The Language Of Fashion In Postmodern Society

Semiotica 2015; 207: 303–325

Marianna Boero*

The language of fashion in postmodern society: A social semiotic perspective DOI 10.1515/sem-2015-0037

Abstract: This article analyzes the language of fashion in postmodern society with the hypothesis that fashion trends mutate when social trends change, in a relationship of reciprocal construction that we can define as social semiotics. The analytic approach ranges from social semiotics to the fashion theory field. If social semiotics focuses on the study of signs, spaces, and language mutations in the system of social discourses, fashion theory provides a perspective combining lifestyles, worldviews, personal meanings, and social values about custom: indeed, in fashion we simultaneously observe participation in collective trends and the expression of individuality. Keywords: semiotics of fashion, social semiotics, fashion language, postmodern trends, fashion theory, social media

1 Introduction This article explores the field of fashion with an analysis of some ways in which postmodern trends (see Fabris 2003, 2008) can be expressed, the hypothesis being that fashion trends mutate when social trends change, in a relationship of reciprocal construction that we define as social semiotics (see Landowski 1989). It is divided into five parts, surveying some of the key themes in the study of fashion. Parts one to three provide an overview of (i) studies and research on fashion as a sign system, (ii) linguistic strategies of fashion as a specific and technical language, (iii) postmodern contaminations between fashion language and other social languages. Part four shows the kaleidoscopic trends of fusion, holism, and creativity, ranging across fashion, cosmetics, food, and furnishing fields. These are the basis of consumption experiences and fashion marketing plans, discussed in part five. Our analytic approach ranges from social semiotics to fashion theory field. If social semiotics focuses on the study of signs, spaces, and language mutations in the system of social discourse, fashion theory provides a perspective combining lifestyles, worldviews, personal meanings, and *Corresponding author: Marianna Boero, University of Teramo, Teramo, Italy, E-mail: [email protected]

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social values about custom: indeed, in fashion we observe simultaneously the participation in collective trends and the expression of individuality.

2 Fashion as a language People communicate primarily with each other through the language of clothes and the statement that clothing is a language is not new. In Une Fille d’Eve (1839), Balzac observed that a dress for a woman was the manifestation of inner thoughts, a language, a symbol.1 Veblen’s The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) argued that spending on clothing was often intended to project a certain image of ourselves, rather than to achieve the practical function of cover and protection. By choosing and wearing a dress, consumers can define and describe themselves, communicate their identity, make a situation clear. So, fashion works according to a system of rules, more or less stable,2 which allow the dress – and, more generally, the “body lining” – to connect to meaning indicative of an age, of a social or sexual role, of a political office, public holiday or business.3 Roland Barthes began to study fashion as an autonomous system with its own internal rules, with a function similar to that of natural language. Assuming a parallel between natural language and the language of clothes, he postulated a single disciplinary perspective in the study of language and dress, and applied some Saussurean linguistics categories (langue/parole, synchrony/diachrony, signifier/signified)4 to the study of fashion. Through the analysis of magazines, Barthes noted the central role of the captions: the dress, as a real object, is taken over by a second system, which is that of language. This narrows the universe of possible meanings, highlighting details the reader will linger over.5 The case of 1 The dress is not exclusively aimed at a practical function, as shelter from the cold, but reflects peoples’ identity (Lurie 1981: 31). 2 For example, depending on whether it is a traditional or a trendy dress. 3 The meanings of clothes approach or overlap with the naked body, which could be called the “ground zero” of the dress. The naked body is full of meanings too, because even the absence communicates. Sometimes a naked body provides meanings and values through a series of specific constructions (body tattoos, tan, wrinkles, scars, etc.; Calefato 1999). 4 Barthes does not deal with real fashion, but with fashion described in magazines. Before beginning a semiotic analysis of the dress, indeed, he met obvious procedural difficulties, which led him to restrict his analysis to a particular subset within the universe of fashion. This lead to the structural analysis of fashion magazines which is the basis of the System (1967). See Marrone (2001: 7–15) and Attimonelli (2007 [1981]). 5 Barthes asserted the primacy of natural language, which has a decisive role in the determination of what in a certain time is considered “fashionable,” because it anchors explicit meanings

