Clothing as fashion and its relation to a female gendered self in fashion magazine photography

Through daily social interactions individuals present social identities including the primary identity of gender. Through fashion, a society is able to regulate what is an acceptable gender portrayal of the male and female identity. Fashion indicates to the other what primary social and gender identity one possesses; this is because fashion exists in the external world for all to interpret. However, fashion also opens the way to innovation, particularly for women.; This indication allows societal members to construct reality and base social interactions within that reality. Clothing as fashion is a key element in how this occurs. This is of particular interest for the female gender because females are held to a beauty standard that is partially constructed in the fashion world. This work proposes to examine with qualitative content analysis the representations of the female gender in clothing as fashion within fashion magazine photography.