Journal ofhttp://joc.sagepub.

com/
Consumer Culture

Class-based emotions and the allure of fashion consumption

Karen Rafferty
Journal of Consumer Culture 2011 11: 239
DOI: 10.1177/1469540511403398
The online version of this article can be found at:
http://joc.sagepub.com/content/11/2/239

Published by:
http://www.sagepublications.com

Additional services and information for Journal of Consumer Culture can be found at:
Email Alerts: http://joc.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts
Subscriptions: http://joc.sagepub.com/subscriptions
Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav
Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
Citations: http://joc.sagepub.com/content/11/2/239.refs.html

>> Version of Record - Jul 13, 2011

What is This?

Downloaded from joc.sagepub.com by guest on December 3, 2014

Article

Class-based emotions
and the allure of fashion
consumption

Journal of Consumer Culture

11(2) 239260
! The Author(s) 2011
Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/1469540511403398
joc.sagepub.com

Karen Rafferty
Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland

Abstract
Consumers today continue to be enchanted by appearance fashions. For some, having
the capacity to style their bodies in ways they desire entitles them to position into this
practice in line with aspirational cultural standards. This, in turn, can produce considerable emotional rewards. Yet keeping up with appearance revisions demands unwavering effort and substantial investments be made. Consequently, for others, maintaining
standards in fashionable appearance also represents a source of anxiety, distress and
disillusionment. In this article the relationship between social class, the development of
emotional tendencies and consumption practice is theorized by locating the intersection of consumption and emotion experience within the context of social structures.
Bourdieus practice theory, and more recent conceptualizations of class-based emotions, provide useful frameworks to interpret a variety of divergent fashion consumption strategies occurring amongst women. The article illuminates the vital role of
intense emotional experiences in social life. It demonstrates how class position converges with familial relations to produce divergent forms of emotional-habitus, which
structure consumption patterns to produce competing categories of fashioned femininity. Distance and discriminations between classes of individuals become increasingly
perceptible when the emotions surrounding fashion consumption experiences are
unraveled.
Keywords
emotion, emotional capital, fashion consumption, habitus, social class relations

Introduction
The nature of consumers emotional involvement in self-fashioning practice provides a fascinating cite for exploring how the relationship between social class

Corresponding author:
Karen Rafferty, Room 2-091, School of Retail and Services Management, The Dublin Institute of Technology,
Aungier Street, Dublin 2, Ireland
Email: Karen.Rafferty@dit.ie

Downloaded from joc.sagepub.com by guest on December 3, 2014

240

Journal of Consumer Culture 11(2)

fractions and modes of consumption are occurring in society today. In particular,

young-adult female consumers continue to be the most attractive targets for the
fashion industry (Boland and Akram, 2007; Nam et al., 2007). Indeed, many
women report that fashion plays an important role in their lives and aects their
sense of emotional well-being (Jantzen et al., 2006; Thesander, 1997; Tseelon,
1995). In particular, McRobbies (2005) research on a British television makeover
show depicts the dramatic eects that the practice of fashioning has on the participants lives after they go through an appearance transformation. Interestingly,
McRobbie (2005: 121150) points out that the women featured on this show,
and others like it, almost exclusively come from lower-middle or working class
backgrounds. Her account demonstrates that transformation is achieved through
the acquisition of borrowed cultural capital (knowledge and experience of cultural
consumption) from upper-middle class style advisors. Upon lending their cultural
capital to those who lack it, the resultant transformation tends to have signicant
emotional impacts, initially at least, upon women who had previously felt deated
with their appearance and overwhelmed by anxiety when attempting to make adequate choices. She explains (McRobbie, 2008: 174) that:
The television programmes do not just open up the eld of consumer culture to
women, in particular working class or lower-middle class women, they actively
direct such women so that they learn to make the right choices. The transformative
eect results in healthier subjectivities, cheerfulness, better self-esteem and an
improved quality of sexual relationships. National television has been put to work
on the self-images of women who, in the past, would have been easily overlooked and
made invisible as they moved through the lifecycle of marriage, having children and
growing older.