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fashion is for Barthes the opportunity to show a similar system to that of language. The word “language” does not indicate only a verbal dimension, but involves all the sign systems through which humans model their position and their relationship with the world: fashion falls into this definition because it has an axiological function, that is, the skill to produce social values. In his theory there is an important analytic distinction between custom and clothing: while the first is an institutional reality, essentially social, independent from the individual, the second is an individual reality, a practice through which the individual actualizes in his identity the establishment of general custom (Barthes 1998: 66–67). If the phenomenon of clothing is the subject of psychological research, the phenomenon of custom, says Barthes, is the proper object of sociological or historical research (Barthes 1998: 67). The dichotomy between tradition and clothing proposes the articulation of language in Saussure’s langue and parole (see Marrone 2001): the first, social institutions, the second, individual acts. The comparison with the linguistic sphere ultimately covers all of the problems related to the social value of clothing, considered as a generic collection resulting from the combination of fashion and traditions, and that, following Saussure, is the “language.” Barthes puts fashion into the phenomenon of custom, though sometimes it oscillates between the dispersion of the custom in clothing and, on the contrary, to the enlargement of the latter in the phenomenon of custom (Calefato 2005: 198). According to this view, Calefato (1999: 98) reflects on the social significance of dress colors. For example, in some societies, the color black is traditionally associated with mourning and is banned from clothing for infants, who are protected from images culturally characterized by negative connotations (night, death, fear). Likewise black is not generally accepted as a suitable color for a wedding dress. These thoughts become part of the custom of a society and appear to be morphologically stable. In fashion, however, the social significance of colors fades in a proliferation of languages that become social discourses. For example, fashion sometimes allows the color black in different contexts and discourses from those provided by tradition: think of the wedding dress, whose ritual function is subjected to fashion changes, with the abandonment of white in favor of “provocative” colors and forms (for example the use of red, black, slits, necklines, very short skirts). Calefato gives the examples of “urban tribes,” such as punks and “goths,” the semiotic relationships between

to the garments: the garment is totally converted into language and the image does not exist except from its transposition in question. See Calefato (2004).

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fashion and cinema,6 and “designer style,”7 all cases in which the garments are no longer the product of collective events, but signs of a style, on one hand, and consumer goods, on the other. Communicative value of clothing and of the body that wears it is also highlighted by Lurie (1981), according to whom clothing is a language with its own grammar and vocabulary, like other languages. Dress vocabulary includes not only clothes but also accessories, hairstyle, jewelry, makeup, and body decorations: it is as wide a vocabulary as that of any other language, if not more, since it includes every item, hair style, and type of body decoration that has been invented. Choosing a dress is a means of defining and describing ourselves: More often the wearing of a single foreign garment, like the dropping of a foreign word or phrase in conversation, is meant not to advertise foreign origins or allegiance but to indicate sophistication. It can also be a means of advertising wealth. When we see a fancy Swiss watch, we know that the owner either bought it at home for three times the price of a good English or American watch, or else he or she has spent even more money traveling to Switzerland to purchase it. (Lurie 1981: 8)

In the language of clothing, like in speech, each person has his/her own reserve of “words” and adopts personal changes in tone and meaning. In practice, however, the dressing lexicon of a person may be very limited: those of a farmer, for example, may be limited to five or ten words with which he can create only a few sentences, often undecorated and able to express mostly basic concepts; on the contrary, a fashion leader may have hundreds of thousands of words to build sentences connected to many different meanings. The author shows an analogy between verbal language and the language of clothes. A casual way of dressing as well as spoken language, conveys fluidity, relaxation, vitality, as happens in natural language with slang. In some cases, it is also possible to equate the different articles of clothing with the different parts of speech: trimmings and accessories have the same function as adjectives and adverbs, which is to enrich the dress or the phrase, respectively (Lurie 1981: 10). However we must not forget that some ornaments and accessories of a period may be essential elements of another: fashion vocabulary often changes because fashion is fickle and is just the reflection of the flow of time. Within the limits imposed by the economy, clothes are bought, used, and discarded, just as words, because they meet our needs and express our ideas

6 For example, the function of black garments in films such as The Blues Brothers or Men in Black (Calefato 1999: 98). 7 For example, black color in J. Yamamoto, Versace or Dolce & Gabbana.

