MEDIA TEXT ANALYSIS
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Fashion has grown beyond cultural diversity and racial differences and broken geographical boundaries. The Vogue April 2020 issue appreciates how broad fashion is embraced around the globe. The magazine entices female readers from all over the world into buying through its image, color, and text. ‘Beauty without Borders’ makes a certain subject for semiotic analysis.
The magazine cover features three models, Adut Akech, Kaia Gerber, Ugbad Abdi. Adut Akech is a South Sudanese Australian model. In 2019, the British Fashion Council feted the 19-year-old model as the model of the year (Business of Fashion, 2020). Kaia Gerber is an America-born model and actress who traces her roots to various nationalities, including Russian, German, English, French and Danish descents. She won the Model of the Year award in 2018. Ugbad was born in Somalia, and like Akech, grew up in Kenya as a refugee before moving to the United States. She has won her hijab since she was 14 (Vogue, 2020).
The beauty of the universe is in the diversity of its cultures. The magazine uses the differences in the origin of the models to capture geographical diversities across continents. Both Akech and Ugbad hail from Africa, South Sudan, and Somalia, respectively, whereas Kaia is of mixed European descent. The origin of the pageants brings out the aspect of social background. Kaia represents stars with modeling background while Akech and Ugbad portray those who group without such setup. Ugbad culturally wears her hijab, bringing in yet another aspect of religion across which fashion exists. Prospective buyers would probably not hesitate due to similarities they may want to identify with or out of curiosity to know about other cultures.
The title of the issue is written in bold white, usually a symbol for tranquility and innocence. This symbol expresses the serenity within which fashion crosses borders. Beauty magnifies in times of peace. The lower background on which the title is impressed is darker, perhaps to depict the unusual past from which the pageants were born in. The masthead of the magazine is bold scarlet and embedded behind the models. Scarlet is often associated with glamour. Having the title on the background reveals confidence that the intended customer knows the brand very well and can spot it even with the partially concealed masthead.
Images are important as they express emotions and evoke a similar response from the readers (Evans, 2013). Photographs have a psychological advantage of aiding to retain memory. Pageants on the cover photo, despite being from having individual differences, portray uniqueness together. The media leaves no space between the pageants to bring out the aspect of unity among them. Generally, they exhibit undoubtedly innocence. They also maintain direct eye contact, which summons attention from the readers. Ugbad warmly hangs on the right shoulder of Akech, who holds her hand. Both hold closer, seemingly due to the common history they share. Kaia leans forward in a show of confidence and reserve while putting her hands in her pocket. The models wear stern yet innocent faces, perhaps to stress how serious they hold the profession. Besides the different hardship Akech and Ugbad had, they have all that concealed from their faces in a bid to show that fashion transforms
They wear denim jeans, which exposes strong youthfulness. Denim also emphasizes a blend of classic and contemporary fashion cultures, featuring mainly casual wear. The first use of denim in the current fashion transformed jeans into new styles and snipped into different shapes. The editor also applies a silhouette to imply transition. The jeans also vary in color, and evidence of how designers can use different shades of denim in the same context (Abrego, 2016). Additional use of denim is in the denim coat.
All the women wear tops with shades of brown. Kaia and Ugbad both have their blouses to their necks while Akech has the sleeveless blouse that exposes a generous portion of her chest and arms. Ugbad firmly adheres to Islam culture by having most parts of her body covered. She also adorns the hijab. She marks the record as the first model to appear on the Vogue cover with a hijab. The cover appearance allows her to educate and inspire younger Muslim girls. This fete also provides a platform to show off the role of fashion in breaking religious boundaries. Akech portrays the feel-free woman who embraces and proudly shows off her skin.
Behind the models is a stretch of a light blue background. The bright blue color is often associated with the sky. As the SKYspreads across the world in uniformity, the background represents universality. It strategically lies in the ultimate background to signify that ultimately, there is a certain commonality in fashion. The blue color transitions evenly on the background from deep blue at the bottom to pale blue with shades of white at the top. The pale background also acts to illuminate the bold red masthead. Dark before pale may mean there is hope for the women.
Color scheming is used purposely in linking varying sights. The colors of jeans systematically occur, gradually fading from right to left. The choice of black and gold for the clothing seems. Gold, like brown, generally symbolizes passion, compassion, courage, or illumination. The models have taken a stand on specific issues in society. Kaia, for instance, influenced the gun control debate through which she spurred emotional responses from her huge following. Akech seeks to inspire people in the world to take up refugee responsibility (Vogue, 2020). Ugbad is determined to educate people on Islam and clear out the false belief about religion.
The color scheming draws into focus the stereotype that dull colors such as black and brown are masculine. The color choice of the trio does not reflect femininity. Instead, it makes the women nerdier and less fashionable, going by the stereotype. In support of the fashion sense, however, it celebrates the antique style with the combination of denim, black and brown, or gold. High contrast used in the photograph also portrays transition.
The media limits congestion in the picture. It exploits the least space to allocate its writings. The magazine also centers its writings at the lower part to drift attention of readers to the upper section on which subjects appear. Vogue utilizes contradictory themes in the magazine. It transforms denim, a classical fashionwear, to a contemporary style. It uses dark and bright colors at the same time, symbolizing different things.
Including women with a harsh history brings out the plight of women and children who still suffer as refugees. It sets a platform for them to speak up on behalf of the other women. Kaia plays a critical role in showing the rest of the world is ready to receive them. The cover communicates beyond just beauty and glamour. It extends into celebrating differences and embracing change in the way of life.
References
Abrego, S., 2016. Denim: Fashion’s Frontier. Journal of Design History, 29(3), pp.307-309.
Business of Fashion, 2020. Adut Akech Is Part Of The Bof 500. [online] The Business of Fashion. Available at: <https://www.businessoffashion.com/community/people/adut-akech> [Accessed 1 May 2020].
Evans, P., 2013. 9781111645489 | Cengageemea. [online] Cengage.com. Available at: <https://www.cengage.com/c/exploring-the-elements-of-design-3e-evans/9781111645489/> [Accessed 1 May 2020].
Sage Publishers, 2020. [online] Uk.sagepub.com. Available at: <https://uk.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/5171_Berger_Final_Pages_Chapter_1.pdf> [Accessed 1 May 2020].
vogue.com, 2020. VOGUE | Vogue | APRIL 2020. [online] Vogue | The Complete Archive. Available at: <https://archive.vogue.com/article/2020/04/01/vogue> [Accessed 1 May 2020].