Fashion and the Question of the Symbolic: The Ideology of Value and Its Limits

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu15.2023.210

Abstract

Questions of the symbolic occupy one of the central places in the structure and concept of fashion. The system of the symbolic — obscure, not always lending itself to identification and definition — forms the basis of fashion as a mechanism focused upon inversion and acceptance of a conventional system of values. The ideology of the symbolic, founded on the establishment of symbolic values is of direct relevance to an understanding of the system of fashion. The symbolic holds a central position in the establishment of a system of values. It constructs the rich content of the semantic vector of fashion. The artistic, visual and content platform of fashion is built on the basis of the symbolic. This conception was outlined by Jacques Lacan, and then developed further by such figures as Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari, Michel Foucault, Jean Baudrillard and Pierre Bourdieu. Existing in a variety of statuses and supporting a whole range of basic programmes — shaping concepts of the authentic, defining mechanisms of exchange and significance, denoting the boundaries of the social field — the symbolic maintains and determines the visual and semantic rules of fashion. This paper examines the main theories of the symbolic associated with the formation of the ideological and artistic programme of fashion.

Keywords:

fashion theory, symbol, symbolic, Jacques Lacan, Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu

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Published

2023-06-29

How to Cite

Vasilyeva, E. V. (2023). Fashion and the Question of the Symbolic: The Ideology of Value and Its Limits. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Arts, 13(2), 376–392. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu15.2023.210

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 2 (2023)

Section

Interdisciplinary studies

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Articles of "Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Arts" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.