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and our emotions. Any attempt by the experts to save outdated words or persuade people to use new terms correctly fails. Similarly, people will choose and wear those clothes that reflect their identity or what they wish to be at a certain time. Others will be set aside, even if promoted by means of mass communication. According to Lurie, the fashion industry is no longer able to maintain a style that men and women have chosen to leave, because they are far from the emerging social context, or to introduce new ones that they do not wish to adopt. Thus, consumption practices legitimizes or de-legitimized fashion proposals, establishing the success and sometimes also the end of a trend.8 In this connection, Alberoni and Ragone (1986) stated that fashion, as statu nascenti (‘light phenomena’), would facilitate the changing of values in society. This change, however, is traumatic, and fashion is a mechanism that allows people to test the change, to produce it slowly, so that its introduction will not be immediate and destabilizing, but may offer the possibility of an afterthought, a step backwards if this change proves to be useless or harmful to society. But the matter of statu nascenti is also the objective limit of fashion: once it is spread widest, once it gains maximum acceptance, the process is forced to become extinct. If it does not happen, fashion would become a fact of custom, with all connected ethical and political consequences. The disappearance of fashion at the very moment of its maximum popularity is the reason for its playful character: the audience knows it is a game and that, sooner or later, it will cease. Following one fashion, another is born, destined to end its career as before in a continuous cycle.9

3 The language of fashion Fashion is a language but at the same time a language of fashion has been developing, made up of specific terms and referring to a world. Paz Diman, in his book The Poetry of Fashion Design (2012), analyses the collections of what he calls “the world’s most interesting fashion designers” underlining a fragmented 8 In the US, massive advertising campaigns, with the cooperation of magazines such as Vogue and Esquire, could not save the hat, which for centuries has been an essential part of outdoor clothing. Currently it survives mostly as a protection against bad weather, as part of a ritual dress (official wedding), as a sign of age or individual eccentricity (Lurie 1981: 39). 9 But if the individual fashion, because of its playful character, does not turn into custom, the same – say Alberoni and Ragone (1986) – cannot be said for the succession of many fashions in a certain period of time. Fashion, that is, would not change the custom in a single action but through ensuing “sedimentations.”

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trend in the language of contemporary fashion: it significantly reduces the use of adjectives and descriptions, preferring connections with music, art, and cinema. The language of fashion is made more of acronyms than phrases, with a strong use of foreign language terms. Therefore, we focus on the study of a “language of fashion” with the lexical features typical of a sectoral language, which is mainly spread through the mass media. In Italian magazines, a key feature of this language is internationalization, which is primarily seen through the frequent use of English or French words, where the aim is to convey more elegance. In the online version of the magazine D-Donna, an article by Katia Brega is titled “The most original sunglasses of this season are hexagonal”10 and suggests, for those who want to be original, to put together a look using “jeans shorts, flat sandals, over shirt and a man’s straw hat.” As for tattoos, another article asks the following question: “Tattoos: better chic or choc?.” The home page of the web magazine Glamour is made of different thematic sections, namely: “look/shop/blogfusion/fashion angel/meet up/citybuzz.” The fact that these are published on the home page shows how readily these terms are recognized by the public. Therefore many English terms have become part of other nations’ everyday language, witnessing the importance of English in the fashion industry. Words such as look, trend, t-shirt, style, fashion, jeans, shorts, piercings, casual, design, indicate a deep cultural interaction: an exchange between diversities that produces new meanings and linguistic expressions (Lorusso 2003: 137). In magazines aimed at a wider audience, such as Glamour and Intimità, a young, concise and simple language prevails. The following are some examples from Corbucci (2008: 39): – “For love at first sight lips, perfect L’Oreal shiny lipstick with vitamin C and the scent of raspberry, available in fifteen delicious shades” (Intimità 18, 10 May 2001: 30); – “expert touches for psychedelic lips” (Glamour 109, March 2001: 45): it is noteworthy the presence of the expression psychedelic, an expression previously associated with the jargon of drug addicts; – “Lips: trend nuance is so sheer it adds volume to your lips. For an extralight result, use gloss all over with little touches on your lipstick” (Glamour 109, March 2001: 45): the word nuance is French and extralight, gloss, and all over are from the English language. None of these terms are strictly necessary11: instead of nuances, the Italian word sfumatura could have been used, while 10 My translation. These examples are taken from Italian magazines. The use of italics is mine and aims to highlight the English and French words in the original Italian texts. 11 The concept of “loan of necessity” can be found in Gusmani (1993).

