Buying Britney: Pop Culture Icons to Cultural Brands Markian 8aray, Master ofArts in Popular Culture Department of Communications, Popular Culture and Film Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master ofArts in Popular Culture Faculty of Graduate Studies, Brock University St.Catharines, Ontario © January 2007 Abstract This thesis demonstrates that mUSIC stars who attain cultural icon status heavily contribute to the fashion styles of the time. Where as style and music have always had a connection, icons such as Britney Spears are now dictating popular style so much so that music artists are becoming full-fledged fashion designers. While much analysis is devoted to Britney Spears, her largest contributions do not lie in the rise of teenage sexuality, but in establishing music artists as vehicles of consumption. The artists' signature has now become a brand and ~ term "signabrand" has been created to define such a trend. To understand such a shift, a review of past literature devoted to fashion and music, largely consisting of subculture theory is examined, followed by a combination of content analysis, political economy, fashion and postmodem theory to address how music stars attain icon status and guide style. 1 Table of Contents Abstract i Table of Contents ii Acknowledgements iii Chapter One Introduction - The Search for Style is in your GhettoBlaster 1-14 Chapter Two The Perfect Fit: Popular Music as Popular Fashion 15-34 Chapter Three Thought That Rock Guitar Could Save My Generation (Turns Out Postmodernism Did): CiIlture and Commodification in Music Video and Clothing 35-53 Chapter Four Just Browsing or Celebrity Window Shopping: Popular Icons as Popular Fashion 54-78 Chapter Five Just Because I'm Sexy Does Not Mean I Want Sex. I May Want a Pair of Prada Shoes Instead: Music Icons as Popular Practice 79-105 Chapter Six Brand it Like Britney: Music Artists as Fashion Brands 106-137 Chapter Seven Conclusion: Subcultures Out, Signabrands in 138-155 Appendices 156-165 Works Cited 166-182 11 Acknowledgements While the final product is the text on the page, the true learning lies in the journey that is unseen. I would like to thank the following individuals for helping me throughout this project: Nick Baxter-Moore for countless suggestions, vast enthusiasm, academic guidance and for believing in this topic. Thank-you so much. Barry Grant, Jim Leach, all other faculty who taught me or hired me, Bridget and Anne for welcoming me into the Brock environment and for making me understand what being an academic is all about. The Brock grad students and folks (Curtis, Nathan et al) I hung out with at The Merchant Ale House and the Brock students who I had the pleasure of teaching. My thesis topic was made infinitely better because of the conversations I had with all of you. Graeme Metcalf for finding 13 Tyndall and going through the thesis process with me in two cities. If it wasn't for Danielson, your knowledge of indie rock, your support and help I don't know where r d be and I mean that. Andrew Schurko, my longest true friend for always visiting me, being a voice of reason and countless ventures. The Winnipeg film community - David Antoniuk and Ronaldo Nacioanles who continue to hire me despite everything, Kate, Megan, Richard, Gibbs and Conroy who always make my stay welcome and all the other crews I have worked with. My sister Monica for always being there, my brother Julian "The Geeze" for his tech support and my brother Raphael "The Hak" for his wit and attitude. My grandmother who still to this day watches wrestling, Green Day videos, and is remarkable in everything she does. Who knew that her love of Culture Club would lead me down this path. And most importantly my mother, who loaded me up with 45's in grade three, bought me my first Mexx shirt in grade six and whose charisma and positive attitude I will always cherish. 111 Introduction Chapter One - The Search for Style is in your GhettoBlaster Upon celebrating Joan Rivers' eighth anniversary on The Shopping Channel, cards were mailed out to past clients. I On the back of the card reads a "message from Joan": Hello Canada, The year was 1996, Britney traded in her diapers for diva delicates, Esther was known as Madonna and I made my debut at The Shopping Channel. Beginning Friday, October 22, set a date for anniversary number eight! I'm celebrating with great savings on fall-inspired jewelry pieces from my Classics Collection, stylish handbags with matching wrap, exquisite Faberge-inspired Christmas decorations and the launch of my new Pink Flowers fragrance - a scent that is to die for. See you soon, , Joan What do Britney Spears and Madonna have to do with The Shopping Channel? One would not automatically assume that their fans are avid watchers of Joan Rivers and/or the Shopping