Glossy Magazines Research Articles

Representation and stereotyping of the female image in modern mass media (based on glossy magazines)

In the 21st century, the need for the development of the glossy sector is increasing every day. The main object of the study is the image of female beauty in modern glossy magazines; the subject of the study is the formation of a stereotypical idea of beauty in modern mass media. The purpose of this article is to analyze the linguistic and visual representation of women in modern mass media (based on glossy magazines), as well as the features of the linguistic (linguistic and visual) construction of the image of a woman in modern discursive linguistics. In addition, when conducting this research, not only general scientific methods are used, such as comparison, description, classification, systematization, interpretation, analysis, classification, but also special linguistic methods for analyzing lexical-semantic groups: contextual and stylistic analysis of semantics, the method of psycholinguistic modeling, method of complex analysis. The scientific novelty of the study is due to the subject of the study and the lack of modern comparative studies in the field of the specific representation of the image of beauty in the media (in glossy magazines) for young women. During the study, the features of modern visual culture and mass media products were studied, the standards of beauty and the female image being a sociocultural phenomenon were described, the methods of applying various methodologies to the visual content of glossy magazines and digital analogues were analyzed, axiological pictures of the world in different cultures and social gender stereotypes were partially described, reflected in language, the representation and stereotyping of the beauty of the female image in modern mass media (based on glossy magazines) is analyzed and ways of stereotyping beauty in glossy magazines are identified, including the features of visual design and promotion of content personalization (recommendation technologies) in the modern glossy segment.

Pragmatic Features of Code-switches in Gender-oriented Glossy Magazines

Linguists all over the world have conducted various research on how gender affects language. Code-switches, as one of the forms of bilingual speech, interact with many variables, including gender. This paper provides insights on the phenomenon of code-switches in mass media discourse, specifically in modern glossy magazines Elle and Gentlemen’s Quarterly. We focus our analysis mostly on pragmatic and gender aspects. The objective of the research is to illustrate how the code-switch patterns differ by gender in terms of frequency and pragmatic use. We collected the data from two gender-oriented glossy magazines. The theoretical and conceptual background of the study is the Matrix Language Frame Model by C. Myers-Scotton and the functional classification of code-switches by G. Chirsheva. Findings indicate that code-switches in glossy magazines have eight different functions: topic-related, effort-saving, quotational, self-identification, humorous, metalinguistic, addressee-oriented and emotional. One of the major research results expressed in numerical form: journalists use twice as many code-switches in Elle in comparison to Gentlemen’s Quarterly (434 and 234, respectively). The contrastive analysis has also shown that code-switches perform common and specific pragmatic functions in women-oriented and in men-oriented glossy publications. Keywords: bilingualism in media discourse, code-switch, glossy magazine, gender in language, pragmatic features of code-switches

Воспроизводство социально-статусной системы российского общества в дискурсе глянцевых журналов: социологический анализ

The research aims to study the mechanism of gender differentiation in glossy magazines, which determines the motivational and value aspects of the life of men and women. It claims that glossy magazines are actively involved in the formation of gender stereotypes that correspond to the established gender system of society. Gender-oriented glossy magazines reproducing patterns of femininity and masculinity establish a gender regime, which guarantees the preservation of social order on the one hand and determines gender stratification on the other. The author focuses on the role of visual and verbal components of communication, which by means of the designation of statuses, roles and values of masculine and feminine behavior create gender inequality at the individual and institutional levels. As the sociological analysis showed, the representation of gender in women’s magazines indicates the complication of gender identification, the emergence of new property and features of modern femininity, which reflects the dynamic nature of society. But the shift of emphasis towards fashion and beauty, the popularization of lifestyle in the context of recreational activities with a predominance of hedonistic forms significantly limit the range of social female roles in Russian society. In men’s magazines, gender specificity is concentrated in the field of professional activity, which is responsible for the self-realization of a man that ideologically legitimizes masculine dominance. It can be argued that glossy magazines symbolically fix the gender display, focusing men and women on different life strategies, as well as ways to implement them. The gender asymmetry of modern Russian society is reproduced by using the mechanisms of social inequality (distancing, exclusion, hierarchy and exploitation) in the symbolic interpretation of femininity and masculinity. As a result, there is a differentiation of social positions of gender in various spheres of public and private life.

