Causal analysis of media effects and influence

Media Influence: Gender-bending, Fashion-Spoofing, On the Streets and in the Elite Malls of California

The interactive web feature is entitled 'Street Fashion,' and is a catalogue of teen and twentysomething images, as encapsulated by a wandering L.A. Times photographer. Twenty-one-year-old USC student Ja'Lon Johnson beams at the camera. He is wearing a Forever 21 necklace and Diesel jeans. Such a look, proudly sported by this young man, would never have been celebrated twenty, even ten years ago. Because of the greater ubiquity of fashion and the democratization of fame through the Internet, modern identity has become more plastic, more shape-shifting than ever before.

Firstly, the nature of the feature shows the degree to which the Internet has made fame accessible to many people, simply on the basis of their appearance. To retain readership of their newspapers, many traditional content sources such as the L.A. Times are introducing online features, such as "Street Fashion." This segment focuses on impromptu shots of ordinary Californians in various self-designed ensembles. The feature reflects the belief that anyone can be a celebrity and worthy of news attention, provided they dress like one, and also shows the modern fascination with fashion in general amongst all segments of society, young and old, male and female, gay and straight, white and non-white. As instantaneous fame is more accessible than every before, more and more people are 'dressing the part' in hopes of being discovered by a passing cameraman.

Forever 21 is a fashion store that focuses on young girls. But Johnson wears a necklace from the store proudly. This shows the gender-bending embraced by twentysomethings today. Fashion is about not accepting gender labels, or being confined by style. The media's embrace of more flexible sexual norms, and allowance for a greater range of masculine types is shown in Johnson's love of Forever 21. Queer Eye for the Straight Guy made feminine fashion for males acceptable, even for straight 'metrosexuals' (Coleman 2005). After the airing of the show: "Entertainment syndicate Zap2it reported that The Fab 5 had a profound affect on the nation's shopping habits. According to a retail industry poll, men were now 50% more likely to go shopping following a new episode of Queer Eye than on other days of the week' (Dossi 2004, p.2).

The inexpensive Forever 21 necklace paired with the pricy Diesel jeans shows how expensive jeans are another 'trend' and the merging of high and low culture as manifested in Johnson's ensemble. Only in a media-driven culture could expensive blue jeans become a hot commodity, and command prices once reserved for formal wear. Only with the media assurance that it was cool to blend expensive and inexpensive and male and female together would Johnson's ensemble seem hip rather than square. Expensive jeans are an affordable luxury -- a luxury that is perhaps ideally suited for advertising today. Jean brands convey images that can be sold online to captive young viewers like Johnson. "Luxury brands apparently need to create high-priced anchor items in order to fool consumers into purchasing their lower-end, and hence 'affordable luxury' items instead" and lure young people into become brand-conscious consumers for life (Budget Babe, 2007).

But Johnson's overall ensemble embraces an ethos of 'geek chic,' not a narrow media image. He wears a pair of thick glasses, suspenders, expensive-looking leather shoes, and carries a heavy leather bag. Some of his clothes, particularly his shoes, sweater, and bag, look expensive and ruggedly masculine, while his vest, suspenders, and of course his Forever 21 Necklace do not. Johnson is an African-American, but his style is not necessarily identifiable as African-American -- his image tells the viewer to embrace one's own, unique identity, whatever that may be, rather than conform to a media stereotype, even though he embraces brand names.

Johnson's identity is clearly masculine, as emphasized in his shoes and bag. He dresses the part of a young, urban professional yet injects this persona with youthful irony through his necklace and over-the-top suspenders. There was a popular African-American young man named 'Urkel' who sported a similar style but the seriousness (and expense) of some of Johnson's attire shows that he is in control of this image, although Urkel was much-criticized by African-American media commentators at the time. He appropriates aspects of advertising, but creates a pastiche rather than a cohesive identity.

Johnson's look shows how today young people are attempting to control their image through the use of self-parody, without completely rejecting fashion norms. As an African-American, Johnson cannot perfectly embody ideals of whiteness, but he can assume some of the cultural tropes of whiteness, such as shoes and a professional bag. He shows his acknowledgement of fashion advertising, as exemplified in his name brand jeans, but also his disdain for such ideals.