Fashion Aesthetics: Exploring the Socio-Economic and Cultural Impact

This essay delves into the multifaceted world of fashion aesthetics, examining its profound influence on the global economy, socio-cultural trends, and consumer behavior. It highlights fashion's role as a significant creative industry, reflecting societal values and driving economic growth. The essay explores the evolution of fashion from a focus on merchandise to an aesthetic-oriented economy, where cultural heritage and artistic expression are promoted. It dissects the fashion industry's structure, from raw material production to marketing and consumer engagement, emphasizing the interplay between creative and economic forces. Furthermore, the essay analyzes the impact of market analysis, marketing strategies, and consumerism on the fashion economy, including the role of body aesthetics and representation. The essay also addresses the challenges of managing aesthetics in a dynamic market, where trends constantly shift, and the impact of these shifts on the consumer and the models. The essay also considers the cultural significance of body aesthetics, the commercialization of the body, and the impact of fashion on consumer behavior.

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Fashion as an Aesthetic Economy
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FASHION AESTHETICS
Fashion is considered to be one of the most significant creative industries. The symbolic
meaning of the social ideas is expressed by fashion. Every one of us is part of fashion world
consciously or not. This is undeniable that the fashion has great impact on our life. Fashion
trends influence generations, especially the young generations greatly. The socio-economic and
cultural aspects of a society get reflected in the contemporary fashion world (McRobbie, 2013).
The spirit of that period inhabits in the fashion trend of that period. The economy of the fashion
trend has changed in recent years. In the industry it is no longer just producing the finest
merchandise but focus is more on what the fashion products represents. In a way the economy is
now more aesthetics oriented (Filitz, Henkel & Tether, 2015). To ensure their financial gain
large fashion corporations have been promoting their art, culture, heritage in combination with
the modern edge. However fashion has grown to be a significant contributor to the global
economy (Maloney.house.gov, 2015). Superficially just the aesthetic representation of fashion
with innovative and creative products and appreciation of unique beauties visible, but deep
observation will open up further perspectives. The aesthetic aspect is part of a large supply chain
and profit generating industry.
Fashion is a field of cultural mass production. Generally the fashion industry works in
four levels. The first stage is the production of raw materials such as textiles, then the designers
design fashion products based on the availed raw materials, the manufacturers then produce it
and via contractors delivers it to the stores and finally the promotion and advertisement of the
products for reaching the consumers (Bloom, 2013). The multiple levels of fashion production
are closely related. The business exclusively focuses on satisfying consumers by providing the
best fashion products but without compromising with the profit. Fashion has become an ideal
industrial structure where the creative souls, entrepreneurs work hand in hand with trade analysts

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and investors. Their collaboration makes this industry such a significant part of global economy.
Unlike other industries the fashion business acts sensitively towards the socio cultural or
economic changes of that period (Aspers & Godart, 2013). The economy is commonly based on
the dominant trends; therefore the fashion marketing gives importance to marketing analysis
(Okonkwo, 2016). The market analysis leads them to implement certain marketing strategies and
promotion or branding.
Fashion economy also follows the established principles of economy theory. The
economic theory is based on the customers’ demand and producers’ supply (Keohane &
Olmstead, 2016). Consumers play an important in the business process (Joy et al., 2014). The
basic consumerism can be applied to the fashion economy as well. The greater the consumption,
the more is the economic benefit for the fashion professionals. The fashion products also have
the consumer emotion attached to it, often high fashion products proves to determinant for
upgrading the social value of the customer. The basing human emotion like happiness is thus
associated with the hedonistic desire and with the desire to raise their status in the social
hierarchy (Lee & Johnson, 2015). The ever changing quality of fashion market has already been
mentioned, and this includes the regular renewal of products. The freshness of the products is
important marketing strategy for the companies in the capitalistic society. With the desire to
create something new constantly, the creatively gets affected. The lack of constant production of
new products often leads to renewal or redesign of older traditions. Like certain celebrities got
fashion inspiration from 60s fashion trend or fashion accessory like chokers have made their way
back in the contemporary fashion world (Cochrane, 2016).
The aesthetic economy of fashion raises question regarding the value of the field. In the
producing the fashion products the aesthetics has become a key driving force. Unlike other

