do use very young-looking women in sexual poses in their advertising, seemingly thinking that that’s what will sell their product. However, sex does not always sell, as in an interview with The Telegraph Professor Brad Bushman said, “Sex and violence do not sell, and in fact they may even backfire by impairing memory, attitudes and buying intentions for advertised products. Advertisers should think twice about sponsoring violent and sexual programmes, and about using these themes in their ads.” (Bushman, 2015). I agree with this as personally their overly sexually suggestive adverts puts me off the brand and would make me think twice about entering a store and buying their product. The man behind the brand, Dov Charney – atop of his highly controversial advertising campaigns – has been accused several times of sexually harassing his staff and sending them inappropriate messages (Freeman 2017); therefore, it is unsurprising his adverts put forth such a degrading and inappropriate message to his largely teenage customer.  

American Apparel are not the only brand that has relied on ‘sex’ to sell their product, with Calvin Klein having also come under fire for using highly sexualised imagery in their advertising campaigns. Calvin Klein has been quoted as saying, “I’m not selling sex. I’m selling underwear and jeans, and I’m not trying to do it with pornography.” (Farfan 2017) in response to claims he too was using sexualised imagery as a marketing tool. However, I feel as though Calvin Klein’s adverts are not as offensive because they are targeted towards a slightly older market and are almost tastefully sexual and artistic rather than straight up pornographic like American Apparel’s campaigns, and that is why – combined with their younger market- it seems so much more inappropriate for American Apparel to advertise their clothing in this highly sexualised way.  

• Sharkey L., The Independent, (2015), ‘American Apparel Gets Another Ad Banned by Advertising Watchdog for Sexualising Children’. Available from: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/news/american-apparel-gets-another-ad-banned-by-advertising-watchdog-for-sexualising-children-10116040.html (accessed 30/11/17)
• The Telegraph (2015), ‘Sex Sells? It can make you forget what is being advertised, say scientists’. Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/shopping-and-consumer-news/11754878/Sex-sells-It-can-make-you-forget-what-is-being-advertised-say-scientists.html (accessed 30/11/17)
• Freeman H., The Guardian (2017), American Apparel founder Dov Charney: ‘Sleeping with people you work with is unavoidable’ . Available from:  https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/10/american-apparel-dov-charney-sexual-harassment (accessed 30/11/17)
  
• Farfan B., The Balance (2017), ‘Calvin Klein Quotable Quotes About Marketing Sexuality, Sexy Brands’. Available from: https://www.thebalance.com/calvin-klein-quotes-about-marketing-sexuality-2892507 (accessed 30/11/17)

Throughout this module, I have enjoyed most of the lectures, finding them interesting, useful in discovering new designers and introducing me into new areas of fashion design I have not learnt about before. I did find a few tasks difficult and struggles to understand a few points, however did enjoy learning about these areas, even throughout the difficult parts.

My favourite area to study was the ethics and visual research tasks. I found these extremely interesting, especially the ethics area, I found myself compelled into the different types of advertising and how controversial so many different advertisement campaigns are. This made me open my eyes to all the issues that are involved with advertisement, especially involving women and how they are portrayed. I also enjoyed looking into different fashion collections, coming across new designers I haven’t heard of before, which I have taken further and looked at in my practice.

The area that I found the most difficulty was in the Reflective Writing. The articles that were given to us were extremely articulate in the way they were written, which personally made it hard for me to understand what exactly they were discussing. To help with this, I focused on reading one paragraph at a time, writing down what I thought they were talking about, looking up words, making it slightly easier for me to understand. Even having done this, finding a quote to refer to in this task was very difficult because of the large amount of resources in the library, I did not know where to start looking. However, after getting help, I found it easier to narrow down and find a quote.