Channel. Joan Rivers, one assumes, would typically command an older audience - not one who listens to "Oops! .. .I Did It Again" or "Music" or at least not one who readily admits to it. Britney and Madonna are mentioned not because of their hits on the charts but rather because of the image they have created and what audiences, young and old, infer from it. The images created by and of these artists stem from not their music per se, but from the aspects surrounding the music that become as integral as the record. Music videos, posters, paparazzi photos, magazine articles, as well as the standard music industry promotion help create a visual image that defines artist style. This style becomes so much a part of the artists' image that the music becomes secondary 1 to their look. What Britney or Madonna are wearing (or kissing) becomes as important as what single they are releasing. As Thomas de Zengotita states Pop-music stars who stand for something across their appearances come as close as a mediated culture allows to genuine heroic stature. They are performers and they are real. Dylan, Madonna, Selena, Garth Brooks, Sinatra - these people helped millions of people define themselves. They instilled and reinforced values and conditioned people's life choices, especially style, the attitude that gets you through the day [emphasis added]. These star-types posit and reflect the selves their fans have chosen to be (2004:40). Why do music stars and style go hand in hand? How is style related to music? Do music trends dictate fashion trends or do fashion trends dictate music trends? While there is some association between style and sound, how they intertwine and the various synergies between what one listens to and what one wears has not been fully dissected. This thesis explores popular music's relation to fashion and the corresponding effect that style has on mass society. In this attempt to discuss the relationship between music and fashion, key concepts in both popular music and fashion theory are used. This thesis demonstrates that popular style is contingent upon a key music icon of that particular time period. By using a music icon as a case study with the methodology of semiotic content analysis, I show that style is in fact directly connected to popular music via the effects of the music icon in question. People . Magazine in conjunction with television station VHI published a special issue entitled "200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons" with a photo and description of each icon's accomplishments. Of the 200 chosen icons, forty-two were music stars. While this only encompasses twenty-one per cent of the total, the reason these music stars 2 attained an iconic status was due to their ability to carry off style along with their super talents. These self-created styles are now being marketed and produced in new forms as there is an increasing proliferation of the symbiosis between music, fashion and entertainment. These three aspects of popular culture revolve around commodities that people actively seek and purchase. These commodities include recordings of music artists, clothing, fashion accessories and partaking in leisure activities such as concerts. With the popularity of these items, musicians, fashion designers and actors become news­ worthy items and then sources of sP9nsorship for various commodity goods as the public relates to representations of these stars. While celebrity endorsements for commodities is a common practice, the nature of commodity has changed significantly in the last five years as more artists have taken stronger control of their commodity worth through their involvement in fashion. Karl Marx defined commodity by the diminishing respect for the value of goods in terms of their use­ value, in terms of the real uses to which an item is to be put to use (1976:954). A commodity must acquire a two-fold mode of existence - its exchange-value must have a definite, independent, form distinct from its use value. Marx stated that the commodity-form has no connection with its physical nature and any material relations arising from it (1976:955). Rather, social relations between people define a commodity'S value-relation, its price. Social relations that emerge through consumptive practices is the essence of what Marx labeled commodity fetishism. What Marx was referring to was not the fetishization of particular commodities by individual consumers but rather a 3 displacement of the desire to know the actual production process of how the commodity is made (Osbourne, 2005: 11). What becomes more integral is a desire to know, in this case the artist/celebrity. Therefore, this thesis is premised on the notion that consumers tend to fetishize music artist's fashion brands, in order to get a deeper sense of the artist.