No. 1 (2023)
Shaping research

Meaty Mags and Fleshy Films: Observing the Morphing Body of Text in Fashion Visual Culture

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  • Carolina Francesca Maria Davalli
Carolina Francesca Maria Davalli
Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”
first number yellow cover of fashion highlight journal with black logo
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/fh-2267

Published 30-06-2023

Keywords

  • Fashion Visual Culture,
  • Text,
  • Bodies,
  • Visual Studies,
  • Fashion Film

How to Cite

Davalli, C. F. M. (2023). Meaty Mags and Fleshy Films: Observing the Morphing Body of Text in Fashion Visual Culture. Fashion Highlight, (1), 106–113. https://doi.org/10.36253/fh-2267
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

This paper addresses the topic of transformation identifying written text as a living body, ultimately suggesting that the corporeal qualities of textual matter function as an interpretative tool for unpacking new and unexpected fashion imagery. Through the observation of three fashion films dating between 2005 and 2020, as well as relying on a firm theoretical framework based on the analysis of Roland Barthes’ seminal volume The Pleasure of Text (1973), the research discusses the role of written discourse in contemporary fashion communication, highlighting its performative and erotic traits and how these inherent properties interreact within the field of fashion visual culture. Fashion moving image is therefore seen as the context in which—and with which—the body of text seductively moves, mutates, and merges to unveil unprecedented visual scapes.

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