Hashtagging in advertising texts of international glossy magazines

Статья посвящена особенностям процесса хештегирования и функционирования хештегов в печатной рекламе. Актуальность выбранной темы обусловлена, с одной стороны, интересом, проявляемым лингвистами к проблеме композиции креолизованного рекламного текста, словесным и несловесным средствам экспликации явных и скрытых смыслов, единицам языковой компрессии, с другой – малоизученностью вопроса специфики процесса хештегирования, типов и функций конкретных хештегов в креолизованных рекламных текстах. Источниками исследования послужили российские издания международных журналов за 2019–2022 гг.: «Tatler», «Elle Decoration», «Cosmopolitan», «Men’s Health», «Elle», «Esquire», «GQ» и др. Для интерпретации и систематизации фактического материала применялись коммуникативно-прагматический и описательный методы, а также метод количественного анализа. Полученные результаты можно сформулировать в виде нескольких тезисов: 1) функционируют хештеги преимущественно в тех типах креолизованных текстов, где ведущую роль играет иконический компонент (аддитивных и изобразительно-центрических); 2) хештеги рекламного дискурса глянцевых изданий не отличаются тематическим разнообразием и представляют три группы: «Одежда, обувь, аксессуары премиум-класса», «Парфюмерно-косметические товары глобальных брендов», «Ювелирные изделия и часы известных марок»; 3) занимая сильную позицию в композиции креолизованного рекламного текста, хештеги нередко функционально сближаются со слоганами; 4) процесс хештегирования в анализируемых текстах отличается рядом особенностей (использование однокомпонентных, двух- и трехкомпонентных хештегов; факультативность подчеркиваний; доминирование в графическом облике хештегов латиницы, а не кириллицы; редкость языкового смешения; активность хештегов-словосочетаний и хештегов-предложений). Автор приходит к выводу, что хештеги в рекламной коммуникации международных журналов отличаются

Этапы становления индустрии западноевропейской моды: исторический анализ

The article presents the results of the analytical study of the stages of formation and development of West Eu-ropean fashion industry. The authors define the time frame for the emergence of the social phenomenon of fashion and the corresponding industry. In the chronological sequence with reference to historical sources the main changes in society that led to the formation of the fashion industry are considered: the improvement of tools of labor, the growth of commodity handicraft production, the formation of workshops, the development of urban culture, manufactory production, technical revolution, the emergence of high fashion, the issue of glossy magazines, the formation of light industry, the intensification of production. The main conclusions of the study are the following: firstly, the fashion industry is formed as a Western European phenomenon; secondly, histori-cally, there are two main types of goods of the fashion industry – designed for the elite, high society and mass products oriented to consumers of the middle and lower classes; thirdly, the fashion industry becomes part of industrial production in the XX century, obeying the requirements of mass production.

