Proceedings ITAA 2012 Annual Conference Honolulu, Hawai`I

Proceedings

ITAA 2012 Annual Conference Honolulu, Hawai`i November 14-17, 2012

Popular Culture Track

Hancock, Joseph H. II. Brand This Way: Lady Gaga's Fashion as Storytelling Context to the GLBT Community

Kaiser, Susan, Bernstein, Sara T., Green, Denise Nicole, Hammidi, Tania, Sullivan, Kelly, and Thorsden, Margaret. Space and Sexuality through Style: Fashioning Rural, Urban, and Suburban Masculinities

Kidd, Laura K. The Hitler Meme as Inspiration in Fashion

Reeves-DeArmond, Genna and Wieghaus, Emily. A Model of Deviant Appearance and Behavior Construction and Management in Adolescent Females: A Content Analysis of the Films Thirteen and Augusta, Gone

Honolulu, Hawaii 2012 Proceedings

Brand This Way: Lady Gaga’s Fashion as Storytelling Context to the GLBT Community Joseph H Hancock, II Drexel University, USA Keywords: Branding, Popular Culture, Celebrity, Fashion Research using the cultural approach to brands and their relationships to popular culture is relatively new and developed during this century (Holt & Cameron, 2010). Branding is an umbrella term for marketing, as branding encompasses more than just advertising media, but also the context of companies, performance, merchandise, design, consumers and most importantly, the stakeholders for the brand. Fashion branding has been defined by key scholars and professionals as the cumulative image that targets customers with products, advertising and promotion organized around a coherent image as a way to encourage the purchase and the repurchase of consumer goods from the same company (Holt, 2004). Branding represents a major aim of fashion companies to produce a perceived image that is reflective of stories, narratives, or myths common in popular culture (Vincent, 2002). Pop performance stars lead some of the largest international and long lasting brands in our global economy (Blackwell & Stephan, 2004). They influence consumers through their use of music, videos, and especially the fashions they wear and endorse. Popular bands and stars such as Kiss, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Sean ‘Puffy Daddy’ Combs, Jessica Simpson, Beyoncé Knowles, Kylie Minogue, have all inspired or even developed and licensed their own fashion brands in collaboration with retailers (Miller, 2011). One performer, Lady Gaga, continuously amazes audiences with her sense of over-the- top costume and outrageous fashion, and yet studies related to her dress have been neglected in academic publication. She represents a form of self-branding with her own self-production being heavily narrative and marked with visual codes of consumption representative of mainstream popular culture (Hearn, 2008). This way of dressing has been extensively noticed by such stars as Weird Al Yankovic, the media parodist, who pays tribute to Lady Gaga’s use of fashion as a means of presentation in his music video satire of her song Born this Way titled, I Perform this Way. Her ensembles incorporate and are representative of pop cultural icons generating storyline and brand meaning and thus associations to niche markets. She becomes a movement of meaning in the conveyance of fashion forms through her celebrity brand status building further connotations of meaning for both her and the iconic symbols she wears (McCracken,1988). One of the largest target markets for ‘brand Gaga’ has been the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community (sometimes referred to as GLBT). With a United States net worth expected to exceed over $835 billion, the GLBT community is also one of the most loyal consumers with over 71% of this market stating they support those companies funding causes important to them (Witek-Combs, 2008). With those facts and figures, it is not surprising that at the 2009, MTV Video Music Awards Lady Gaga publicly thanked ‘God and the gays’ for her success and on various occasions admittedly recognized these consumers as major contributors to her career. For the GLBT community, her modes of costume speak volumes to her inimitable method of fashionable story-like branding that utilizes symbols sometimes transforming her into

