Critical Investigation: Project proposal

The next step in our critical investigations is to develop our presentations into detailed academic proposals. 

You will be given a one-to-one tutorial to help you find the right angle and issue to concentrate on but first need to develop a blog post working through the following headings and tasks:

Working title

The representation of women in the fashion industry. 

Angle

The women working behind the scenes? who controls the representation? what representation is created? audience influence on representation? empowerment/objectification through sexual representation?  

Hypothesis

The fashion industry is controlled by women, creating a representation of women on their own perception. 

Linked production piece

2 double page spread article and front cover of an autumn edition fashion magazine.

MIGRAIN

Apply the Key Concepts to your texts/topic by using the questions from the Summer Research Project to help you. (Include at least five bullet point/key concept). Include as many media keywords as you can.

Media language;

1. Subscriptions: 1,067,668
2.  Escapism
3.  gatekeeping
4.  magazine editors
5. audience effect,

Institution ;

1.  1892
2. t is a piece of art everything to do with is glamorous and sophisticated 
3. It is a piece of art everything to do with is glamorous and sophisticated 
4. “Everywhere she goes, the waters part. The entire industry responds to Anna’s taste, her likes, her dislikes” (R. J. Cutler, quoted in Block, 2009).
5. Fashion writers, photographers, and editors, McRobbie observes, are “more closely linked with the fashion industry than would be the case in other journalistic fields”;

Genre;

1. fashion
2. "non specified"

Audience;

1. very wealthy, fashion conscious, celebrity watching women
2. glamour and sophistication
3. A-B Demographic 
5. LUXURY CONSUMERS
6. 93% of Vogue readers own designer fashion
7. 94% own premium beauty
8. average 34 yeaer olds

Ideologies;

1.  reflected the rules of the fashion world ; 'fashion prevailing at any given time'
2. important on luxurey
3. importance on culture as well as fashion
4. visible advertising 
5. reflecting the culture 

SHEP

Social

• representation of culture
• class differentiation in fashion 
• representation of women 
• influence of fashion on society
• feminism 

Historical / Political

• autumn of 1916
•  Dorothy Todd, a renowned Vogue editor due to her boldness, especially in her movement to blend the arts and fashion, 
• female representation changing over time
• photography 
• NDM

Economic
jan-june 2016

• circulation : 195,053
• readership: 1,239,000
• (global) 21 editions reaching 23.5 million people
•  £4 million worth of coverage

Issues/Debates

Select at least five and say how each relates to your study, using theMedia A-Z to help you think about this:

• Representation and stereotyping : Women
• Media effects : perception of women
• News Values: closeness to home
• Ownership and control : Conde Nase final input as well as cheif editorial
• Regulation and censorship:

Theories

Select at least five and say how each relates to your study, using keywords/specific theorists' names from the Media A-Z:

• Semiotics : photography props etc create meaning
• Gender and ethnicity: hardly any ethnic minority represented / even working there. not many males either
• Liberal Pluralism: types of representation of women
• Audience theories: why readers pick vogue, entertainment? identification?
• Genre theories: Mulvey gaze - influence of representation of women
• 
  

Explain how your study fits into this.

Research plan (media texts, academic texts and websites)

Media texts
Print vogue editions
Vogue documentaries and books
Vogue official website

Other media texts
At least FIVE from university websites/academic papers online. UseGoogle Scholar as a starting point.

http://www.vogue.co.uk/video/inside-british-vogue-a-brief-history-of-100-years

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2752/136270406778051085?journalCode=rfft20

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/197483/summary

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/23264/summary

https://www.youtube.com/user/vogue

TV documentaries

• Absolutely Fashion: Inside British Vogue (2016) (8th and 15th Sep)
• British Devil Wears Prada

Academic texts/books
(a minimum of five, including author/full title/year, e.g.:)

• Vogue 100: A Century of Style Hardcover – 11 Feb 2016
• The Vogue Factor by Kirstie Clements by Robin Muir
• Vogue: The Covers by Dodie Kazanjian, Hamish Bowles 

• Unseen Vogue by Robin Derrick

• People in Vogue by Robin Derrick (Editor), Robin Muir

• Vogue: The Editor's Eye by Conde Nast, Anna Wintour (Foreword), Hamish Bowles (Introduction), Eve MacSweeney (Editor) 

• In Vogue: An Illustrated History of the World's Most Famous Fashion Magazine by Norberto Angeletti, Anna Wintour (Contribution by), Grace Coddington (Contribution by), Annie Liebowitz (Contribution by), Steven Klein (Contributor)

Internet Links

• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2016/09/15/absolutely-fashion-inside-british-vogue-a-reductive-bid-to-do-br/

• http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts_ents/14747317.7_of_the_best_moments_during_Absolutely_Fashion__Inside_British_Vogue/
• http://digital-assets.condenast.co.uk.s3.amazonaws.com/static/mediapack/vogue_media_pack_latest.pdf
• http://www.vogue.co.uk/video/inside-british-vogue-a-brief-history-of-100-years
• http://www.vogue.co.uk/video
• http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/vogue-s-attack-on-style-bloggers-shows-how-much-newcomers-have-fashion-magazines-rattled-a7342381.html
• http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/vogue-real-women-issue-no-models-november-issue-a7344776.html

critical investigation tutorial (1)

·         Good topic and text – but may need to consider the question carefully as there may simply be too much to cover in 2,000 words. Perhaps consider focusing on heterosexual norms and bring gender stereotypes into that rather than trying to cover everything in the question.

·         You could also re-work the whole question to focus on gender and feminism – exploring whether fashion magazines like Vogue advance or damage feminist causes. In terms of linking this to mental health and body image, I’m sure there will be links – surely there would be recent feminist campaigns that highlight this issue? As well as feminist theories (such as McRobbie) that explore the other side of the argument and suggest the increasingly sexual representation of women in lifestyle magazines is actually about empowerment.

·         Linked production – print fashion magazine.

·         Next steps: finish project proposal and start building a comprehensive research plan.

·         Post this to your blog with a brief plan for what you will work on in the next two weeks.