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Fashion magazines and fashion as a system of magic
Author(s) -
Moeran Brian
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
anthropology today
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.419
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1467-8322
pISSN - 0268-540X
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8322.12334
Subject(s) - magic (telescope) , bazaar , beauty , clothing , taste , fashion industry , art , aesthetics , sociology , visual arts , art history , history , law , political science , psychology , physics , archaeology , quantum mechanics , neuroscience
This article is about international women's fashion magazines – specifically Elle , Harper's Bazaar , Marie Claire and Vogue – and the part they play in creating and sustaining the fashion industry as a system of magic. As an integral part of the fashion industry, they perform numerous textual and visual forms of magic to enchant their readers into desiring, if not buying, fashionable clothing and accessories of all sorts, as well as the beauty products advertised in their pages. As such, fashion magazine practices parallel those found in magical and religious rites in general: they are designed to overcome the uncertainties of cultural production and aesthetic taste.