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homage for her gay and lesbian followers. Her garments blatantly re-contextualize GLBT iconic symbols in a benevolently based manner sometimes giving her a philanthropic image to this market. However, this visually symbolic method of branding allows her to generate profits and feat a sort of social dependency among her GLBT followers who by consuming these images wait anxiously for her next performance or appearance. This GLBT fashion style and presence inspires some of her younger fans so much they refer to her as their iconic hero. In 2010, Greenbrier High School in White House, Tennessee sent student Cole Goforth home on the grounds that his ‘I (Heart) Lady Gay Gay’ T-shirt was a disruption to classroom activities. Goforth’s mother stated to news officials that she felt this was a violation of her son’s constitutional right to free speech. She noted that many students who wear religious or rebel flag T-shirts are never sent home, and yet her son’s T-shirt was seen as offensive (Bolcer, 2010). Within hours of hearing about these allegations, Lady Gaga Tweeted to Goforth in support of his initiative. But the superstar’s influence goes beyond high school teenagers to even younger children who look to Lady Gaga as someone who understands them. In October 2011, with the recent exposé of bullying in the United States, news reporter Anderson Cooper featured a young group of GLBT grade school students who had been targeted in each of their respected schools. At the end of this episode of CNN’s 360, one young student requested that he be able to sing the Lady Gaga song Born This Way, that Cooper gladly allowed him to do; thus demonstrating the inspiring message that ‘brand Gaga’ has on young audience members who perhaps view her as their ‘Lady Gay Gay.’ This paper addresses how three of her most popular media-hype wardrobe statements have allowed Lady Gaga to maintain her associations to the global GLBT community by deconstructing looks to address the power of these iconic symbols within the garments. Three such GLBT related styles have include her 2009 Kermit dress worn on German television; her 2010 MTV Video Music Awards Meat dress, and her fashioned Condom dress worn on Good Morning America in 201l. Through interpretive analysis, the various brand stories that each fashion style could generate, will be examined, allowing the reader to see how a member of the GLBT community might view these styles and public personas thus possibly begin to see a ‘Lady Gay Gay.’

Blackwell, R. & Stephen, T. (2004). Brands that rock. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Bolcer, J (2010, April 7). Student sent home for ‘Lady Gay Gay’ T-Shirt. Advocate. Retrieved January 16, 2012, from http://www.advocate.com/printArticle.aspx?id=109532, Hearn, A. (2008). Meat, mask, burden: Probing the contours of the branded self. Journal of Consumer Culture, 8, 2, 197-217. Holt, D. & Cameron, D. (2010). Cultural strategy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. McCracken, G. (1988). Culture & Consumption. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Miller, J. (2011). Fashion and music. New York, NY: Berg Publishers. Vincent, L. (2002). Legendary brands. Chicago, IL: Dearborn Trade Publishing. Witek-Combs, (2008). LGBT adults strongly prefer brands that support causes important to them and that also offer equal workplace benefits [Press Release]. Witek-Combs Communications.

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Honolulu, Hawaii 2012 Proceedings

Space and Sexuality through Style: Fashioning Rural, Urban, and Suburban Masculinities Susan B. Kaiser, Sara T. Bernstein, Denise Nicole Green, Tania Hammidi, Kelly Sullivan, and Margaret Thordsen, University of California, Davis Keywords: sexuality, space, rural, urban

Gender and sexuality, like style and fashion, do not happen “on the head of a pin” (Cresswell, 2004, p. 27). Rather, we do them in the larger contexts of time and space. This multi-method and collaborative project explored social constructions and cultural representations of masculinities through style and fashion. Integrating themes from fashion, feminist, queer, and space (e.g., cultural geography) theoretical perspectives, we examined the intersectionalities among subject positions associated with gender, sexuality, space/place, and time. We pursued a range of methods to understand the intersectional dynamics involved through style and fashion: qualitative interviews, followed by a demographically balanced survey among U.S. men (n = 1,952); subsequent in-depth interviews exploring identity-related issues uncovered in the national survey; and discourse analysis of historical and contemporary popular cultural themes to place our findings in the larger contexts of time and space.

Triangulating across these diverse theoretical perspectives and methodologies, we address in this presentation a specific set of intersectionalities: sexual subject positions associated with masculinities in relation to rural, suburban, or urban identities. Although our initial project focused on male gendered subject positions, we have expanded the project to become more inclusive—i.e., to include female masculinities as well, in recognition of the mobility of masculinity across female and transgendered bodies, based on cues in style, body, and clothing.

The space theorist Lefebvre (1991) emphasized the importance of thinking about time and space together (p. 219). From a feminist perspective, Massey (2005) argues further that modern western binary oppositions have contributed to a geometric formulation through which space becomes constructed as “second fiddle” to time. This modern western formulation parallels constructions of hegemonic masculinity (i.e., white, heterosexual, bourgeois). What happens if we re-imagine gender and sexuality in ways that counter dominant binary oppositions?

