Translating the Fashion Story: Analyzing Fashion Captions in Two Women's Magazines Ehimwenma O
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Master's Theses Graduate School 2013 Translating the fashion story: analyzing fashion captions in two women's magazines Ehimwenma O. Vosper-Woghiren Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses Part of the Human Ecology Commons Recommended Citation Vosper-Woghiren, Ehimwenma O., "Translating the fashion story: analyzing fashion captions in two women's magazines" (2013). LSU Master's Theses. 831. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/831 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Master's Theses by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TRANSLATING THE FASHION STORY: ANALYZING FASHION CAPTIONS IN TWO WOMEN’S FASHION MAGAZINES A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in School of Human Ecology Department of Textiles, Apparel Design and Merchandising by Ehimwenma ‘Yuwa’ Vosper-Woghiren B.A., Loyola University New Orleans, 2004 December 2013 © 2013 Copyright Ehimwenma Vosper-Woghiren All Rights Reserved ii I would like to dedicate my thesis to my grandfather, the late Joseph Henry Tyler, Sr. Throughout my life, my grandfather always stressed the importance of looking your best despite your social status. Growing up in the rural and segregated South, my grandfather did not have many opportunities. However, he still would dress as though he was CEO of his own Fortune 500 Company. On Sundays, before mass, he would put on his best suit and cologne because it was important to always look like a gentleman. His aesthetics on dress still resonate with me, and as I grow older I still keep his ideals. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the faculty and staff of the former School of Human Ecology Division of Textiles, Apparel Design, and Merchandising, for the education and knowledge of fashion and culture. I would like to extend heartfelt thanks to Dr. Elisabeth Oliver, the Interdepartmental Linguistics Department Program Director, who welcomed me into the department as a graduate minor and shared just as much excitement in this project as myself. In the Department of Textiles, Apparel Design, and Merchandising, I would like to thank Dr. Jenna Tedrick Kuttruff, Design Professor in Historical/Cultural Aspects of Textiles and Apparel and Department Head, who is also my supervising professor. Additionally, I would like to thank Dr. Michael Hegarty, Associate Professor of English and Director of Undergraduate Studies, who helped to develop my ideas and love of syntax and grammar. Without his knowledge, my thesis would not have been able to evolve and grow into what I envisioned. I would also like to thank my third committee member in the Department of Textiles, Apparel Design, and Merchandising, Dr. Delisia Matthews. Without hesitation, Dr. Matthews accepted my request to serve on the committee and has been the stylish voice of guidance. Finally, I would like to thank my graduate statistics professor, Dr. Eugene Kennedy, who helped me determine the proper statistical procedure to evaluate my data. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................. iv LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................ vi LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................................... vii CODINGS AND ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................ viii ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Identifying Differences and Purposes of Fashion Magazines .................................................. 4 1.2 Background and Need .................................................................................................................. 13 1.3. Purpose of the Study .................................................................................................................... 21 1.4. Research Questions ...................................................................................................................... 22 1.5. Significance to the Field ............................................................................................................. 22 CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE .................................................................................... 24 2.1. Fashion Writing and Content in Magazines ............................................................................. 24 2.2. Fashion and Language ................................................................................................................. 35 2.3. History and Influence of Fashion Magazines .......................................................................... 40 CHAPTER 3 METHODS ................................................................................................................ 51 3.1. Sampling ....................................................................................................................................... 51 3.2. Data Collection and Analysis ..................................................................................................... 54 3.3. Validity and reliability ................................................................................................................ 61 CHAPTER 4 RESULTS .................................................................................................................. 63 4.1. Exploratory Study ........................................................................................................................ 64 4.2 Final Study ..................................................................................................................................... 67 CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS ................................................................... 91 5.1. Discussion ..................................................................................................................................... 94 5.2 Limitations ................................................................................................................................... 111 5.3 Recommendations for Further Research ................................................................................. 111 5.4 Conclusions .................................................................................................................................. 112 GLOSSARY .................................................................................................................................. 117 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................................... 120 References ......................................................................................................................................... 120 Magazines and Fashion Editorials Cited ...................................................................................... 123 APPENDIX A. SUPPLEMENTARY DATA AND DEFINITIONS ............................................ 125 APPENDIX B. SUPPLEMENTARY TABLES ............................................................................ 131 VITA .............................................................................................................................................. 136 v LIST OF TABLES 3.1. Vogue and Lucky subscription and audience demographics, 2013. ........................................ 53 3.2. Vogue September 2012, the 120th anniversary issue ………………………………...…….... 53 4.1. Exploratory study of parts of speech totals in both Lucky and Vogue...................................... 65 4.2. Number of captions and total parts of speech for both Lucky and Vogue………...……......… 67 4.3. Number of captions and parts of speech…………………………………...……………........ 68 4.4. Parts of Speech Categories for both Lucky and Vogue……………………….…….............. 70 4.5. Contextual categories in both Lucky and Vogue………………………………………..…... 79 A.1. Contextual Classifications of Fashion Captions with Examples ……………...……..……. 125 A.2. Fashion Magazines, Editorials, and Pages ………………………………………….....…. 127 B.1. Parts of speech in Vogue ………………………………………………………..…………. 131 B.2. Parts of speech in Lucky…………….. ……………………………………….……...…... 132 B.3. Summary of determiners, nouns, adjectives, and participles/gerunds …………..…...….. 133 B.4. Summary of verbs and prepositions…………………….…………………………..……. 134 B.5. Contextual categories in Lucky …………..…………………………………….…….…... 135 B.6. Contextual Categories in Vogue ………………………………………………….…..…... 135 vi LIST OF FIGURES 1.1. Cover pages ................................................................................................................................ 4 1.2. Differences in fashion editorials……………………………...……………………...………..12