Although the library contains such a wide range of resources, I did find that I was not using these resources wisely. This is because when finding quotes for a few of my tasks, I referred to the internet or newspapers/magazines instead of going to the library. I think this is because of the overwhelming amount there is, I found it much easier and less time consuming referring to magazines and articles I have found instead. In the future, I would like to use the library more to get the information; which the reflective writing task did help me practice how to locate what you specifically want.

At the start of the year, I managed my time well, doing the first task as they were set. However, I became stuck when Task 5/6 was set, which then made my time management not very efficient. Even when asking for help, I put off completing this task week after week, which then made me put off the other tasks which were set after. This then put me behind, making it more stressful for myself. Taking this into the future, I will make sure that when I ask for help, I get all the information I need to make sure I can efficiently do the task before the next one is set, making sure I am not put behind again.

This is a very infamous advert done by Duncan Quinn, which turns out to be his very first advert, selling men suits. There have been multiple complaints about this and is extremely controversial, because of the style of this advert. The most common ethical issue in advertising is the use of women, either sexualised or making them look weak or objectified. This image is meant to be promoting Duncan Quinn suits, however raises many questions as to how people will understand that this is meant to be promoting suits. An issue with this image is that it shows masculine control/ male domination. I see the woman as a sex slave or under control of the man. The man is presented in a fancy suit, looking smart, business-like, holding a tie which is wrapped around the woman’s neck, who is in lingerie. This shows the man of a better class, better dressed, and more powerful looking. This very much shows the dominance of the man, with him in control of the woman. The tie objectifies the woman as a dog/animal, as it is used as a lead, again showing this control. In many media’s, women are almost always portrayed as the victim, which, in this particular advert, in my opinion, shows the woman as a victim to the man, by the use of the tie.

The Male Gaze Theory, suggests that’s “the male gaze denies women human identity, relegating them to the status of objects to be admired for physical appearance.” [1]

The man’s gaze in this advert is directed at the audience, with a smirk on his face. The smirk directs my attention to what is causing this, which to me, is the woman which he is ‘possessing’. In a way, he seems to be boasting about the fact he has this woman in lingerie in his possession. The woman is portrayed as a object he has won and now owns, relating to the Male Gaze Theory were the woman is seen as a sexy human with no identity to her; her face is not shown in this advert, which furthers her lack/loss of identity.

“Research also found [in advertisement] men are more likely to be shown as leaders…” [2] This does show how men overpower women in mostly all media,  which is clearly seen in this ad. We are constantly bombarded with images like this through advertisement in the street, bus stations, magazines, etc, and people don’t realise what this is actually doing to people and their perception of how others should be seen and treated. “When it comes to creating out ‘regular ‘ads for our ‘regular’ clients, we forget about women.” [3] I agree with this statement as they completely forget about women, and how women will see these ads where other women are sexualised in that way. In advertising, woman are nearly always presented in a exotic, sexualised and/or elegant way, making it extremely hard for ‘regular’ woman to connect with this image. This damages many woman and their self-confidence, trying to ‘be’ one of these women in all these adverts.

In my opinion, I believe that this advert is completely wrong and insensitive to others, especially women, and should have not been able to be published for others to see.

[1] – Loreck, Janice, (2016) The Male Gaze Theory, Available from: Theconversation.com                              [Accessed 28th November 2017]

[2] Gee, Rachel, (2017) The Representation of Women in Advertising Hasn’t Improved in a Decade, Available from: https://www.marketingweek.com/2017/06/21/representation-women-ads/ [Accessed 28th November 2017]

[3] Thompson, J. Walter, (2017) Unpacking Gender Bias In Advertising, Available from: www.jwt.com  [Accessed 28th November 2017]

I chose to read the chapter Taste, Fashion and the French Fashion Magazine by Sanda Miller in the book Fashion Media, Past and Present, which talked about fashion and taste during the 18^th century. It believes that French fashion magazines “have been truthful mirrors of their time,” [1] believing that they are a storage of fashion and a measurement of individuals fashion taste.” I do agree with this as when you look at old and new magazines, you are able to see the change in what was considered fashionable and what people loved in fashion at those particular times.