Our national survey, based on earlier interviews, indicates that men vary in their orientations towards style and fashion. As might be expected, there are statistically significant differences in accordance with diverse age, ethnic, and sexual subject positions. In this presentation, we focus on the intersectionalities between sexual and space/place. From the evidence we have gathered, we suggest that although issues of sexualities and place/space matter independently in ways that might be expected, when they intersect, they represent new and complex questions for further Page 1 of 2

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study. Framing this presentation, in particular, is our finding that rural gay-identified men expressed the highest degree of interest in appearance and fashion in general, whereas urban bisexual men articulated the most concern about the importance of being “unmarked” (i.e., inconspicuously passing so as not to stand out in public spaces). The qualitative responses to the survey complicate the narrative of sexuality in public spaces even further: Bisexuality in urban spaces, we find, becomes an ambiguous space for “unmarking” appearances, navigating safety and danger zones, and attracting multiple potential audiences; whereas rural gay life appears to become more clearly defined as stylish or fashionable.

Representative self-descriptions of rural gay men’s style include the following: “casual, neat, colorful” (27 year old white male in a committed relationship); “relaxed, stylish, comfortable” (38 year old single white male); “country boy” (41 year old white male in a committed relationship); “casual, coordinated, fashionable” (47 year old white male in a committed relationship); and “colorful, casual, comfortable” (65 year old single white male). Self- descriptions by the urban bisexual men detail the need to be unmarked. They are more diverse and eclectic in nature, as might be expected in an urban setting, but they clearly desire not to stand out too much. So there is some irony—if not campy ambiguity--suggested in their representations of themselves: “alternative/indie” (21 year old white male in committed relationship); “sexy, thin, short” (21 year old Asian American male); “modern, casual, sharp” (24 year old Latino single male); “punk, goth, eclectic” (24 year old white single male); “classic, own, unique” (27 year old black single male); “random, eclectic, color-coordinated” (29 year old white single male); “casual, serious, traditional” (33 year old Asian American single male); “hiphop traditional mix” (53 year old white single male); “casual, stylish but fairly conservative” (55 year old white married male); “plain, old fashioned, neat” (59 year old white divorced male); and “casual” (60 year old white married male). Further interviews and discourse analyses reveal that the nostalgic and even “campy” quality of rural fashion, as well as the unmarked and yet provocative quality of urban fashion (and suburban fashion as a space in between), deserve more attention in terms of issues of gender, sexuality, and other subject positions.

References

Cresswell, T. (2004). Place: A short introduction. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. Lefebvre, H. (1991). The production of space (trans.by D. Nicholson-Smith). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Massey, D. (2005). For space. London: Sage.

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Honolulu, Hawaii 2012 Proceedings

The Hitler Meme as Inspiration in Fashion

Laura K. Kidd, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA

Key Words: Hitler meme, fashion, Nazi chic

A meme is “a new replicator, a noun which conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation [sic]” (Dawkins, 1976, p. 206). Memes carry ideas, symbols, practices and behaviors that are transferred from one person to another by imitation, evolution, mutation and adaptation. Because memes have the ability, as they are being transmitted and copied, to persuade or program people to act in specific ways, Johnson (2007) has suggested that the meme may be suited to the analysis of “popular culture discourses that transform social practices in spite of their apparent superficiality and triviality” (p. 28). Many popular culture aspects, such as fashion, are defined as memes. Adolph Hitler has also become a meme, and the Hitler meme has found its way into politics, film and a wide range of cultural topics, especially video parodies. The fashion world has also been infected by the Hitler meme. The merging of the fashion meme and the Hitler meme produced Nazi chic, which refers to the use of the image of Hitler and Nazi symbols and motifs in fashion. As a trend, Nazi chic is becoming an increasingly accepted part of mainstream fashion. Nazi chic was introduced to the world by the punk rockers in the 1970s, who embellished their street fashions with Nazi symbols to express their antagonism of and disgust with conventional society; it became high-end designer fashion by Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood. The next cycle for Nazi chic appeared in the new millennium. London designers Rocky and Louise Mazzilli of Voyage and Alexander McQueen created 2006 collections using swastikas and Nazi symbols as design motifs (Roth, 2006). The winner of Season 7’s Project Runway used Nazi inspiration for his winning collection (Peveteaux, 2010). A disturbing use of Nazi imagery was used in the Autumn/Winter 2011 collection by Charlie Le Mindu, inspired by Nazi violence and the 1976 Nazi sexploitation film, Salon Kitty (Chutzpah, 2011). Ready-to-wear lines, such as Consdaple and Thor Steinar, also use Nazi inspiration in fashion specifically for pro-fascist right wing extremists. Because the clothing is “stylish and fitted,” it also has a general appeal to young people who want upscale trendy casual sportswear (Nolan, 2008). A popular haircut seen in 2011 from New York’s West Village to the fashion capitals of Europe is the “Hitler Youth,” although, especially in Europe, this haircut is called by other names (Williams, 2011). Retailers also use Nazi chic. In the early 2000s, Nazi chic became a popular trend in Asia as visual merchandising, such as the Hong Kong department store, Izzue, which used Nazi imagery in visual displays to promote clothing styles featuring Nazi symbols as a main design motif (Johnson, 2003). More recently, the New Form boutique in Palermo, Sicily, used the image of Adolph Hitler on posters as part of an ad campaign. Wearing a hot pink Nazi Party Chancellor uniform, bright teal tie, purple eyeshadow and red heart armband, Hitler invited young people to “create their own style and not be influenced by their peers” (Donaldson, 2010).