McRobbie argues that it has now become a standard feature of womens lives to
attempt to make correct choices to prevent them from falling into the shadows of
a set of elitist social relations. Within these relations, a lifestyle is operationalised
where beauty and stylization are admired and advocated unequivocally. In fact,
McRobbie (2008: 174) explains that the right to be part of the beautiful life is propagated by arbitrators of good taste as being almost an entitlement. Women are
encouraged to maintain themselves within a spotlight of social visibility, perpetuated as a luminous and glamorous space, which ultimately has the eect of a dramatisation of the individual, a kind of spectacularisation of feminine subjectivity
(McRobbie, 2008: 174). For the participants on this show, being transformed into a
spectacular female and feeling worthy and able to cope with the attention of others
enables them to participate in social relationships and activities they felt previously
denied to them. One stark negative consequence, however, is that their capacity to
maintain their transformed image, and the enhanced psycho-aective state they
experience with it, tends to be relatively short lived once they are without the help
of their advisors. These borrowed practices, and cultural capital, eventually conict

Downloaded from joc.sagepub.com by guest on December 3, 2014

Rafferty

241

with their more deeply ingrained lower-class habitual tendencies, as well as the
nancial and practical constraints that their social position imposes on them.
McRobbies insights (2005; 2008) illuminate that emotion within social relations
is clearly a vital part of the fashion consumption process. Investigations into the
allure of fashion should indeed take heed of the role of socially-constructed emotions. Although consumerism has been clearly linked in consumer research to emotion, few researchers have successfully conceptualized the social nature of emotion
to explore the role it plays in maintaining boundaries between groups of consumers. Immersed within the existing literature on consumption and material relations are references to many of the emotions involved in fashion consumption
processes. The literature speaks of the concerns, anxieties and fears experienced
over ones personal appearance and the reactions of others to it (see for examples,
Englis and Solomon, 1997; Park and Burns, 2005: 135; Roux and Korchia, 2006:
32). Also mentioned in the literature are the forms of desire that drive consumption, such as the desire for uniqueness (Roux and Korchia, 2006: 312) or simply
an irrational desire (Elliott, 1997), the arousal and passion involved in the consumption of certain objects (Redden and Steiner, 2000: 326) and self-esteem
(Banister and Hogg, 2004). And, of course, condence (Roux and Korchia, 2006:
31), which has a signicant connection. However, despite continual references to
emotions there remains a notable gap in using social theory on class to locate
precisely where those emotions stem from, why they have emerged, how they are
linked to social class position and how they work to stimulate particular consumption practices. Emotional states are also commonly misconstrued within the consumption literature and too often they are framed as abstract and randomly
occurring, without any attempt to adequately situate those emotional states
within a psycho-social context.
Other studies have recognized that emotions often stem from competitive forms
of social relations (Thompson and Haytko, 1997; Roux and Korchia, 2006;
Workman and Studak, 2007). Yet there is still a notable gap in consumer research
in terms of linking the emotions surrounding the consumption process to explanations of how agency unfolds within the social structures. What is more, there is a
tendency in this body of literature to regard emotions as a mere by-product of the
more prevalent issues when explaining fashion consumption behaviours (Bordo,
1997; Delhaye, 2006). For example, Bordo (1997) portrays female consumers as a
passive audience who fall prey to the persuasive ideological messages being disseminated by the capitalist industry. The emotional content of decision-making
processes in the consumption of body fashions receives limited attention in what
becomes an obfuscated critique of industry agents. And, as researchers across the
disciplines of sociology and consumer behaviour have stressed, consumers are not
simply malleable, passive dupes that culture industry professionals can readily
manipulate (Arnould and Thompson, 2005; Dolan, 2009; Gabriel and Lang,
1995). In sum, very little research to-date has focused on the relationship between
class relations, emotion, consumption and senses of well-being. This article

Downloaded from joc.sagepub.com by guest on December 3, 2014

242

Journal of Consumer Culture 11(2)

endeavours to contribute towards bridging this void and expanding the existing
knowledge base in consumer literature in that respect.