FASHION AESTHETICS
industries, aesthetics here is not just a part; the whole of the economic business of fashion
industry is centered on the aesthetics of it. In the economic practice of fashion the economic
action produces the aesthetic values and vice versa. Aesthetics vales are calculatedly get
expressed through certain mediums in the global market. The design, style, beauty are the
mediums for the aesthetic expression. The aesthetics of fashion is subjective in nature so not
much stable. Contemporary capitalism does not inject aesthetic value into the fashion market
rather individual fashion professional or company internally builds up the economy of fashion on
the platform of aesthetics (Pan et al., 2015). The subjects in the fashion process temporal and
spatial, therefore the aesthetic value is ever changing. Certain product at a certain period gets
huge popularity and becomes trend, but at another point of time the same product may lose its
popularity and relevance. For example the poet blouse was pretty famous during the 90s and it
was considered to be the best semi formal wear; however not many of the present generation
even know about it (Wang, 2012). So addressing the aesthetic value in such a protean industry is
quite challenging.
The fluctuating nature of the fashion industry, primarily driven by ever changing
consumer taste leads to constant change in model’s looks. The booker who arranges and
organizes the models gets often confused because of the ever changing nature of the industry.
The instability has its effect on the aesthetic economy of fashion as well, but it is now an
accepted part of their job. The body aesthetics is an immaterial element but through fashion
economy it gets commodified. The aesthetic economy is responsible for stabilizing the market
value of the fashion products by working on temporarily fixing the value. The modeling of
human body becomes the medium for the aesthetic economy (Entwistle, 2002). London Fashion
Week or Milan Fashion Week becomes the platform for the economic transaction aesthetics.

FASHION AESTHETICS
The essay examines the bodily appearances of the models and the perceptions that are
related to the fashion aesthetics and economy, as the perception is closely linked to consumption
behavior. The relationship between bodily appearance in the promotion and the consumer choice
is closely related (Dwyer, 2004). This is also linked to the clothing, costumes and dresses.
Certain socio cultural aspects influence the consumers and their position in fashion’s aesthetic
economy. The fashion that the elements and aesthetic builds up is significant in deriving
consumer’s exposure and experience in high fashion. However it is not easy to exactly point why
a specific product succeeds to attract certain consumers but others fail. The body representation
is one of the most preferred strategies by the companies to attract the consumers. They believe
the perfect representation of the product through the best looking or fit models will improve their
business by successfully leading more customers to buy their products. This strategy and others
are decided by the company after extensive market analysis and identifying the strength or
weaknesses of the market and of the products. This is complicated as well, because a
conventional western white female model or a masculine or lean male model will work for most
countries worldwide but a model with Asian features may not work well in certain western or
Middle Eastern countries. The market analysis is important part of the fashion economy as this
helps the company to determine the favorable factors for achieving their desired economic
success.
The word aesthetics in fashion is based on the human sensory experience of the objects
beauty. As the taste and cultural aspects are changing, fashion aesthetics and the economy related
to it are also always changing (Redies, 2015). In the framework of cultural production the
elements of fashion aesthetic is carefully placed. This is cultural framework’s “meaning transfer
system” (McCracken, 2005). The communication always takes place between the system and the

FASHION AESTHETICS
groups and an individual belongs to the group. However the individual eventually develops his
or her own evaluation process. There can similarity and even contrast among the various stages
of meaning making. The fashion experts have been experiencing a continuous tension between
the consumer’s personal preferred style and the dominant fashion trend. Aesthetics of body is
connected to bodily representation and act as key driver in developing the identity. However the
reception differs as the way one perceives the bodily image. The bodily representation can be
perceived as commodified or celebrated. Above that consumers often tend to impose their own
meaning upon the representation. They collect the meaning from direct or personal experience or
from various means of visual representation of fashion aesthetics like magazines, television or
internet.
The consumer culture is centered on the body aesthetics and this body aesthetics is
fashion centered on the clothing, dress, beauty and certain ways of representation (Entwistle,
2016). For example the aesthetics of sartorial fashion has given birth to two aspects, one is that
the fashion aesthetics is closely related to certain body culture and economy and on the other
hand the representation of female or male body is often criticized for being exploitative. It is
difficult to separate the body of the model from the fashion she is wearing. The models are
considered as the aesthetic labor because of the body aesthetics that is dominantly serving “the
political economy of male gaze and historic resentment” (Venkatesh et al., 2010). The
consumer’s perception of fashion is often depended upon the representation of the aesthetic
labor. However the bodily representation is not really the look of the body in reality. Often it has
been experienced that the models apparently look very ordinary looking in the reality, but in their
portfolio or visual representation they are extraordinary. They cannot be identified distinguish in
a crowd but they can be so in their work.

