Is Beauty in the Eye of the Encoder Or the Decoder? a Typology of Male Looks As Perceived By American Men

The presentation will focus on the interplay among prescription, description, and inscription in social constructions of masculine fashion. Based upon (a) archival, critical discourse analyses of men’s magazines (e.g., Esquire, GQ, Details) and (b) interviews and surveys with U.S. male consumers, we explore the complex relationship between institutional and everyday discourses of style. Findings include an historical “ebb and flow” in the level of prescription and description in fashion media discourse. We compare the prescriptive and descriptive language used by contemporary media and male consumers, and analyze this language in relation to visual inscriptions of masculinity.

Citation:

Wi-Suk Kwon, Michael Solomon, and Basil Englis (2007) ,"Is Beauty in the Eye of the Encoder Or the Decoder? a Typology of Male Looks As Perceived By American Men", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 8, eds. Stefania Borghini, Mary Ann McGrath, and Cele Otnes, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 305-310.