Digital Reading among Children in Saudi Arabia

A sample of parents in Saudi Arabia was surveyed to find out the reading technologies that children under the age of 12 use, children’s digital reading habits and interests, parents’ roles in encouraging the children to read digitally, the effects of digital reading on children’s reading ability, and to compare digital reading before, during and after the Pandemic. Survey results showed that all the children in the sample use a smart phone to access apps, games, cartoons, and YouTube videos. About 41% use an iPad or tablet and few use their parents or older siblings’ laptops. None of the children in the sample uses an e-reader such as Kindle. 5% do not like to use an iPad/tablet and prefer to use their parents’ smart phones. Children below the age of 6 use touch screen devices in reading the English and Arabic letters, numeracy and words. They enjoy reading on touch screens. 36% of the children in grades 1-3 use touch screen devices in learning to read and 64% use them for games and entertainment. Children in grades 4-6 mainly use touch screen devices to play games, soccer, car races and watch movies mostly in English and do not use those devices for reading purposes. Older children feel that educational and language learning and reading apps are boring. During the pandemic, children used technology intensively due to remote teaching and learning, i.e., more than before and after the Pandemic. About half of the parents do not share, nor supervise reading from touch screen devices with their children whether during, before or after the pandemic. Despite the advancements in digital reading, most parents and children in Saudi Arabia still prefer print books and stories. Mobile audiobooks, electronic reading games, storybooks, picture books and glossy magazines, reading lessons with a digital, human-like character, WhatsApp remote reading, online book clubs, and children's digital libraries are not used. Therefore, this study recommends the integration of digital reading in the school curriculum, raising parents and teachers’ awareness of digital reading devices, reading apps and websites and designing mobile reading apps with interactive features to motivate older children to read Arabic fiction and short stories.

ANALYSIS OF THE DESIGN OF A GLOSSY MAGAZINE WITH THE HERO OF THE ISSUE ON THE COVER

The article is devoted to the analysis of the cover design of a glossy magazine. It examines the important role of the mass media in the process of forming the views of modern society, which, thanks to the design and spread of certain models of life, has huge impact on the points of view of its audience. This is also inherent in glossy magazines. The peculiarity of the communicative component of the design of this type of publications is analyzed. It is determined that its content covers different layers of human society as a translator of ideas, trends, mass culture phenomena and current events. These tasks are solved not only due to illustrative materials accompanied by meaningful texts, but also by the choice of those persons whose photos designers and editors place on the covers of publications. Actors, writers, artists, politicians, famous fashion designers, etc often become their "heroes". The results of the study indicate that interesting exceptions from this list can be observed recently. For example, the cover of the glossy magazine "Vogue Scandinavia" for August 2021 featured a photo illustration of the eco-leader Greta Thunberg as a symbol of the fight against environmental pollution as a result of human activities. The choice for analysis of this magazine has been made due to the fact that it is in demand on the market of periodicals today, is very popular with readers and has an impact on its audience segment, building stereotypes of its behavior. The article proves that the desire to raise such an important issue as an environmental problem draws our attention to a new trend of glossy magazines. That is, a departure from the former, narrowly specific issues – beauty, fashion, glamour, news from the lives of movie stars and show business stars, sophisticated lifestyle and a turn to those aspects of life without which all this cannot be realized, in particular, to the problems of nature conservation. It has been investigated that the photographic subject of the cover refers to the archetype "girl with a unicorn" known from paintings of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, which is a symbol of purity and virtue, the fragility of harmony with nature. This parallel is read by the reader as a certain cultural code with a warning about the importance of maintaining this natural balance.

Висвітлення образів військовослужбовиць в українських медіа в період російсько-української війни

