Distorted Bodies & Misrepresentation in Fashion Magazines

I remember quite vividly the time I bought my first Vogue as a young girl. It was October and the year was 2008. Even though this may seem like quite a while ago, the images I encountered while entering a new, and distorted, world in which bodies seemed so disintegrated and out of touch became a mystery to me. As I could not grasp the reality of these altered bodies, I came to the realisation that the way female bodies are represented just could not be real.

Years have gone by, but the images fashion magazines put out are far from tangible. As a consequence, disproportioned body parts and the excessively manipulated physique and figure has become the norm. Why is that? As Pollock points out, ‘the body has come to signify “sale”’ (138): it has been commodified and objectified.

         

                                                                                                            

However, what is left of a woman’s femininity when other subjectivities are imposed on her, is a mere illusion : an illusion purposefully created, and manipulated, so that others attempt to live up to this norm as well. According to Berger, this is ‘a sign of submission to the owner’s feelings, or demands’ (52). It this case, ‘the owner’ relates to the owner of the fashion magazine or clothing store.

However, the display of femininity seen in fashion magazine is actually a ‘masquerade’ (Doane 225), it is over the top and exaggerated. In fact, the representation is carefully crafted in accordance with what a woman decides to demonstrate as being a woman’s body (225). It is exactly this idea that should be highlighted most of all: if a woman has the power, i.e. the agency, to decide to reproduce what is considered to be feminine, does she then not have the power to produce what she finds to be feminine? In line with this believe, the tool is there to prevent young girls from having to deal with unrealistic expectations.