Genderqueer Fashion Models and Their Representations of Gender in Visual Culture
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GENDERQUEER FASHION MODELS AND THEIR REPRESENTATIONS OF GENDER IN VISUAL CULTURE. Anna Germaine Hickey BCI Visual Art, Hons. Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Fashion) School of Design Queensland University of Technology 2019 Keywords Fashion models Cultural intermediaries Fashion Gender Queer Genderqueer fashion models Transgender fashion models Andreja Pejić Casey Legler Hari Nef Richie Shazam Khan Genderqueer fashion models and their representations of gender in visual culture. i Abstract The rise and success oF genderqueer Fashion models in the twenty- first century indicates wider sociopolitical movements that promote equality For members oF genderqueer communities. Many high-profile genderqueer Fashion models build their careers on their gender identity and are vocal on gender rights issues, which gives them a political identity. However, these models also embody key tensions in contemporary gender discourse, as their queer identities are both made visible and commodiFied through Fashion modelling. For example, while their queer identities challenge persistent associations between cisnormative femininity and beauty, these models have also been criticised for reinforcing heteronormative beauty ideals. And while including genderqueer fashion models is widely interpreted as heralding a more socially inclusive industry, their presence might also be read as a passing trend. Drawing on Judith Butler’s ([1990] 1999) notion of ‘troubling gender’ and Pierre Bourdieu’s (1984) notion of ‘cultural intermediation’, this project examines the contemporary genderqueer fashion model by analysing fashion editorials, commercial endorsements, artistic outputs and journalistic coverage. Specifically, it focuses on the ways in which four models—Andreja Pejić, Hari Nef, Casey Legler and Richie Shazam Khan—construct and communicate contemporary notions of gender via their work in the Fashion-modelling industry. This project argues that Genderqueer fashion models and their representations of gender in visual culture. ii genderqueer Fashion models make contemporary ideas oF gender visible, offering a new aesthetic language oF gender and validating gender nonconformity in visual culture. In addition, the project proposes that genderqueer Fashion models make their diverse gender identities culturally and economically valuable as they become increasingly visible in mainstream channels of visual culture, thus contributing to the wider discourse of gender politics. An interrogation oF how ‘queer’ gender, supposedly an inclusive, emancipatory concept against cisnormative gender, also interplays with race and ethnicity, class/social status, educational level, or even the subjects’ bodily capital and attention capital in the context of the fashion modelling industry, forms part of the theoretical contribution of this research. Genderqueer fashion models and their representations of gender in visual culture. iii Contents Keywords ............................................................................................................... i Abstract ................................................................................................................. ii Contents ............................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ....................................................................................................... vii List of Tables .......................................................................................................... x Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations .................................................................... xi Statement of Original Authorship ..................................................................... xviii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................ xix A Note on Language ............................................................................................. xx Chapter 1: Introduction ......................................................................................... 1 Research Question ................................................................................................................... 5 Aims………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….… 9 Framing the genderqueer Fashion model .................................................................... 10 Studying images oF Fashion .......................................................................................... 16 Gap in Literature and SigniFicance of Research ..................................................................... 20 Limitations ............................................................................................................................. 21 Chapter 2: Methodology ...................................................................................... 25 Case Study Methodology ....................................................................................................... 26 Interpretive Analysis .............................................................................................................. 30 Data Selection ........................................................................................................................ 36 Internet-Mediated Research ................................................................................................. 38 Case Study Structure .............................................................................................................. 44 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 45 Chapter 3: Gender and the Fashion Model in History ........................................... 47 Gender and the Fashion Model ............................................................................................. 48 Modelling Masculinity ........................................................................................................... 62 The Fashion Model at the End oF the Twentieth Century ...................................................... 66 A Conceptual ShiFt Away From the Gender Binary ................................................................. 72 Queer Theory ......................................................................................................................... 79 The Contemporary Fashion Model Emerges ......................................................................... 82 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 86 Chapter 4: The Contemporary and Genderqueer Fashion Model .......................... 88 The Genderqueer Fashion Model Emerges ........................................................................... 89 Genderqueer fashion models and their representations of gender in visual culture. iv Celebrity Culture ................................................................................................................... 90 Fashion Models as Cultural Intermediaries ........................................................................... 93 The Conditions oF Genderqueer Fashion Models’ Visibility ................................................ 103 Cultural whiteness ..................................................................................................... 104 The privileged liberal gaze ......................................................................................... 108 Can there really be ‘post-gender’ perFormances? .................................................... 112 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 120 Chapter 5: Andreja Pejić .................................................................................... 123 Troubling Gender ................................................................................................................ 128 PerForming the norms: Femininity ............................................................................ 128 PerForming the norms: Masculinity .......................................................................... 132 PerForming ambiguity ............................................................................................... 135 Settling in to Femininity as a womenswear model .................................................... 151 Pejić as Cultural Intermediary: Pre-Transition ..................................................................... 154 Pejić as Cultural Intermediary: Post-Transition ................................................................... 163 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 177 Chapter 6: Casey Legler ..................................................................................... 184 Troubling Gender ................................................................................................................ 187 PerForming as a male model ..................................................................................... 188 PerForming non-normative Femininity ...................................................................... 197 Collective troubling ................................................................................................... 208 Legler