The study aims to propose a typology of servicewomen’s images promoted by the Ukrainian media during the Russo-Ukrainian war. Qualitative content analysis was used as a research method. The study was based on 50 articles about women in the Armed Forces of Ukraine published between November 2020 and May 2023. The timeframe was chosen given the event that marked the strengthening of the Ukrainian government’s course to the further development and promotion of gender equality in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, namely the ratification of the National Action Plan for Resolution 1325 – “Women, Peace and Security” for the period up to 2025. The articles were selected based on several keywords: women, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, women in the military, and gender equality. The Russo-Ukrainian war has given rise to the promotion of various images of female soldiers in the media. The media offers its audience two types of servicewomen images: 1) a conservative image based on the stereotypical perceptions of women; 2) a counter-stereotypical image that rejects clichés and destroys gender stereotypes. The conservative typification of images of servicewomen, as a demonstration of society’s concern about women performing combat missions that contradict traditional ideas of masculinity and femininity, not only reinforces the idea of traditional stereotypical roles of women but also challenges the prospects of participation of women in combat. The multifaceted gender stereotypical images – “Beauty in uniform”, “Model for a glossy magazine”, “First of all a Woman”, “Beloved Woman”, and “Mother” – are permeated by benevolent sexism against women, which has three components: paternalism, gender differentiation, and heterosexual intimacy. The image “Person with special domestic needs” focuses on physiological processes related to the female reproductive system. This content of the image conveys the assumption that women can face an uncomfortable situation when it is challenging to perform the necessary hygienic measures, and this can hinder them from being in the war zone. The counter-stereotypical typification manifested in the “Professional Soldier” and “Rebel” images contribute to overcoming stereotypical perceptions and shaping a society where women have equal rights and opportunities to realize these rights. Creating the “Professional Soldier” image, the media assume that the main prerequisite for a professional warrior is not gender but professional competencies. The “Rebel” image of a servicewoman represents a new generation of women who openly declare their right to be whatever they want and join the military to eliminate the “weaker sex” stereotype. The emphasis on masculinity in the “Rebel” image indicates that, despite the increase in women, the media still perceives the army as a masculine organization. Both conservative-stereotypical and counter-stereotypical images, such as “Sexual Object” and “Lesbian”, can be created for purely commercial interests or as a marketing ploy to attract the audience.

Eco House

Abstract: Eco- house sees buildings as part of the larger ecology of the planet and the building as part of a living habitat. This contrasts with the more common notions of many architects, who see a building as a work of art, perhaps on exhibition in a settlement or as ‘frozen music’ in the people-less pictures of glossy magazines. Some architects see the process of design as a production line with the building as a product to be deposited on a site, regardless of its particular environment or qualities. You will see from the case studies at the end of the book that eco-houses are closely connected to their site, society, climate, region and the planet. Because the alternative is not acceptable and ‘modern buildings’ are literally destroying the planet. It does not help that the numbers of people on the planet are growing so rapidly (5.3 billion in 1990; 8.1 billion by 2020; 10.7 billion in the 2080s).that we have increasingly sophisticated technologies to exploit the Earth’s natural resources. But it should be widely known that buildings are the single most damaging polluters on the planet, consuming over half of all the energy used in developed countries and producing over half of all climate-change gases. The shift towards green design began in the 1970s and was a pragmatic response to higher oil prices. It was then that the first of the oil shocks, in 1973, sent fossil fuel prices sky high and the ‘futurologists’ began to look at the life history of fossil fuels on the planet and make claims about how much oil and gas were left. Their predictions were alarming and, 30 years on, we appear still to have abundant oil. However, their calculations on total reserves were fairly accurate and many of their predictions have yet to be proved wrong. Keywords: Eco-friendly residence, green-ship, household perception, water conservation, water efficiency.

NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION IN PRINT ADS

The starting point of the present paper is the observation that the message in print advertisements is realized not only verbally but also pictorially. The study of various women’s glossy magazines has shown that most advertisements make extensive use of pictures to convey the message. Moreover, meaning is often communicated nonverbally through paralanguage. This paper focuses on the way in which print advertisements communicate meaning through images and paralanguage.

Структурный аспект переключений кодов в русскоязычных глянцевых “Elle” и “GQ” (2021–2022)

Автор рассматривает структуру переключений кодов, извлеченных из 8 номеров глянцевых журналов “Elle” и “GQ” за 2021–2022 гг. Научная новизна состоит в том, что в работе впервые предлагается исследовать структурные черты переключений кодов с учётом особенностей их словообразования. Установлено, что в материале преобладают вкрапления и гибридные формы, в большей степени отражающие специфику медиадискурса. Частотность вкраплений обусловлена понятностью, простотой их введения в русское высказывание, продуктивность гибридов – нестандартностью, а также сочетанием в них краткости и информативности. The author considers the structure of code-switches extracted from 8 glossy magazines Elle and GQ dated 2021-2022. Scientific originality of the research lies in the fact that the structural analysis of code-switches concerning the peculiarities of their word formation is proposed in the paper for the first time. We conclude that inclusions and hybrid forms are more typical for the media discourse and they prevail in the data. Insertions are frequent due to clarity and simplicity of building the Russian utterance with them. Hybrids are productive because of non-standard form, as well as the combination of short but informative content in them.