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the terms extralight, gloss, and all over could have been replaced, respectively, with molto leggero, lucidalabbra, and integrali. Language becomes more difficult in high-end magazines like Marie Claire, Flair, Vogue, Elle, and Amica. There are words derived from English, but the language, full of metaphorical expressions and intertextual references, becomes less understandable to a lay audience. Here there are some examples from Corbucci (2008: 39–40): – On page 670 of Marie Claire we read: “Fetishes to have: purple (and pink), a fruity lip gloss, a punk touch.” The article continues: They were the legendary 1980s when Cindy Lauper sang Girls Just Want To Have Fun. With the luxury-thought offs (already people fears the recession) everyday small fetishes will raise our spirit. New make-up temptations: purple and pink (infected by the revived Puccifad), a scented powder in Fifties style, perfect for an American Graffiti look: skirts and dancers, but chic version. (Marie Claire, 3 March 2001: 670)

Note the use of hyperbole (legendary), the number of foreign words (look, make up, chic) and the appearance of neologisms (luxury-thought, Pucci-fad). – Vogue published the following caption: “Red, hot & lipstick. Provocative as a beauty pageant, trashy as clones of an early Madonna, classic as a well-lady, botched as all-night kissing teens. Lips are the stars of 2001 make up” (Vogue 605, January 2001: 534). It follows the search for a sophisticated style, using catch phrases from English that create an aura of charm and technicalities (beauty pageant, trash). – Another piece in Vogue magazine talks about the “scary look”: “Scratched faces and black eyes from Dior, macabre black mouths as Brandon Lee in The Crow by McQueen, destroyed baroque by Gaultier. The new make up? Aggressive/Dark” (Vogue 613, September 2001: 426). The choice of words and the reference to The Crow evokes an atmosphere of horror. The author uses complex and composite expressions as “destroyed baroque,” which probably conceals a reference to a novel by Isabella Santacroce, where the term “destroy” obsessively recurs. A similar distinction is also seen in more recent fashion articles. A language that recalls the everyday conversational and emotional dimension in general magazines, and a more complex language in the specialized ones: – An article in Flair (May 2011) is introduced by an evocative title: “Lunar atmosphere to describe new costumes that choose total black” followed by “Design costumes with plunging necklines, essential bikini, little black dress choosing new asymmetric silhouette.”

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“Masquerade” is the title, instead, of a fashion shoot in Marie Claire (2011), in which handbags are made “in suède with silver strass,” “in black and silver paillettes with a chain shoulder strap and star charms” and can be easily combined with “satin décolletées with swarovski elements and suola pied de poule.”

In newspapers and journals not specifically targeted to a female audience, articles often offer a simple and colloquial language, linked to everyday life, so that we may better define those as “custom articles” rather than “fashion articles”: there is a correlation between content and expression, because standard Italian language prevails, drawing aside – or using infrequently – foreign and technical words. – “Supermodels of all ages for heater-men” is the title of an article in Il Messaggero (12 January 2011), which begins as a piece of gossip: “Thirty three outfits for many very special models: famous top models, but also sports champions, lawyers, scientific researchers. Each with its own personality. In Alberta Ferretti’s show...” – “The man dresses like Superman but with the class of Clark Kent” is the title of an article in Il Giornale (12 January 2011). The piece begins with a dynamic and colloquial style: “Rain, wind, cold to frighten the penguins and polar bears, but then suddenly the sun comes back and you find yourself in the middle of winter with April temperatures. Here is the weather forecast of fashion experts...” – Once again, in Il Giornale (19 January 2011) we read: “For Armani man is grey” (the title) and then “A computer is able to realize a monochromatic scale of 256 levels of grey. The human eye perceives an average of 16, but Armani must have a second view because in the menswear collection for next winter there are countless shades of this color.” The language is much easier than in specialist periodicals, with a conversational style that is closer to everyday life. The language of fashion has its own specialized vocabulary, used with particular frequency, and specific morphosyntactic strategies that characterize the style. In specialized magazines featuring fashion (Vogue, Marie Claire, Flair, etc.), the density of jargon, neologisms, and cultural citations makes text very complex for the layman. These texts, compared to newspapers, appeal more to the evocative power of images, placed in the foreground, and less to the verbal discourse. The language of fashion is also changing, alongside rapidly changing fashion trends, together with the close connection it has always maintained with the world of entertainment (particularly with music and cinema). The constant enrichment of the vocabulary is also due to the changing of social trends, and the proliferation

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of variants (often geographically and culturally characterized) of the same item of clothing, each of which plays the role of status-symbol for a short time.

