Exploring fashion semiotics: communicating meanings in fashion in dress literature review

Abstract

Dress fashion may be treated as being in some way analogous to spoken or written language. When Eco claimed to speak through clothes, he presumably meant that he was using clothes as spoken words. Dress transmits a variety of cultural meanings. Furthermore, dresses are not simply functional; they ‘signify' something as Eco would have said. Some appearances due to their complexity, aesthetic appeal, novelty with the social context or the person or, unfamiliar nature, become very salient to perceivers. Those appearances may attract the perceiver’s attention, appeal to his or her sensibilities, excite or fascinate, interest or even tantalize, perplex or even confuse. Whether the perceiver finds the appearance visually appealing, he or she is aroused to interpret and to understand. The underlying objective of this literature review was to investigate what kinds of semiotics theories have been employed in use of evaluating meanings of fashion of dress. This paper discusses in detail theories available to interpret data in order to discover communicating meanings through fashion in dress. Some of the main theories in communication are identified as semiotics (sign theory), cultural theories of social codes, social cognition, consumer theory, and Marxist theory. Finally, the available method for interpreting data is identified as semiotics which along with its sub-theories are discussed.