‘Haute Culture’ for Mail Order Missionaries: Representing the Third World Woman in the American Fashion Magazine

Abstract

Fashion magazines have long been objects of debate within feminist theory. This article examines the growing links between Third Wave feminism, social activism, and identity construction via pop culture consumerism. This essay especially focuses on the global magazine Marie Claire, which has positioned itself as an advocate of women's rights worldwide. I contend that this mainstream women's publication utilizes liberal neo-feminist language to sell its privileged American readership an enhanced version of self at the expense of other “Women of the World.” By appropriating the idiom of progressive activism and linking it with exoticized and fantasy-oriented fashion spreads that depict First World women globetrotting in the Third, Marie Claire actually reinscribes the oppressive colonialist mentality under the guise of modern feminism.