Some of the themes in this chapter are the role of fashion magazines, how different people view objects, and what was seen as fashion in different time periods. One of the main points were how taste for an object changes depending on who is looking at it; that beauty is subjective. Shakespeare’s “beauty is bought by judgement of the eye” [2] and David Humes’ “beauty in things exist merely in the mind which contemplates them” [3] relate to this idea of taste as they are also commenting on how different people have different tastes of things; what one might find stylish, to another could find it ugly.

This chapter also mentions there being no common denominator in taste, and say that there should be one. However, I do think there is a common denominator in fashion, as there are people in the world who like the same type of fashion as you do, meaning your tastes is extremely similar/the same. Although it is a small amount of people who may share this liking, there is still a slight common denominator. But, I believe having no common denominator is also a good things, as if everyone liked the same thing, I believe fashion would then be boring as everyone starts to wear and look the same, meaning expressing your taste doesn’t mean much.

Jukka Gronow comments in her book The Sociology of Taste that fashion taste is socially determined based on various groups and classes of society. She talks about the way social circumstances can determine what your ‘taste’ is. I agree with this as I believe that if you were high up in the social ladder, you are exposed to more higher-class/ more expensive fashion than others who may not have that privilege of being able to buy designer pieces. I don’t believe class only determines peoples taste, as they can also be exposed to designer wear through magazines, however they might not like it as much due to other aspects such as money. She also commented “fashion does not have to decide whether to be or not to be” [4], which I interpret as her saying that maybe we are to decide whether fashion is to be or not, not fashion itself.

[1] Bartlett, D. Cole, S. and Rocamora, A. (2013) Fashion Media Past and Present, London, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

[2] Shakespeare, W. Love Labours Lost (1588)

[3] Humes, D, (2015, First published 1777) My Own Life, New York, Cosmo Classics Publication

[4] Gronow J. (1997) The Sociology of Taste, London, Routledge

This is a collection done by a label called Marry Me – Jimmy Paul. Their collections are inspired by their own made up and real stories, worlds, people and their view on current and the past pop culture, creating extremely vibrant collections. This specific collection was inspired by the Riviera; of the sun and the vitality and glamour of the rich Riviera lifestyle; they created this collection with elaborate prints, textures and shapes.

The reason I chose this photo of one of their pieces is becauseof the massive amount of colour and texture which has been thrown all into one. All of the labels work is extremely colourful and ‘out there’, which is what attracted me them in the first place. The garment has multiple textures, with the top half being big, soft and full of feathers, giving off a warm feeling to it.  Whereas the bottom half if quite padded with multiple sections of different patterns, which does not give off the same warm feeling. There is a mixture of different animal patterns on the garment, and also has a splash of bright colours of purple and red, which connects the skirt colours to the top half.

There is a lot going on in this image, not only with the garment, but also with the background. Normally with garment images, the background is plain so all the attention is on the garment, however in this picture, the garment does not stand out as much as it would on a plain background. This is because of the repeated colourful patterns used as a backdrop, which are similar to the colours in the garment.

Although for some people, they would not like this type of fashion, this is the type in which I love and would take this collection as inspiration for fashion pieces of mine.

The photo above is an advert campaign by the American brand American Apparel. Visually the image is very controversial and has received some critical comments about the ethics that surround it. At first glance we see the brand name on a thick white stripe that is partially covered by some black shapes, however up close you start to see the wider image of a woman who is partially naked laying on a bed in a very sexual position, only wearing what I think are a pair of their knee-high socks with the white stripe being the only part to cover her. Just a glance at this image you wouldn’t think anything of it, but if it were to be plastered across billboards and buses I can see where people are finding issues with it. Being a huge retail brand they reach a lot of people and subsequently a lot of young people who are generally known to be very impressionable. The image is very sexually suggestive and could imply ‘if you buy these socks, you could be in her position’ as if the socks give you a sexual desirability. At the same time – socks have connotations of innocence as they are a parts of a school uniform, which there ‘aesthetic is built on’ [Ferrier 2015].