4 Postmodern contaminations While the language of fashion internally evolves, it also interacts with other fields of discourse. An example is the dialogue between fashion language and the language of the city. As highlighted by Calefato (2006), the street is the place where people can experience the atmosphere of time, but meanwhile the city influences fashion and its forms of expression, is a two-way relationship. “Fashion and the city,” writes the author, “are being built together from signs and languages that rely on the multiple universes of social discourses and contemporary forms of communication: visual and musical cultures, consumer attitudes, artistic practices, youthful tastes, styles of the urban subaltern groups, cross-cultural hybridization” (Calefato 2006: 61, my translation). From these cultural interactions, the city of fashion and, at the same time, fashion in the city takes shape, in a continuous process of contamination (Calefato 2006: 62). There are many ways in which fashion influences the city structure and its forms of organization. In the first case (the city of fashion), the city makes some features of fashion relevant. London and Paris, male and female fashion capitals, respectively, since the eighteenth century, are an example of this process: behind the organization of urban space in these cities there is all of the manufacturing and textile expertise that has characterized and distinguished them in the world. Similarly, at the end of the twentieth century, Milan, with the slogan “made in Italy,” was the city of fashion, and then the generation of Yamamoto in Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong in Asia, to the latter-day radical fashion in Anversa. In the second case (fashion in the city) fashion gives countenance to the cities and the street is primarily intended as a place of consumption and leisure (cf. Figure 1). We only need to think of nineteenth-century passages in Paris or the retail complexes of today with concept stores designed by architects, shop windows, buildings, subway stations, bars, cafes, and places of comfort. “As institution of consumption, fashion glamour-paints cities as if buildings, streets and corners were ready to fill the pages of a glossy magazine” (Calefato 2006: 63): glamour designs urban territories of fashion, pervades goods and their containers (buildings, bodies or images) by altering the surface.12 12 My translation. Architecture and fashion intercept and show the change of the cities: one by “living bodies,” the other by “wearing places”; a concept expressed at the beginning of the twentieth century by Walter Benjamin, when he wrote that the two disciplines belong to the

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Figure 1: Chanel Mobile Art Pavilion – an innovative project that saw the collaboration between the architect Zaha Hadid and the fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld. The temporary structure, which resembles in form a space ship, has hosted an exhibition of contemporary art, touring the world with stops in Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York, and Paris. The project sought to celebrate the success of the famous bag “Chanel 2.5.”

Moreover, the language of fashion interacts with art and culture. In the fashion industry communication and design choices, we can often see a link to the world of art: high fashion, and sometimes a whole collection finds creative inspiration in artistic genres (cf. Figure 2) or, on the contrary, art events are maintained and supported by the most famous brands (art sponsorship). This dialogue also involves the topological level, redefining identity and spatial boundaries. Clothes are exposed by taking the communicative techniques of artistic and cultural spaces, such as the museum, while in other cases, spaces are created specifically to host art exhibitions in which the object of interest is high fashion: cultural spaces that host dresses in a mutual creative exchange. As it can be seen in Figure 3, Prada clothes are exhibited in glass cases, as is typical with works of art: through this exhibition strategy the identity of the dress is redefined, as well as that of the enunciatee (See Greimas 1970; Traini 2006). This means that the text refers to a consumer who gives high

darkness of human experience and to the oneiric consciousness of society. Since the 1990s, there have been significant changes in the business strategies of fashion: prestigious fashion houses were purchased by big companies and flagship stores have become a crucial issue in marketing strategies. In this contest, the architect plays a key role: he should translate the underlying values of a brand in tangible forms. See “Fashion and Architecture” in VogueEncyclo edited by Archie Juinio: http://www.vogue.it/encyclo (accessed 20 May 2015).

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Figure 2: Piet Mondrian inspiration, an example of dialogue between art and fashion.

Figure 3: Prada flagship store in New York.

fashion the status of a work of art. In Figure 4, instead, we see an image of the historical and fashion exhibition of dresses housed from 2011 in the Royal Palace of Venaria Reale: every room tells the story of an era of fashion in a diachronic narration of past practices and customs. These interactions express the complex postmodern reality and, from a social semiotics point of view, allow us to study the evolution of the language

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Figure 4: Exhibition of historical clothes in Venaria Reale.

of fashion within the system of social discourse (Semprini 2003). Between social reality and speeches that describe it, we suppose the existence of a mirror relationship: society is reflected in the discourse that represents it, and this way it changes (Landowski 1989). In the case of fashion, our research shows that fashion does not only mean a glossy world, made of kitsch luxuries, worlds away from the image of the real consumer, smart concept stores, and globalized brands: a renewed and preponderant fashion culture is coming, finding its fertile ground especially in everyday social practices. Cinema and photography, at first, and then music, art, new technologies, and urban spaces feed this constellation of signs in different forms, all linked to what is called “fashion” (see Calefato 2011).