Fashion as a competitive psycho-social mechanism

Normative understandings of fashion typically relate it to clothing, but of course
fashions extend beyond the sphere of clothing to also occur, for example, in lifestyles more generally, beliefs, modes of thought and interests. Fashion is not any
one denite or stable article. Rather, it is something which transforms, mutates,
diverges, converges and even regresses over time (Davis, 1992: 28; McDowell,
2000). Currently, the most commonly agreed interpretation of fashion within academic literature sees it as a specic (aesthetic) system for dressing the body. And
surely it is, but the problem with such an evaluation is that fashion is prescribed
some kind of denite and resolute form, rather than being envisaged as a psychosocial concept. Other conceptualizations stress the fundamentally psycho-social
nature of fashions (Bourdieu, 1984; 1985; Jantzen et al., 2006; Simmel, 1957;
Thompson and Haytko, 1997). Thompson and Haytko (1997) provide an account
of the myriad of countervailing discourses that surround the eld of fashion consumerism, each of them promoting value in particular appearance styles while
concurrently directly or inadvertently attempting to de-value other styles.
Bourdieu (1984; 1995) also referenced the psychic landscape of class relations
when describing fashion as a set of class-based principles of existence, conditioned
by class taste and competitive relations. Here fashion is conceptualized as an
embodiment of objectied capitals. Entwistle (2000: 2) builds upon this argument
and, being careful not to reify the concept, she sees fashion as something that has a
determining inuence on the modes of dressing people assume, and so it becomes
translated into the everyday dress styles that consumers choose (Entwistle, 2000:
4). By extending her argument, and regarding fashion as a practice born out of
competitive social relations (as Bourdieu does, 1984; 1995), it can be further conceptualized as a competitive psycho-social mechanism that causes styles of dressing
to be revised frequently. Not all fashions move forward in an innovative sense, with
many appearing to be regressive and nostalgic towards past cultural traditions. The
allure shifts backwards, as well as forwards. It can potentially move in any direction as it follows purposely disparate aesthetic ideas that come to be culturally
sanctioned in the interests of realising specialness group identity in realising adventure and in striving for social advancement. In framing fashion this way, the array
of dress styles that people adopt can be understood as dierent culture-specic
interpretations of what is aspirational or what constitutes being fashionable or
stylish at any point in time. Judgements of fashion practice depend then on the
culturally-specic taste preferences upheld by divergent sets of people. Fashions are
consistently revised because they come to be associated with certain collectivities,
and then either approved and applauded (and hence adopted), or rejected and
rebuked by others depending on particular processes of identication and association. In this respect, following the work of Bourdieus ideas (1984; 1995), fashion

Downloaded from joc.sagepub.com by guest on December 3, 2014

Rafferty

243

is understood to be perceived, interpreted and hence valued dierently by women

depending on the social class position they were born into, restrictions and/or
advantages experienced over their life trajectory, and their position of arrival.
Fashion exists as a psycho-social mechanism that has derived from increasingly
competitive social relations and continues to fuel them. Consequently, women have
particular psychic and emotional experiences when consuming fashion, which
depend upon the fundamental elements that have shaped their lived experiences.

