Politics en Vogue: an exploration of entanglements of US consumer capitalism, feminisms, and environmental concerns

Dawson, Chloe Suzanne

Abstract

An entanglement, a lack of self-contained existence, between feminism and neoliberalism emerged in the 1990s in popular media and consumer culture. Since, feminist scholars have attempted to describe and explain postfeminism. Postfeminism emphasises women’s empowerment rather than emancipation, and the ability to consume alongside pressures to have a disciplined, beautiful body. Critical appraisal of postfeminism has remained underexplored in two ways: 1) the history of the entanglement between feminism and neoliberalism and 2) how ‘consumption as empowerment’ can be threatened by environmental concerns and harm towards nonhumans. Fashion magazines are a site of women’s consumption based in pleasure and expression, the salience of the female body and sexuality, and against an ethics of care for non-humans. The thesis presents an analysis of US Vogue magazine from its inception (1893-2023), focusing on moments of tension within fashion. The tensions include: 1) the ‘modern’ corset, 2) the miniskirt, 3) questioning the fur coat, and 4) (un)sustainable fashion. The corset and miniskirt are situated in moments of change in women’s social position, whereas the fur coat and sustainable fashion showcase moments where fashion is critiqued from environmental ethics. Using a visual discourse analysis of US Vogue magazine, and sociological theories of consumption, the research reveals how women’s subjecthoods are constructed as free to consume and reveal the body. Vogue use environmental concerns as an opportunity for the cultural omnivore to discover exotic cultures that are more ‘connected’ to nature and new technological (human centred) solutions to fashion’s unsustainability or nonhuman harm. The findings show that Vogue translates values of feminisms and environmentalisms into modern, stylish subjecthoods for women, but is also shaped by the tensions and entanglement with wider politics and consumer capitalist values. Overall, this contributes to research on the gendering of consumption through time and a deeper understanding of contemporary postfeminism.

Citation

Dawson, C. S. (2024). Politics en Vogue: an exploration of entanglements of US consumer capitalism, feminisms, and environmental concerns. (Thesis). Keele University. Retrieved from https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/853316

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Jun 21, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 21, 2024
• Public URL: https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/853316
• Additional Information: Digital copy of full text version available upon request from the Archives https://forms.office.com/e/sRWE7eQWgU - third party copyright content preventing thesis being published online.
• Award Date: 2024-06