These are two very juxtaposing ideas but they are often used in conjunction with each other due to them being controversial and taboo to talk about. This then brings up the issue of sex sells. As questionable as the topic is, it does work as it gets people talking which is ultimately what brands want. The more people talk, the more exposure they get and subsequently their revenue goes up. Many see it as a cop-out to get money quickly and that it breaks moral code on many levels, However the blunt truth is that it happens so much in today’s society, we are accustomed to it that we don’t really notice when it happens anymore even though it’s a frequently talked about debate.  That being said, American apparel filed bankruptcy in 2015 and again in 2016 due to plunging sales and their advertising could be the reason. As wrote in Emotional Fashion Retail “An unethical advertising activity will also affect the economic dimension of a company, because some stakeholders may see this advertisement as irresponsible. This may lead to harmful publicity for the company or damage their relationship to the customers. Even the long-term survival is jeopardized” [Strähle 2015].

This could definitely be one explanation among many possible others as to their disappearance and the downfall of their public image. However, just through an internet search its clear the brand didn’t see how damaging their advertising was becoming as on Esquire.com they have adverts going back to 1995 showing the development of over-sexualized adverts. They still have stores in the US after selling the company out, but as an article in The Guardian writes that Dov Charney, the founder of brand and the man subject to many sexual harassment allegations within the company, had “sapped the company’s morale and took its sexualized image too far for young shoppers” [Farrell, S 2015].

                                                 Bibliography

Ferrier, M. (2015) American Apparel goes out of fashion and into bankruptcy https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/oct/05/american-apparel-goes-out-of-fashion-and-into-bankruptcy   Accessed: 30 November 2017

Strähle, J. (2015) Emotionalizing Fashion Retail (page 95) Nordstedt, Books on Demand

Farrell, S. (2015) American Apparel files for bankruptcy https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/oct/05/american-apparel-files-for-bankruptcy    Accessed: 30 November 2017

It has been apparent in past decades and still in today’s society the ethical issue of the way women and men are portrayed through campaigns for the fashion industry. Frequently, there are controversial images being released from the fashion industry regarding the sexualizing of women with suppressive and anti-feminist suggestions.

The image that I am reflecting on in particular, is the image by Duncan Quinn which portrays a man of apparent high class with a complacent and arrogant look on his face. In contrast to this, a woman is being helplessly pulled across a car by her neck with his tie, wearing only lingerie. It is clear that this is showing a problematic ethical issue; men being portrayed as superior to women.

Primarily, in this image by Duncan Quinn, the man is fully dressed in a smart suit which suggests he is of high class and gives him a status of being wealthy and successful. In contrast, unfairly the woman is left defenseless of a status and identity by the photographer as she wears only meager underwear and her face is being pulled away from the camera by the man and his tie. I believe this is conveying an incredibly immoral and objectifying message to the people who view the photograph.

Furthermore, I believe there is more injustice between the portrayal of the genders in tis photograph through the fact the male is standing and the female is lying down over a car. I believe this gives the man a further sense of confidence, superiority and fits with the outdated view that a man has leadership of a woman as well as being more active a surveyor. In contrast, the woman is in a lying position which suggests vulnerability and weakness. In ‘The Sexual Objectification of Women in Fashion Media: A Contemporary Cultural Perspective’, Namata Sherinah explains how a woman’s position in a photograph for fashion juxtaposes a man’s. She states, ‘fashion ads for instance normally present a woman touching self… lying on the floor… vulnerable… holding an object or a man for support…’. She conveys the difference for a man in a photograph, stating ‘Men on the other hand are often portrayed as alert and conscious of their surroundings… eyes open… gripping things tightly…’. Many descriptions that Sherinah writes are applicable to this image such as the woman looking ‘vulnerable’ whilst the man has his eyes open and his hand is gripping on to the tie.