ФЕНОМЕН УСПЕХА В КОНТЕКСТЕ РОССИЙСКОГО МЕДИАДИСКУРСА (НА ПРИМЕРЕ ГЛЯНЦЕВЫХ ЖУРНАЛОВ)

Currently, in the humanities (philosophy, cultural studies, psychology, sociology, linguistics, etc.), the study of the phenomenon of success, which has a complex, multifaceted structure and is of interest from the point of view of revealing the value foundations of both an individual and society as a whole, is of particular relevance In the sphere of modern mass culture, in particular in the media space, there is an active formation and broadcasting of symbols of success, which, in fact, is the imposition of certain, often mentally alien to Russian consciousness and culture, value orientations. The disclosure of these mechanisms by the example of the analysis of texts from Russian glossy magazines is the subject of the presented research. The article examines modern domestic socio-cultural and psychological approaches to understanding the phenomenon of success, identifies the features of discursive practices in the Russian media space; examines the role of lexical units used to construct the image of a successful person in the Russian media discourse, presents approaches to the classification of vocabulary, its quantitative and qualitative analysis through the identification of "internal" and "external" categories success. As an empirical material, a corpus of texts from the most popular domestic glossy magazines is used: GQ, Menslife, Elle, Cosmopolitan.

АКСИОЛОГИЧЕСКАЯ ПАРАМЕТРИЗАЦИЯ КАК СПОСОБ КОНСТРУИРОВАНИЯ ОБРАЗА БУДУЩЕГО В ДИСКУРСЕ ГЛЯНЦЕВЫХ ЖУРНАЛОВ

The article presents the description of axiological parametrization as an instrument of the image of the future construal in glossy fashion magazines. The aim of the research is substantiated by the value society attaches to the image of the future, on the one hand, and the critical role of media in the modern world, on the other hand. It has been revealed, that in fashion magazines the image of the future takes the form of a trend as a cluster of axiological parameters. In the article three axiological parameters have been identified: brightness, innovation and creativity. The language representations of the image of the future axiological content and its pragmatic force have been described.

ВЕРБАЛЬНЫЙ КОМПОНЕНТ КРЕОЛИЗОВАННЫХ РЕКЛАМНЫХ ТЕКСТОВ В КОНТЕКСТЕ ПРОБЛЕМЫ КЛИПОВОГО МЫШЛЕНИЯ

In the article, the author considers the problem of clip thinking of a postmodern era person through the prism of advertising communication. The aim of the work is to identify and systematically describe the features of the verbal part of creolized messages in the format of direct and native advertising, which are focused on the addressee with fundamental changes in the cognitive style and the mechanism of perceiving linear text. The sources of the research are the Russian editions of periodical international glossy magazines of various thematic, age and gender orientation published in 2018-2021. The methods of studying the language material are descriptive-analytical, communicative-pragmatic, comparative methods and the method of contextual analysis. As a result of the study, a set of specific tools and techniques were identified that ensure the retention of the recipient’s attention with fragmentary mosaic perception, the speed of decoding information, its compression, segmentation, visualization. It is noted that the verbal component of direct advertising messages tends to minimize and is distinguished by the primitivization of the syntactic structures, the constant switching of the language code, and the regular inclusion of hashtags. The verbal component of advertising texts in the native advertising format is characterized by an increased volume and hybridity of nature, uses language units that create short-lived emotionally expressive and aesthetically perfect images, means that cause positive associations and ensure switching the recipient’s attention (intertexts, bisubstantial sentences, question-answer complexes, perceptual vocabulary, etc.). The author comes to the conclusion that further research of forms of mass communication in the context of the problem of clip thinking should choose the path of interdisciplinarity, joint activity of psychologists, philologists, cultural scientists, philosophers and other specialists.

