‘Mirror, Mirror On the Wall, Who’s the Better of Them All?’Fashion Magazines: A Social Tool of Empowerment or Enslavement?

Abstract

The concept of ‘fashion’ and ‘fashionableness’ is a highly contested one with differing opinion as to what constitutes either, with no clear-cut move made to clarify the correctness of the myriad understanding behind the term. People who are seemingly fashionable or are considered fashionable by members of the community exert pressure on others--a pressure to follow, pressure to keep up or pressure to agree to the standards set by the supposedly fashionable as the bar for things fashionable. In recent times public discourse has looked at the immense pressure fashion has exerted on women in any given society. Be it things as banal as clothes and cosmetics or complex issues such as political ideologies espoused by one; everything in contemporary times is weighed by the fashionably endowed. Many wear their fashion sense as a badge of pride and achievement, much to the discomfort and dismay of those who think and behave otherwise; and no more is this awkwardness as obvious as it is amongst women. Media platforms add to the general sense of the divide among women in society by taking a decided stance in favour of the fashionable women, increasing the angst and anxiety of those women who aren’t. Do fashion magazines add to women’s confusion when it comes to issues of fashion or do fashion magazines help in allaying their fears? Some of these issues will be explored in the present paper.