The Phenomenon of Marginal and the Fashion System: The Principle of Novelty and the Problem of Meaning – МЕЖДУНАРОДНЫЙ ЖУРНАЛ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ КУЛЬТУРЫ

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Ekaterina V. VASILYEVA
Saint Petersburg State University
7-9, Universitetskaya nab., Saint Petersburg, 199034 Russian Federation
Faculty of Arts, Associate Professor

PhD. (Arts Studies)
e-mail: ev100500@gmail.com
ORCID: 0000-0003-3609-2413

The Phenomenon of Marginal and the Fashion System: The Principle of Novelty and the Problem of Meaning

Abstract: In the fashion system, the phenomenon of the marginal is a specific phenomenon. Its principle is associated with the idea of the non-standard, which over time is defined as the norm. The concept of marginality, which emerged in the works of Robert Park and Everett Stonequist, initially implied a system of cross-cultural contacts, assimilation and appropriation. In this context, marginality implied non-conformity to the cultural standard, contradiction and conflict. It meant non-conformity to the cultural norm, being on the periphery of a cultural community or on the border of cultural groups. Fashion can be imagined as the development of a marginal segment, no matter how conventional its characteristics may be – from aristocratic costume to radical street styles. The marginal becomes unconditionally new for fashion, always ensuring movement from the social and ideological periphery to the semantic center. Fashion uses the marginal as a material located on the periphery. The fashion standard implies an ideological movement from the periphery to the meaningful ideological center, presenting the new marginal as a norm. What seemed anomalous and peripheral in the fashion system acquires the meaning of the norm and seizes a dominant position. The content of fashion is to establish a value system. In this sense, the new in the fashion system is one of the forms of the marginal. Fashion is built on the constant recognition of the marginal, which is positioned as new. Fashion implies the transformation of the marginal into the canon. Fashion can be considered one of those mechanisms that makes it possible to turn the marginal into a standard. A phenomenon that is initially perceived as a deviation, anomaly and marginal form becomes a standard, a trend and acquires the character of a social norm. The issue of the marginal in the fashion system has rarely become the subject of systematic academic research. The article examines the problems of the marginal in the system of fashion and fashion as a mechanism for adapting the marginal.

Key words: marginal, fashion system, personality, individual, norm, meaning, value.

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For Citation:

Vasilyeva, E. (2024) The Phenomenon of Marginal and the Fashion System: The Principle of Novelty and the Problem of Meaning. International Journal of Cultural Research, 1 (54). 61–78. DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2024_1_61

DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2024_1_61