5 Fusion, holism, creativity Fusion, holism, and creativity are important trends of the language of fashion in postmodern society. Fusion indicates the mix of different (often contradictory) elements or beliefs in original combinations (see Boero 2013): “[fusion] is a new oxymoron, an apparent contradiction that harmoniously finds a solution, disclosing a new reality that suddenly takes the traits of consistency” (Fabris 2008: 160, my translation). It is a continuous contamination from distant worlds, in which not only a simple juxtaposition or superposition occurs between elements, keeping their own identities, but results in a new identity, that cannot be reduced to the sum of the individual elements. Through the trend of fusion,

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elements expressive of cultures, geographical areas, different historical periods meet and become one, putting into question the principle of non-contradiction, defined by Fabris (2003: 259) as a “dogma in Western cultures.” It is not a new phenomenon but is more widespread than in the past, when it was often considered as a manifestation of eccentricity and transgression. Fabris (2008: 163–171) describes this trend with figures of speech and parallelisms: – Oxymoron. This figure of speech indicates the combination of apparently contradictory phenomena that find a balance. In fashion, for example, garments of the past coexist with more modern garments, everyday clothes with luxury ones, sacred and profane are mixed, as in the case of the singer Madonna, whose stage name, belonging to the religious sphere, is combined with a profane, unconventional look. Businesses have been adopting this trend by practicing mass customization, which is the personalization of industrial production (Pine and Davis 1996). – Collage. Collage shows the juxtaposition of “cuts” that are different but not necessarily antithetical. In the case of fashion, an example is given by the combination of items belonging to different historical periods, from the assembly of different materials, like plastic and wood. In the food sector an example of collage is the juxtaposition of foods from different parts of the world: it is a way for consumers to express their imagination, to emphasize their uniqueness. – Quotations. With the quote an inter-textual reference occurs: within a text, through pictures, words, scenes, there is a reference to another text, of a different nature. Quote can be drawn from the past, art, other cultures, history, spectacle, and may be more or less evident. In the latter case, irony is often used as a reference, making it more difficult, or at least ambiguous to the understanding of a wider audience. In the case of fashion, through the use of colors or shapes it is often possible to quote film, literary or artistic texts. Another example comes from the advertising message, in which quotes and references to other discursive fields are frequently used13 – Patchwork. Born as a technique for using remnant material, patchwork means “work with patched” or “made in the square.” It is created by combining different squares of fabric (often with mixed fantasies) in a single fabric. Pieces of different backgrounds come together to create a new kind of reality, in a play of colors and shapes.14 The unit can only exist thanks to the 13 For a discussion of such strategies see Boero and Traini (2006) and Boero (2010). 14 See “Patchwork,” by Simone Riccioli, in VogueEncylo: http://www.vogue.it/en/encyclo/textiles/p/patchwork (accessed 20 May 2015).

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presence of the individual parts, which remain clearly visible in the complex unit. In fashion, this mixing of different parts with a strong identity gives rise to unusual contrasts between styles, materials, colors. Missoni, for example, is characterized by the use of the patch style. According to Fabris (2003: 258), fusion is one of the fashion trends set to become tradition. Fusion is linked to syncretic-eclecticism, another characteristic of postmodern consumers (see Bauman 2000). The new consumer, indeed, is at the same time eclectic, because he easily moves between contemporary tribes (see Maffesoli 1988) combining different styles, and syncretic, because he manages to bring together the different experiences in a harmonious manner, reaching a synthesis. Fusion is also connected to other postmodern trends such as holism and creativity. Holism means a coherent, organic way of seeing reality, the human being and existence. Fabris (2003: 218) gives the example of the quality assessment of a product: from a holistic point of view, the concept of quality is extended to the entirety of the expressions of the asset (packaging, quality of distribution, merchandising, promotions, its intangible meanings and its image) and not only to its basic and structural features. Creativity means the precipitation in everyday life of a means that in the past was only the prerogative of artists, scientists, or of the great creators. In postmodern society, creativity becomes a value, a common aspiration. People can be creative in everyday life, placing flowers on a desk, setting the table, working in the kitchen: the mix and blend of styles allows consumers to express their artistic side (Fabris 2008: 158). In the clothing sector, a reinterpretation of styles and trends has been introduced in the last ten years (Boero 2013). The first sign was the tendency to reinterpret fashion in personal terms, first by mixing items in a creative way and then by becoming designers themselves, combining modern items with old, expensive clothes with cheaper ones, famous brands with anonymous clothing, etc. Now we see that the ethnic way of dressing coexists with the styles of Western cultures, simple and coarse materials with mohair and alpaca, denim with rich fabrics. Other contrasts in the field of fashion are: past/present, luxury fashion/street fashion, local/global, Western/Eastern Europe. Contrasts of color and unusual combinations are frequent. For example, at the autumn/winter 2013–2014 London fashion shows, fusion was the dominant element, intended as a free mix of different styles that, though at first seen as the manifestation of eccentricity or transgression, in the new socio-cultural climate becomes an expression of postmodern identity (cf. Figure 5). The “mix and match” style proposed by big fashion houses also occurs in cosmetics, the look for spring/summer 2012–2013 has been inspired by the graphic art of the 1980s (cf. Figure 6; examples from Boero 2013). Here there