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Memetics may aid in the study of especially viral and contagious fashion trends, such as the Hitler meme and Nazi chic. As successful memes, the Hitler meme and Nazi chic are perceived as novelties to each new generation of fashion creators and consumers; these innovations catch their attention, boosting the rate of imitation (Lynch, 1996). Because clothing is a powerful symbol and extension of the self, the implications of the use of Nazi imagery and the Hitler meme in fashion become more complicated. Repeated exposure to the symbols and imagery of Nazism through fashion, an aspect of popular culture often dismissed as being trivial or as mere entertainment, may also help to spread memes of racism and fascism. Another implication of this trend may support the growing revisionist movement towards humanizing and even romanticizing Hitler and Nazism. Part of this disturbing trend is the implication of the lack of empathy by fashion professionals towards the victims of Nazi oppression, which may suggest a lack of knowledge of the history of the Third Reich. Creativity in fashion carries the basic tenet of freedom of expression, but, when freedom of expression collides with a viral meme, such as the Hitler meme, the question of responsibility becomes an interesting conundrum. What is the social responsibility of fashion professionals in reinventing and recycling fashion memes that have consequences and ramifications that go beyond the runway?

Chutzpah, K. (2011, March 1). Charlie Le Mindu’s squeal for attention. Musings of a restless muse. Retrieved from http://katiechutzpah.blogspot.com/2011/03/charle-le-mindus-squeal-for- attention.html Dawkins, R. (1976). The selfish gene. New York: Oxford University Press. Donaldson, R.H. (2010, May 21). Fashion store shocks with ‘pink’ Hitler posters. The FirstPost. Retrieved from http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/63655,news-comment,news-politics,fashion-store-shocks- with-pink-hitler-posters-italy-palermo Johnson, C. (2003, August 10). Hong Kong Nazi chic. Little Green Footballs®. Retrieved from http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=7783_Hong_Kong_Nazi_Chic Johnson, D. (2007). Mapping the meme: A geographical approach to materialist rhetorical criticism. Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 4(1), 27-50. Lynch, A. (1996). Thought contagion: How belief spreads through society. New York: Basic Books. Macintyre, D. (2000, June 5). They dressed well. Time Asia. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/2000/0605/southkorea.trouble.html Peveteaux, A. (2000, April 23). Project Runway winner shocking inspiration. The Stir. Retrieved from http://thestir.cafemom/entertainment/101950/_project_runway_winners_shocking Roth, M. (2006, November 10). Spring line for Hitler. Forward.com. Retrieved from http//www.forward.com/articles/8400/8400/ Williams, A. (2011, November 15). A haircut returns from the 1930s. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com

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Honolulu, Hawaii 2012 Proceedings

A model of deviant appearance and behavior construction and management in adolescent females: A content analysis of the films Thirteen and Augusta, Gone

Genna Reeves-DeArmond, Oregon State University, USA Emily Wieghaus, Colorado State University, USA

