The aesthetic character of age in fashion branding. Is it really inclusive?

Description

During the 2010s, diversity popped up time and again in the debates of fashion, its systems and representations, and whereas the intensity and scope of the debates have augmented, the dominant representation of fashion remains slender, caucasian, straight, unchallenged - and young.
Against this aesthetic norm, the exceptions represent an interesting and increasingly topical development practised by a fraction of brands. On this basis, the contribution of this article is a visual analysis of the aesthetic construction of age-diversity in material for Instagram fashion branding posts, with the purpose of examining the possible construction of inclusion in terms of age in fashion branding.
The article will identify central themes and characteristics of age in a diversity perspective and point to future considerations of aesthetic age-diversity in fashion. The SS20 campaign material analyzed are intergenerational posts from four brands with international reach in the fashion industry. The brands cover a range of purposes and profiles from the activist style to the more classical brand image.

The material is approached in a social constructivist framework with reflexivity and mediatization as central perspectives.

Period	18 Jun 2021
Event title	Fashion Tales 2020+1: Politics Through the Wardrobes
Event type	Conference
Location	Milan, ItalyShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International