How is Fashion Communicating

Let's talk fashion. I know what you're thinking: "Where is he going with this one?" Bear with me. You can put on an outfit and look a certain way. As a result, wearing luxury brands has a more significant impact on many people's social power than wearing ordinary branded labels. For some, fashion can be a drug-free high that changes a bad day, or it can be a form of escapism that allows them to speak with wild convictions and then return to something else. It can make anything appear exciting or incredibly dull. Your clothing might also reveal how you wish to be regarded or whatever social group you are a member of.

Representation

In International Public Relations: Negotiating Culture, Identity, and Power, a strong argument is made that all PR is a type of representation. According to the text, PR is primarily concerned with representing a cause, campaign, corporation, nation, or institution. Representation is the discursive process by which cultural meaning is generated and given shape. In a nutshell, we offer things meaning by how we represent them. As a result, meaning is socially produced through symbolic systems or speech rather than being fixed or innate in representations. Because it perpetuates the same imbalances that exist in any social structure, representation is associated with power. It also suggests that public relations professionals wield a significant amount of authority in their work.

Designers/PR Professionals

In the world of fashion, designers are the practitioners of PR. They are in control of the message that is being disseminated. The popularity of the brand grants it immense levels of power. When you're hot, people care more about what you have to say. Let me give you an example. There are very few people that I know that would consider wearing trash down the street. What is your perspective? What would it take for you to save your literal trash and construct clothing out of it? For some, all it takes is the right brand name and flawless execution. According to Harper's Bazaar, at Milan Fashion Week, Moschino debuted its Fall 2017 collection, which used items like tissue boxes, bubble wrap, rusty bicycle wheels, dry cleaners' paper hanger covers, and even garbage can lids. The goal of the collection was to bring awareness or promote upcycling, reuse (discarded objects or material) in such a way as to create a product of higher quality or value than the original. Although I have not seen anyone sporting their garbage on the streets lately, it makes me think how far designers are willing to go to spread a message. PR practitioners can also be said and how some of us articulate messages to achieve our goals.

Production

Diving a bit deeper, we begin to think of production, another aspect of the circuit of culture theory. Public relations strategies, such as publishing a news release, a public relations plan, or a speech, frequently discuss the industry's production. Public relations practitioners consider the creation of these tools to be essential. Production is a more significant issue in the culture circuit, much like tactics are part of a more comprehensive public relations plan. In International Public Relations: Negotiating Culture, Identity, and Power, the concept of production is framed as an element of doing public relations in a global environment, in which power influences both the creation of public relations materials and their communication to external audiences. One point raised in the text is that most international public relations firms in the United States and the Western world are selectively international rather than global. They are motivated by business and economics, not by cultural richness or communication altruism. Is there an alternative? Vogue thinks so.

Vogue

Vogue is the most famous fashion publication in the world. Vogue got a head start on global unity in 2017, when Condé Nast International in London, led by President Wolfgang Blau, established Vogue International. This centralized editorial hub would create digital content for the title's various markets, from Mexico to China, and allow different Vogue country teams to tweak and publish it if they so desired. The new team also launched an international Vogue Instagram account and ran Snapchat projects. However, the content produced by Vogue International tended to be more British or Western than was ideal for editorial objectives in other markets. As a result, Vogue International is changing its strategy — more global appeal, more features, no breaking news — and marking the new chapter with a name change: Vogue Global Network. The international publications respectfully share their origin culture as they understand that people want to see aspirational versions of themselves.

Consumption

So, who's buying this. All of this means nothing unless we can ensure that we have effectively reached someone, right? The coded meanings during production will only be realized entirely when consumers renegotiate the implications formed during manufacturing using objects and ideas in their daily lives. Scholars and practitioners increasingly view the general public as active meaning-makers who frequently challenge the dominant discourses surrounding a particular issue or product. The moment of consumption encompasses how publics use a cultural artifact, such as a campaign issue or product, in their everyday lives and form new meanings around it as a consequence of its use (du Gay et al., 1997).

Pitch It

In the world of fashion, there seems to be a vast array of pitches and sales happening. One essential pitch is that of the designer to a publication. As depicted in the film The Devil Wears Prada, designers go to the heads of significant fashion publications to sell their creative vision along with their garments. The publication, at this moment, is the consumer. They have to ask themselves: where does this vision or these garments fit in with our demographic and the culture we promote. Now it is up to the publication to sell that vision they have invested into to the public. They rarely do this directly. Now the publication seeks out the most popular and sought-after models and celebrities to do the work for them. Placing people with extraordinary levels of influence in designer clothing makes fashion that much more appealing to the consumer. At this moment, the consumer must decide if they align with the figures and messages been sent their way. This is why fashion publications are very strategic about who is posing in their magazine or walking down the runways. Everything is based on strategy. It pays to pay attention.