Bourdieus theory of practice: Extending its emotional

dimension
As Holt (1998: 1) stresses, Pierre Bourdieus practice theory oers a comprehensive
foundation from which a theoretical framework can be developed to help plumb
the social patterning of consumption occurring today within complex sets of connected social relations. In Bourdieus theory, the relationship between diering
tastes and practices, and the dierent social and economic conditions that precede
their existence, are paramount to critical investigations of consumption (Bourdieu,
1984: 1001). Bourdieus theory aims to expose the hidden mechanisms of class
domination that operate through tastes and lifestyles and, as Warde (2007: 1)
points out, the possession of good taste is understood to be used as a weapon in
competitive social relations. Holt (1998: 4) favours Bourdieus theory of social class
because of its consistency with how social relations occur in advanced capitalist
societies today. He argues that by downplaying public displays of status symbols,
Bourdieu emphasizes how the reproduction of positional status largely occurs as
an unintended consequence of social interaction (Holt, 1998: 4). Through his
concept of habitus, Bourdieu (1984) demonstrates how dispositions, interests and
pursuits that are routine to the lifestyles of particular class fractions are passed
down through generations and enacted in ways that are often far from conscious
awareness or manipulation. The passing down of emotional dispositions are likely
to be part of that mix, despite Bourdieus lack of exposition of emotion in his
explanations.
As Holt (1998: 4) has explained, all interactions are unavoidably classifying
practices and so they become micropolitical acts of status claiming where individuals must constantly negotiate their reputational positions through their interactions with dierent sets of social relations. Ones taste, and so social status, in
relation to cultural consumption is evaluated upon the basis of, for example, how
aesthetic or rened ones consumption standards are or the sensory quality or value
of the particular items and experiences/services being consumed. Taste is the
expression of cultural capital and it becomes embodied in practice (consumer
actions). Bourdieu (1990: 6676) denes cultural capital as the specic set of cultural tastes, skills, preferences and knowledge that is acquired to dierent extents
depending on particular positions within the social eld. This becomes naturalized
so that classed individuals make consumption choices in ways that appear instinctual rather than conditioned and culturally-dependent. Rather than accruing

Downloaded from joc.sagepub.com by guest on December 3, 2014

244

Journal of Consumer Culture 11(2)

distinction from pecuniary rarity or from elite consensus, Bourdieu argues that
cultural capital secures the respect of others through the consumption of objects
that are ideationally dicult and so can only be consumed by those few who have
acquired the ability to do so. As Warde (2007: 1) outlines much judgment is tacit,
recorded in and expressed through peoples possessions, learning experiences, comportment and accumulated cultural competence. Ideational alignment is not
simple and straightforward, and this is what fosters and conserves class-based
senses of belonging.
Those tacit understandings also extend to gender expectations and can lead to
intense scrutiny and criticisms of physical appearances. Bourdieu (1984) argues that
rather than assuming all individuals of a certain gender or age experience and behave
in similar ways, it is imperative to analyse the divisions and variations which the
secondary variables (sex, age etc.) bring into the class. As both Bourdieu (1984) and
Entwistle (2000: 52) explain, the concept of gender is enmeshed with that of class,
peer group and occupation because gender is perceived and constituted dierently by
those variables, depending upon the social context in which they operate. According
to Bourdieu (1984: 1078):
Sexual properties are as inseparable from class properties as the yellowness of a lemon
is from its acidity: a class is dened in an essential respect by the place and value it
gives to the two sexes and to their socially constituted dispositions. This is why there
are as many ways of realizing femininity as there are classes and class fractions.

Entwistle (2000: 52) agrees with Bourdieu, but takes this argument a stage further by explaining that codes of gender vary enormously, depending on other
factors that may be operating in any given context including, for example, the
peer group and occasion. Bourdieu (1984: 103) gives an account of gender which
proposes that variables, such as sex and age, create divisions and variations of
tastes and practices within each class. This stresses the importance of understanding each womans experience of femininity and their conceptions of ideal forms of
femininity as related to their position, their age and their subsequent experiences in
the social world. By viewing femininity in this way, within the context of this
investigation, it is conceptually explained as a nexus of culturally institutionalized
meanings and practices, with dierent strands being more readily accepted and
advocated, while others are ardently contested, within dierent social milieu.
Bourdieus work (1984) has demonstrated the illusory widespread acceptance of
superior or rened taste as that which is legitimized by the dominant groups who
hold societal power and advantageous lifestyles. It also demonstrates how people
who can learn to understand and appreciate these superior cultural norms can
potentially use taste to obtain more power for themselves (as the example of
modern-day style advisors illuminates). In this respect, agents can strategically
place themselves into positions of advantage in the games of culture (Bourdieu,
1984: 12). The sanctication of good taste, however, is always a matter of contention. It carries political connotations because class fractions with less advantages