КУЛЬТУРА СПОЖИВАННЯ У ФРАНКОМОВНОМУ ДИСКУРСІ МОДИ: ЛІНГВОПРАГМАТИЧНИЙ АСПЕКТ

The culture of consumption in the French-language fashion discourse, and also considers the linguistic and pragmatic aspect are analyzed in this article. It is found that the texts of glossy magazines use techniques of suggestion and1 infection in order to increase sales, popularize certain trends by involving celebrities in discussions, and use certain words and constructions to impose the importance of a new trend. To achieve this goal, the media influence people by trying to evoke emotions from the text they read, the photo they attach, and the advertisement of products. This directly affects the increase in consumption by users who are trying to keep up with the trend to bring themselves closer to the upper class, which has access to all the resources, so knowing the methods of influencing the human psyche, sales are growing, which directly leads to the problem of consumerism in modern society. The article highlights the importance of the fashion aspect in human life, the psychological methods of influence on a person used by the fashion industry, and analyzes the verbal methods of influence.

Функциональная специфика словообразовательных неологизмов в дискурсивном пространстве глянцевых журналов

The purpose of the research is to study the functional characteristics of word-forming neologisms in modern English-language glossy magazines. The tasks are reduced to the analysis of scientific and theoretical literature on the problems of neology, the selection of neo-lexemes of the subject area “fashion and style”, formed by morphological methods, by the method of continuous sampling, and their systematization in relation to the functions they perform in the glamorous discourse. The sources are electronic versions of the monthly women’s magazines “Cosmopolitan”, “Elle”, “Fashion” for 2017–2022. When interpreting the factual material, data from the Online Etymology Dictionary and Dictionary.com dictionaries and a comprehensive methodology are used: the general scientific method of observation, word-formation analysis, definitional analysis, descriptive-analytical method. The findings indicate an active linguo-creative word-formation activity in the fashion sector of the economy. We formulate the thesis about the functional syncretism of derivational neologisms in the communicative space of the mass media serving it. We single out and illustrate with examples the nominative, informative, emotionally expressive, evaluative and phatic (contact-establishing) interdependent functions of neonominations. We note a significant predominance of the first two. The data obtained can be used in lecture courses on stylistics, the basics of media communication and the lexicology of modern English.

Entre la tradition sénégalaise et le néo-colonialisme français : l’oppression systématique des jeunes filles dans La nuit est tombée sur Dakar d’Aminata Zaaria

Between Senegalese tradition and French neo-colonialism: Systematic oppression of young girls in La nuit est tombée sur Dakar by Aminata Zaaria. The purpose of this article is to examine the systematic, intercultural oppression of young girls in La nuit est tombée sur Dakar, a 2004 novel by the Senegalese author Aminata Zaaria. Her female protagonists, two seventeenyear- olds, subject themselves to sexual exploitation by white men in order to escape poverty. In their birthplace, the village of Lëndëm (‘darkness’ in Wolof, the most commonly spoken language in Senegal), the girls are forced into traditional gender roles from a very young age, i.e. their sexuality is strictly controlled by men. This environment is, however, influenced by the Western way of life: on TV and in glossy magazines, Europe is presented as a paradise on earth. Dakar, viewed by the elder inhabitants of Lëndëm as a “cursed city”, is a place where white men have all the power and, just as in colonial times, they use it in order to sexually abuse African women. By analysing traditional society from a sociological perspective (based on the works of Abdoulaye Bara Diop and Rosalie Aduyai Diop), as well as by applying the postcolonial and psychological theoretical framework to the dynamics presented in the text, this paper strives to demonstrate that it is difficult to speak of “freedom of choice” in the case of a vulnerable, traumatised subject. For both protagonists, this “disguised prostitution” is a survival strategy, going beyond a simple materialism: they are led to believe that it is a small price to pay for a better life. The article presents intercultural oppression as a double-edged sword in that in every environment, young girls are treated as mere objects, expected to silently play their roles.