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Figure 5: Tartan print and rock details (tartan-rock style) in the A/W 2013–2014 London fashion shows.

are citations for artists like Dan Flavin and Bruce Naumen for the use of neon and other influences coming from the music scene (Figure 7). All of these examples reflect a fusion of styles and genres that give new meanings to the overall look. In the following figures, we can see a part of Moschino’s collection for the autumn/winter 2012–2013, a fusion between “street” style, with graffiti street art, and a more elegant style (cf. Figure 8). Another example from the Autumn/Winter 2012 fashion shows is the style called “baroque and roll,”15 to indicate the mix of two different styles into a unified and innovative proposal. A classic style in the form of high-waisted shorts and shirts with elaborate necklines is combined with contemporary colors, materials, and fantasies. High fashion brands recover and revisit their own traditional

15 Neo-classical style in music, in which the role of the violin is played by electric guitar and whose main representative is Yngwie Malmsteen, is diffused in other fields. One of the most recent projects in the field of art is that of Pablo Echaurren at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome where, through six sculptures, the baroque aesthetics dialogues with the rock music, in an unexpected mixture of genres and universes.

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Figure 6: Yves Saint Laurent. Contrasting colors for an eclectic make up in the 2012 spring/summer palette.

styles: diamond pattern weaves, traditional tweeds and tartans, nouveau drawings, and retro jewelry. Classic colors like navy blue, grey, black, and brown are interspersed with touches of bright colors like red, scarlet, and purple (cf. Figure 9). This style is also evident in furnishing. Here contemporary design meets traditional materials and styles, leading to the production of unique pieces, which can be tailored to consumers’ needs (cf. Figure 10). Souvenirs from around the world displayed in the home do not disrupt traditional décor. It is the deliberate choice to include articles from different countries that suggests that the fusion trend is present: “antique furniture and radical designs blending, works of art and Ikea items, hi-tech and past generations furniture, tatami and futon with a litho of Picasso” (Fabris 2003: 260, my translation). The popularity of feng shui – an Eastern philosophy that is becoming part of the Mediterranean lifestyle is a clear example of fusion in the home. The food industry is experiencing a continuous overlap between different ways of presenting, cooking, and consuming food, rich and poor cuisine, recipes from different regions, recipes from the past and modern recipes. Nobu has recently opened its first restaurant in Milan (cf. Figure 11) and is famous for its Pacific fusion food, a mix of Japanese and South American cuisine.

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Figure 7: Limited edition of the famous Elnett hairspray (L’Oreal Paris), in collaboration with John Andrew Perello, said JonOne, guru of street art in the 1980s. Packaging is transformed into a work of street style art, with vivid colors that recall the works of the artist.

“Moreover, the Italian-style sushi, with yellow rice, spaghetti, macaroni, has been for a long time a stable presence on the menus of some finest restaurants” (Fabris 2003: 261, my translation). French nouvelle cuisine was one of the first styles to go against traditional cooking principles, blending foods not usually eaten together and thus creating new dishes. Combining expensive foods with cheaper more rustic ones, recipes from different regions etc. Chinese restaurants that usually serve pizza, or the shops bearing the sign “not only…,” do not belong to this trend because in this case a merger between different elements does not exist. According to Fabris, the tendency to fusion, holism, and creativity is not just a fad but a series of new behavioral consumer trends able to affect both recipes and the site of the place of consumption, promoting the crossover of different languages and cultures.

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Figure 8: Moschino’s collection – Autumn/Winter 2012–2013.

