Fashion Advertising...

The quote that was given to us for the assignment was extracted from the piece called Fashion; Style, Identity and Meaning by Fiona Anderson.

“ The relatively backward status of fashion manufacturing stands in marked contrast to the aggressive and innovatory profile of modern fashion marketing and advertising. From the late nineteenth century fashion consumption was further stimulated by the development of increasingly sophisticated marketing, advertising and retailing techniques, as epitomised by the new overwhelming luxurious department stores of the era.”


We had quite a few discussions about what we first thought of after reading this quote. One which involved how complicated the actual quote seems to be to read. It is quite long winded and in a way seems to go around in circles a bit.

I suppose the main contrasts that was found between the manufacturing and advertising was the technological advancements. Also the lack of advancements and change when looking at the actual manufacturing of the garments.
Advertising seemed to do a huge shift with camera and software developments but the production of garments hasn't seemed to move forward quite so aggressively. The move from individual garment production to mass production seems to be one of the only major developments in the fashion industry from a manufacturing perspective.

Fashion went from being a need of clothes for people to a want to be fashionable and very much a way of seeing yourself as a higher class to those who didnt follow the fashion and couldn't afford it.

One of the biggest issues I think that is easily represented by images is how the technology changes from film to digital photography has changed the advertising of fashion garments in western society. How the introduction of new software, for example photoshop, has completely changed the possibilities for fashion advertising and in turn the overall affect that the actual advertising has on society as a whole.  

Overall i think this aspect of photography advancements was the most relative part of the assignment for myself as i can directly relate to how the field actually works. I did struggle a little bit with not having any background knowledge in the fashion industry and only having a short amount of time from first reading the quote to actually giving the presentation made it quite difficult to take enough information in. 

I did really enjoy watching the McQueen video though. It was amazing to see how such a different point of view can be looked at through a creative medium such as fashion. It was excellent to see someone expressing their political views and opinions through their creative visual work that wasn't a photography medium. I like someone who is willing to stand up against what is normally done and actually ask questions and have their own voice. 

I suppose it goes without saying also that the Annie Leibovitz video was also amazing. Watching the way she works and how she expresses her self is very interesting. 

The References would not attach to this page...