DESIGNING AN ARTISTIC INTERIOR: SOME ISSUES AND DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS OF THE INDUSTRY UNDER SANCTIONS

Statement of the problem. The problem of searching for new ways of developing the domestic architecture in interior design in modern conditions is explored. Results. It is noted that moving away from the Russian market of Western European furniture stores and glossy magazines has brought to the surface a serious issue of losing a unique style, individuality and an artistic approach. Designers and architects in this country in the last decades have got used to working guided by foreign approaches, borrowing ideas and solutions. With no foreign materials, furniture items being available, this approach has puzzled a lot of specialists in the industry. Conclusions. The current «isolation» from the foreign market opens up new opportunities for Russian designers and architects related to searching for their own style employing domestic production and materials. Therefore it is of particular interest to investigate the architecture and interiors of the Soviet era which due to the political circumstance at the time were centred around the domestic production of not only construction materials but also artistic monumental pieces.

Black Transnational Resistance

Look Back at It (2016) is a cutting-edge interpretation of Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907) by African American multidisciplinary artist Rashaad Newsome. The work is a collage of magazine cuttings. The action is set in the vogue ballroom scene, a counterculture sparked in the 1970s by the Black and Latinx Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ+) communities in New York. The muses are disenfranchised African American trans women who have faced a long-standing subjugation anchored in America’s history of racial slavery and classed transphobic capitalism. Their bodies are made of a collage of dazzling jewels cut from glossy magazines that have rendered them invisible. Drawing on beauty politics, this article maps the visual repertoire of Newsome’s aesthetic and its geopolitical implications. A formal and contextual analysis highlights how the use of high jewelry alludes to the global trade in minerals—most specifically, the diamond industry’s spoliation of South Africa’s natural resources, pionered by British imperialist Cecil Rhodes. Special attention is paid to the way Newsome’s subversion of the codes of high jewelry visually and conceptually echoes voguers’ transgression of high fashion in dance competitions. Newsome stages a transnational and transhistorical dialogue between two distinct but interconnected systems of oppression, imperialism and global capitalism, thus sketching a collective history of Black pain and of creative resilience, guided by trans women, that is essential at the time of the resurgence of global populist nationalistic discourses.

Architectures of production in the 21st century Italian mountains

The theme of production seems at odds with the images depicting an idealistic, idyllic daily life of mountain villages and landscapes that appeared in glossy magazines during the pandemic and became imprinted on the collective imagination of urban populations. Production (including industrial production) has deeply altered the life and appearance of mountains in Italy. First during the nineteenth century, with hydroelectric power plants, and then with the gradual relocation of production plants to the plains following the apogee of Fordism in the second half of the twentieth century. Thus, the era of large factories of the 1960s gradually came to an end, evolving towards a period of disruptive “molecular” capitalism and an all-Italian manufacturing system organized in industrial districts. The morphology of production plants evolved too, while products became more and more standardized and were stored in warehouses: in this frenzy of economic growth, the superficiality of capitalism overtook the ancient sector of mountain agriculture, transferring the notion of warehouse into its traditional production facilities, namely barns and stables. Thus, while on the one hand agronomic practices gained new attention, on the other hand the architectural features of production buildings in the mountains continued to seem “out of context”. A renewed attention to the shape of production buildings began to develop even in a climatically and morphologically complex territory such as the mountains. I believe that the features and characters of the new architecture of production will become less authorial and at the same time more explicit in representing the material and cultural relationship with the specificities of the mountain territory and in establishing a dialogue with the cultures that have inhabited these places.