Lastly, I believe the photograph is sexist because of the way the man is put in to a complimentary light in the way that his suit looks pristine and smart as well as his posture looking proper. Rather than the woman similarly being complimented, her figure looks strained and weak. Furthermore, her hand has been positioned in a way that it looks like a claw and animalistic. Horrifyingly, this then sets the status of the woman as a feeble animal further separates the position between man and woman.

In conclusion, it is clear the man has ownership of this photograph. By wrapping his tie around the woman’s neck and pulling her towards him over presumably his car, he has ownership of both the woman and the car which I believe result in a disturbingly sexist and unjust photograph.

Bibliography:

Sherinah, N, ‘The Sexual Objectification of Women in Fashion Media: A Contemporary Cultural Perspective’, Available from: http://www.kas.de/wf/doc/kas_21095-1442-2-30.pdf?161206174939

The first chapter of the book ‘Fashion Media, past and present’, is called ‘Taste, Fashion And The French Fashion Magazine’. It consists of a few topics, revolving mainly around attitudes of fashion during different periods and role of fashion magazines. One topic is about the emergence of a critic and how the concept of taste came about. The concept of taste was created by British Empinicist Philosophers. They believed that beauty should not be in the eye of the beholder and that actually there should be a standard. Another interesting topic is whether fashion is considered as art. For centuries fashion was not seen as equal to art. In 1912, Henry Bidou considered fashion worthy of the painter’s attention, however did not see it as equal. Another topic was whether, and how much fashion reflects politics, society, economy and culture of the time. According to this book the fashion magazines during the 17^th and 18^th century in France captured the revolution in the clothing and how the clothing changed due to the change in politics, society, economy and culture of the time.

One point I want to discuss is whether fashion reflects politics, society, economy and culture of the time. The ‘Fashion Media’ book believes it does massively. The book in particularly claims that the fashion magazine ‘Le Journal Des Dames et des Modes’ “captures an important moment in the turbulent history of France” (Sanda Miller, 2013). The magazine apparently captured the gruesome events that influenced the fashion. The book ‘Fashion, Culture, And Identity’ agrees with this point, as it says fashion “sources in culture and social structure” (Fred Davis, 1992). I also agree with these points. A good way to prove this is how fashion has changed over time, paticularly because of culture. ‘Fashion Media’ describes how the French magazines used to represent the outfits of aristocratic circles and captured the difference between clothes of different classes. This means that clothes represented social structure at that time, however in the other book, which is based on modern times, it claims that fashion masked “status anxiety”. This means that fashion in modern times does not represent status like it did in France in the 18^th century. This shows how fashion reflects culture.

Another point that interested me was whether or not fashion is art. In the book, Le Brun Tossa claimed that fashion and taste were connected and if fashion and taste were connected and art and taste were connected, fashion could be seen as a form of art. Before Le Brun Tossa introduced this concept, fashion was not equated with art. In 1912, Henry Bidou considered fashion worthy of the painter’s attention, however he still did not see it as equal to art. I believe fashion is equal to art, due to its similar purpose of expression. In the book ‘Fashion, Culture, And Identity’, the author has written about the meanings behind fashion and whether it is a ‘visual language’. Art is also considered as a visual language. In the book, Gans stated that fashion meanings are “more differentiated than in other expressive realms” (Gans, 1974). This is fundamentally stating that art is not equal to fashion. I do not believe this, however I find it interesting because fashion should be apreciated.

