How aesthetic logics shape a cultural field: Differentiation and consolidation in the transnational field of fashion images, 1982–2011

Abstract

This article presents a sociological analysis of the aesthetic logics of female fashion images, that is: the underlying cultural order structuring the combination of aesthetic elements into coherent styles. Drawing on a longitudinal, cross-national content analysis, we use multiple correspondence analysis to uncover aesthetic styles in British, Dutch and Italian fashion magazines. We find that the field of fashion images is structured by three dimensions: stylization; glamorous sexualization; and expressive sexualization versus withdrawal. Across time and place, styles are remarkably stable. We find little crossnational variation, but distinctive aesthetic styles for different magazine types. Over time, we observe a consolidation and crystallization of a transnational high fashion style that distinguishes itself from a transnational commercial style and more diverse local mainstream magazines. Our analysis shows how visual elements in fashion images are part of a multi-dimensional aesthetic system in which meaning depends on the context in which elements occur and co-occur. Thus, we develop a relational approach to the analysis of cultural symbols that takes into account the polysemic nature of aesthetic elements. We argue that (cultural) sociologists should take aesthetics seriously, as aesthetics forms a partly independent dimension that cannot be reduced to structural factors or field dynamics.