Key Words: Deviance, appearance, adolescent female, theory derivation

The purpose of this study is to identify themes about deviant appearance and behavior (DAB) in two media representations (i.e., films), Thirteen and Augusta, Gone to understand the active construction and deconstruction of deviant identity (DI) by adolescent females (AF). The sociology of deviance is the recognized violation of cultural norms, and the creation and enforcement of those norms. The way in which deviance relates to normative behavior and how it is socially received contributes to the definition of an appearance or behavior as deviant (Workman & Freeburg, 2000). The work was guided by the differential association theory (Sutherland, 1998) and social control process model (Schwartz & Ewald, 1968), both of which illuminate ideas about the necessary elements and processes that are needed for deviance to occur in a specific instance. Media constructions of reality often depict deviance in adolescents and are prevalent in popular culture (Adler & Adler, 2006). The films Thirteen and Augusta, Gone were selected for the study because of the overt display of DAB exhibited by the AF main characters. A content analysis approach was used for data collection and analysis. The two films were watched by each of the two coders and were also transcribed in entirety. As themes and concepts were identified, a pattern of DAB emerged in distinct relation to social deviance. A visual representation of this model was developed. Through the interpretive methods employed in this research, the stages through which an AF progresses to construct and deconstruct DAB were explored. The resulting model shows this process of complex DI negotiation through DAB in six distinctive stages: conversion, strong, cracking, collapse, upheaval, and restoration (see Figure 1). The visual model was developed in the form of a double bell curve to reflect the intensity of each progressive stage as it is occurring. Elements of the psychogenic theory of history (e.g., strong, cracking, collapse, and upheaval) (deMause, 2002) were adapted as stage titles to accurately represent the emerging patterns within the data. The remaining stage titles were developed by the researchers, beyond the four predetermined categories acquired via theory derivation. Movement through the six stages allows the sense of appearance to be expanded to include the acceptance of DB as a legitimization of the new identity and DB as a norm, rather than a norm violation. The conversion stage is the one in which the AF is crossing the threshold from normative behavior to DAB through experimentation. The strong stage is the one in which the DI has fully emerged and the AF is fully engaged in DAB. The cracking stage is the one in which the AF develops ambivalence about her new identity and DABs. The collapse stage is the one in which the AF has lost her new identity. Her appearance remains that of the new identity, but obvious glimpses of her original identity start to reappear in her clothing choices. The

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upheaval stage is the one in which the AF experiences pressure to reveal her DAB. The AF is forced to acknowledge the negative role that her DABs have played in her life. The restoration stage is the one in which the AF restores her old identity and infuses it back in to her daily life. The AF never fully reverts back to the original appearance norm, but her appearance is manipulated in order to portray a new identity that combines elements of both her original identity and DI. A visual representation of these stages and this process is depicted in Figure 1. The findings suggest that appearance and associated behaviors are important components of the construction and deconstruction of DIs within AFs in the films that were viewed and analyzed. The DI is ultimately changed throughout the specified stages to incorporate different lived aesthetic and symbolic aspects of appearance that reflect the encompassing characteristics of each stage. There is a broad range of choice for how to enact DAB (clothing, jewelry, make- up, drinking, sexual promiscuity, etc.). The findings suggest that this model has the capacity to assist in interdisciplinary undertakings to further understand DI formation, as well as DAB, and educate AFs about the consequences associated with DAB. Though adolescents are viewed as society’s “inevitable risk takers,” it is a civic responsibility to understand the process of DAB management and use this knowledge to teach AFs that engaging in “risk behavior” puts them “at risk” for potentially harmful consequences. This is especially important because DAB permeates the media and adolescents are actively engaged in mass media consumption. The findings and model presented here offer one unique theoretical perspective with which to understand the construction and deconstruction of DAB and organize the ways in which an AF can negotiate and manage the DAB that formulate her DI. Future research could test this model’s overall validity with regard to other films and media forums and applicability to the lived experiences of AFs, beyond the characters depicted in these two films.

Figure 1. The Model of Deviant Appearance and Behavior Management Alder, P.A., & Adler, P. (2006). The deviance society. Deviant Behavior, 27(2), 129-148. deMause, L. (2002). The emotional life of nations. New York: Karnac. Schwartz, B.M., & Ewald, R.H. (1968). Culture and society. New York: Ronald Press. Sutherland, E.H. (1998). Differential association. In H.N. Pontell (Ed.), Social deviance: Readings in theory and research (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Workman, J.E., & Freeburg, E.W. (2000). Part I: Expanding the definition of the normative order to include dress norms. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 18(1), 46-55.

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