6 Fashion language and social media The emergence of new social trends requires brands operating in the fashion industry to rethink their communication strategies. Thus, from the changes in the postmodern socio-cultural context new non-conventional forms of marketing were born: experiential marketing is an example (see Pine and Gilmore 1999; Schmitt 1999). Understanding the changes of social context is critical in identifying trends and styles in their infancy and in planning an effective communication with the new consumer. In the decade 1960–1970, for example, the sense of uneasiness and widespread rebellion in the young was also expressed through the rejection of the traditional symbols of clothing: collars, pants with pleats, classic shoes, and jackets were replaced with high collars, jeans and leggings, moccasins, and parkas. The miniskirt designed by Mary Quant (1934) and the adolescent body of Twiggy (1949) became symbols of the feminine look of the 1960s, and the cultural revolution of “Swinging London” affected personal habits and styles of international great actors.16 The boys were divided between 16 See “1961–1970. I giovani” at http://www.moda.san.beniculturali.it/wordpress/?moda ¼ 1961-1970-i-giovani (accessed 20 May 2015).

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Figure 9: Paul & Joe, 2012 Spring/Summer show.

London mods and rockers, while the United States saw the growth of the hippie look, a form of anti-fashion intended as a sign of identification of the youth movement that rejected consumerism and condemned US foreign policy. With the shift from modern to postmodern society (see Boero 2004) there is a similar change, which assumes the features of a real transition period (Fabris 2008: 7). While the era of standardized consumption, production primacy, and consumer subordination is coming to an end, we proceed “in the season of the fragment, plurality, fluidity and multiplicity of points of views” (Fabris 2008: 7, my translation). The new society is complex, turbulent, and, not surprisingly, the metaphor used to describe it is the labyrinth. It is especially in consumption that the discontinuities between modern and postmodern society are more

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Figure 10: http://www.baroqueandrolldesign.co.uk (accessed 20 May 2015).

pronounced: if the era of modernity consumption was not recognized as an autonomous epistemological system with its own distinctive specifics, but as the language of production, in postmodern society consumption becomes language itself, an independent semiotic system. In the new society, fashion becomes an important tool to communicate the many identities of the postmodern consumer. The combination of contrasting prints and styles within the same look expresses the polymorphic, eclectic, fluid nature of a consumer who is increasingly a homo ludens, interested in aesthetic, hedonistic, and multisensory consumption. Fashion follows new social trends and fashion marketing was born, defined by Easey as: “the application of a range of techniques and a business philosophy that focuses on the customer and potential customer of clothing and related products and services in order to meet the long-term goals of the organization… The very nature of fashion, where change is intrinsic, gives different emphasis to marketing activities” (Easey 2009: 7).

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Figure 11: Armani Nobu fusion restaurant in Milan.

Recently, with the widespread use of blogs and social networking platforms, fashion, traditionally characterized by an elitist language and aimed at a niche audience, began to relate to a wider public, breaking down the barriers that previously kept it away from a mass audience. The phenomenon of fashion bloggers is indicative of this trend: fashion draws its inspiration from listening to the audience, “from below,” to rethink strategies and methods.17 In these “capsule collections” the creative relationship changes: thanks to the fashion bloggers, limited editions collections, in which inspiration starts from the public, are created. High fashion brands adapt their image to new communicative realities and legitimize the new protagonism of the public through the creation of online fan pages, dedicated applications, and competitions that allow people to see exclusive events and to enter, albeit briefly, into the glamorous world of high fashion. Thus a democratization of luxury (Fabris 2003) takes place: what was distant and inaccessible to the majority now becomes accessible thanks to the new online media.18 17 Providing consumers with a standardized offer is “a thing of the past,” as well as the asymmetry of information that relegated consumers “to a role of absolute marginality” (Fabris 2008: xiv). In the new contest, the Internet plays a key role as a source of information, knowledge, sharing of knowledge, and socialization. 18 We can also find this trend in the tourism sector: with the possibility of buying coupons and package holidays online, bypassing the intermediary agencies, luxury hotels become

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Referring to the fashion system as a language and adhering to the new trends is the basis of an effective fashion marketing strategy. That is why even strong brands such as Chanel, Dior, Burberry, and Armani are rethinking the ways of promoting their brand identities, adapting them to the changes in the language of fashion. They cannot ignore, for instance, the opportunities arising from social networks and web-communities, tools that exemplify the fluid identity of the new consumer and are fundamental in achieving an effective dialogue with the consumer world. Through the Web 2.0, new ways of communication have been developing, with the goal of making the purchase no longer an acquisition of status, but an experience that, when shared, may multiply significantly the awareness and cultural relevance of the brand, fostering a process of identification by the public.

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