FASHION AESTHETICS
The aesthetics of the fashion model is a complex area. The beauty or appealing look of a
certain model dominates the period but it changes in the next. So the commoditization of the
aesthetic value is difficult to point out in a general sense. The aesthetic experience the consumers
have is related to everyday experience. The complexity lies in the diversity of the fashion
products from fashion design, advertising, graphics, web and retailing as the economy for a
specific practice has specific cultural value. A parallel framework has to be drawn between the
aesthetic production of the body and its relationship with the market.
The certain representation of body in the fashion market and the corporate branding
associated with it reflects the commercial principle of fashion’s aesthetic economy. Borrowing
from Pettinger this can be termed as the “Brand-scape of consumer capitalism”. Multiple
meanings can be generated from the representation of fashion’s aesthetic labors beyond the
visual representation of the fashion products (Holla, 2016). In a survey the respondents
expressed that right appearance and right personality matters a lot (Warhurst et al., 2012).
Not many empirical studies have been done in order to measure the effect of
aestheticization of daily life and economy that reflects the growing need for aesthetics in
business. Entwistle discusses how aesthetics of fashion guides market’s economic calculation in
the cultural production. Cultural knowledge and economy are closely related. The models body
is the culturally valued part that has been produced by exercising cultural forms and focuses on
earning the economic values (Johnson, Lennon & Rudd, 2014). The need of the consumer should
be the determinant factor for evaluating the every changing body aesthetics and the
representation of the models. In general practice the female models earn way more than the male
models in the fashion industry, the only other business where female earns more than men is
pornography (Mollmann, 2012). One can draw a connection between both the professions, in

FASHION AESTHETICS
terms of selling the body for commercial purpose and mostly serving the male gaze. This
highlights the gender related political economy of the profession (Entwistle & Mears, 2013). The
body of a woman has more cultural value than a body of a man (Sommerlund & Strandvad,
2015). On the flip side, it is woman’s body that goes through extreme evaluation. The beauty or
look of a young female body is what the market needs and age works in the opposite way. An
older male model is likely to earn more than a female model.
Modelling showcases the economy with cultural knowledge and technical expertise. The
changing fashion market helps the bookers, companies and the models to apply certain strategies
to fulfill the market demand. They always have to update about the current trends and where it
might lead them to the future, they set and prepare the suitable model looks and fresh portfolio
and guide them in different markets. However the cultural phenomenon named fashion modeling
is largely metropolitan city based. One can notices that all the major fashions shows are cities
like Milan, London, New York, Tokyo and Paris based (Lazzeretti, Capone & Casadei, 2017).
Therefore the look of the model needs to possess a global quality for the demand of the global
market and the shows in the global cities. The symmetry in the face and body proportion is the
basic criteria for a model’s look, but look speaks more than just the body. The image they appear
in has more contribution than just giving him a visual platform. An established look of a model
gradually loses its subjective qualities and becomes objective. Certain type of fashion trends or
movements demand for certain looks. The mainstream editorial look demands for a model aged
between15-23 and with sharp edgy features, commercial marketing demands conventional
beautiful face or a masculine body (Entwistle, 2002). On the other hand, the Avant Garde trend
has demand for a body that is strange, unique or different. Then there are certain looks that are

FASHION AESTHETICS
considered to be ‘down market’ with less qualitative or cultural value. So the using of the body
has its own economic connotation attached to it.
The beauty of the model in the visual representation for a fashion product has little to do
with his or her individual beauty, rather the cultural and commercial value that is attached with
his bodily representation. The commodity of the model body is an aesthetic commodity that has
been utilized in the economic market. The mixture of culture values, commercial practice and
creative aesthetics make fashion a successful avatar of aesthetic economy.

FASHION AESTHETICS
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