Date of Award

5-2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Legacy Department

Professional Communication

Committee Chair/Advisor

Hilligoss, Susan

Committee Member

Haynes , Cynthia

Committee Member

Morey , Sean

Abstract

While the fashion world, including its influential print publications, is no stranger to inquiries about social status, aesthetics, and self worth, there is currently room for the examination of what type of appeals create and sustain the concept of 'glamour' in modern society. This study investigates how fashion magazines construct the idea of glamour to influence readers' understanding and definition of this term as well as its own placement on the social spectrum of sophistication through a visual analysis of the fashion spreads of four contemporary fashion magazines. Using Bourdieu's understanding of taste and distinction, John Berger's understanding of visual culture, and Baudelaire's concept of the fl‰neur, I will investigate how one's understanding of taste, personal and otherwise, may influence one's self-perceived social status and understanding of the term glamour, consciously or subconsciously.

Included in

Communication Commons

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