Dressing-up-for-being and the consumption of symbols of mark image through fashion´s visual communication

Abstract

The aim of this work is to reflect on how the aesthetic preferences can be considered the principal means of assertion of personality, when associated to the fact that fashion serves as visual and symbolic element and incites the desire to “dress-up-for being”. The analogy is derived from the
expression to-possess-for-being, usually employed to express values of interaction and social relationships. In this study, it implies the willingness to accept overprice charged by marks of prestige and that visual features are responsible for this cost aggregation, which is of an affective and emotional nature, and originated by advertising. Advertising is also an object of study,
due to its language characteristics and goals, as seen in campaigns of a mark, with the intention do encourage a consumer to desire a product and become satisfied through a set of visual elements typical of such mark, connecting them to a symbolic representation (logo) – also fostering the
desire of consuming not only the product but also its power of signification. Semiology is adopted for theoretical and methodological fundament for its ability to allow for the comprehension of the consumption of the symbolic
faced by contemporary society. Five Chanel campaigns are analyzed, and from the readings offered by the images, contact is set with meanings inserted in them by the mark in order to act as a differential for its clients