The new 'porno-chic'? Fashion, consumption and film pornography

Abstract

This article studies the emerging links between fashion, consumption and film pornography. Drawing on recent work on the 'pornification' of popular culture, it situates its discussion around the ongoing influence of pornography on mainstream consumer culture and the emergence of branded consumer goods from the American pornographic film industry. It considers recent controversy concerning the impact on pornography on the style and appearance of young western women but also develops these ideas around an analysis of both how American pornographic films sell related product such as T-shirts, baseball caps and sweatshirts as well as how the mise-en-scène of these texts is customized in order to accommodate such marketing strategies. Reference is made to Playboy, Hustler and Vivid Video, but the central case study is an analysis of the role of less-established American production companies such as Anabolic Video in creating and commodifying their products in a range of ways beyond the basic manufacture of hard-core pornographic films. This is located alongside other companies that draw on the transgressive appeal of pornography past and present as a way to differentiate their products (the 'Porn Star' clothing range and the use of soft-core pornographic techniques and hard-core performers in the marketing campaigns of American Apparel).