References:

Davis, F (1992) Fashion, Culture, And, Identity, Chicago: University of Chicago

Miller, S (2013) Fashion Media: Past and Present, New York: Bloomsbury

The ethical issues that need to be taken into consideration when looking at this Duncan Quinn image is masculine control and feminism. Masculine control shows the woman as being a sex slave/ object showing the woman as being subservient having the head brace/ lead as showing dominance and the woman is nothing compared to the man. This is also shown through costume – the man is fully and well dressed whereas the woman is only wearing underwear showing she is poor and the man controls what she wears going back to the sex slave – the woman is more accessible for him to use her if she is not fully dressed, however, this makes it to be more obvious of the man’s intentions to onlookers. This may be what he wants to portray his dominance and make him look manlier to other men. Women will not view the man as being this way; they will find him to be disgusting. Feminists would argue that men have done this emotionally and physically to women for years. This photograph is especially chilling because of the lead around the woman’s neck, which is the most vulnerable part of the human body and first port of call for a man to harm a woman. Ethically, I am surprised this photograph was released as it is very near the mark of what is allowed in the modern world. The mans suit indicates that this photograph is based in the nineteen twenties. It looks like she is lying on a car, which is mainly a male interest – motor racing and a general interest in cars. This photograph may show that in the twenties, the man was seen as the breadwinner of the family and woman seen as just a producer of children and to cater to the needs of the man. This gives the woman a lower status in the family and society as being a second-class citizen. The woman looks dead which may show that she is very tired and near to death after catering to the mans needs. The woman is looking at the man to possibly ask for the man’s permission to look at the camera – he is staring right at the camera with an angry look which also has a hint of happy he has the woman in this position. The fact that the photo is in black and white backs up the idea that this was set in the twenties and the woman’s style of underwear also shows this. The lead is the only thing connecting or separating the woman and the man. The way the woman is lying down suggests she is in pain with an arched back. “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.” Atwood, Margaret (Unkown) Telegraph date accessed 28/11/17. Women are seen to be vulnerable and less important than men because they have different body parts, which is not acceptable and I think this photograph is not seen as appropriate in this day and age.

This extract is from Miller, S (2013) Fashion Media Past and Present, Bloomsbury. I think this extract is trying to say that the concept of taste depends on who is looking at the object – not everyone has the same taste. Fashion, taste and art are interchangeable because both fashion and art depend on taste. Meaning you could ask various people whether they like the same garment and you would get mixed reviews. This is where the saying “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder” comes from. I think this is right because we are all born different and from different places, which mean that, we are all brought up differently adjusting to different environments in different ways. For example, women will have interests that alter from those of men just from their bringing up and school environment. Children at young ages will be very influenced by their environment. “Aesthetic appreciation may be directed at a variety of natural and man made objects, perceived by any of the five senses” Sheppard, A (1987) Aesthetics An introduction to the philosophy of art”, Opus. This backs up my argument as aesthetic appreciation is looking at an object which sparks different emotions and feelings, art is a man made object and evokes different feelings from various people. I agree with the idea that fashion magazines are snapshots of cultural, social and a fashion of the time in which it was published as looking back now on magazines published these days compared to past ones as advertising is different and you can clearly see the main fashions of the time for example in the sixties they would always push bell bottoms saying they were current and up-to-date. I found this extract from Miller quite difficult to understand, as it was the first piece of academic writing I had read. However, once I looked over it a few times I understood it and began to process what I needed to think about in regard for my writing and thinking about finding a book that goes with the ideas I had gathered – fashion magazines showing that taste is a man made concept and has many depending factors such as where you were brought up and who you interact with at a young age. I also agree with the idea that fashion magazines brought about the idea of taste and how it differs between households, social class and location. This is because sociology would argue that at a young age, children are influenced by who they socialise with and their immediate family’s views so their taste could be influenced by this, therefore when these children grow up in all different locations they may have similar views and tastes but if they were to compare their views to someone who lives much further away it may be completely different. This may differ as the child grows up and move away from these people – forming their own opinions and making up their own minds. Overall, fashion magazines are very useful source of information to show the difference between the past and present in various ways such as fashion, culture, historical influences in fashion and the arts.