Downloaded from joc.sagepub.com by guest on December 3, 2014

Rafferty

245

struggle to position favourably within the social structures in obtaining, regaining

or safeguarding their own sense of identity value and status. Warde (2007: 2)
explains that Bourdieu unmasks the pretence of good taste, illustrating how it
is determined and reproduced as the consequence of social struggle and so its
content, therefore, is arbitrarily dened. Clothing styles function as one of the
less obvious aspects of cultural capital, as the manner in which we dress and
look after our appearances is often deeply ingrained into our dispositions.
Hence, within todays divergent sets of self-fashioning practices consumerist
choices continue to be representative of the cultural background that one comes
from and the trajectory that unfolds as a result. Though the concept of cultural
capital is fundamental to his explanation of how tastes and consumption practices
relate to social class structures, Bourdieu (1984; 1990) also highlights the importance of other sources of capital required to develop superior cultural competence;
economic capital (nancial resources); social capital (social networks and outlets);
and symbolic capital (the possession and display of objects or a lifestyle to which
value has been socially ascribed). However, his account has been criticized for its
absence of emotional conceptualization (Illouz, 2007; 2009) and, in particular, the
exclusion of emotional capital as a key resource for social advancement (Reay,
2004; 2005).

Addressing the emotional aspects of a classed existence

The work of Sayer (2005) illustrates that sentiments such as pride, shame, envy,
resentment, compassion and contempt are not merely abstract and temporal
emotions. He asserts that such sentiments are borne out of evaluative judgements
that people make about how well they, or others, are being treated, and whether
or not they have access to the things they consider aect their well being and
happiness. Sayer (2005: 948) refers to such evaluations as forms of emotional
reason because they involve weighing up ones humane and democratic rights
against an imbalanced distribution of access to resources. Similarly, the work of
Hughes (2007) demonstrates that while certain emotional responses, such as envy,
are considered to be irrational and socially unacceptable, they occur at sites
where concerns over inequalities and exploitation are being articulated. In certain
circumstances of inequality, she portrays envy as a site where such concerns are
well founded on legitimate grounds. Class positions are often correlated with our
sense of worth, and so certain feelings (such as shame, pride or anxiety) are likely
to be experienced more or less frequently depending on the position that an
individual assumes in the social hierarchy. While class relations may not typically
be a context that is reexively employed by individuals to comprehend their own
sense of self, or to question why they act in the ways that they do, it is clear that
the conditions that structure their existence (in terms of restrictions on capitals
possessed) can still prove to be in varying ways either psychologically and emotionally damaging or advantageous. This, inevitably, manifests in their
behaviours.

Downloaded from joc.sagepub.com by guest on December 3, 2014

246

Journal of Consumer Culture 11(2)

Emotions can be understood as central to human behaviour because they condition our experiences (by limiting, modifying or enhancing them), substantiate the
belief systems we uphold, and are an inherent aspect of all human action. Illouz
(2009: 382) contends that the concept of emotion usefully explains how consumption is anchored in cognition and culture (beliefs and evaluations) on the one hand,
and in the motivational structure of drives within the body (aect) on the other.
She explains that while emotion is not action per se, it is what orients and implicates the self in its social environment. It is both what gives a particular certain
mood or coloration to an particular act, and the inner energy that propels us
toward that act (p. 382). Culturally-specic practices, such as fashion consumption, thus can be understood as being aligned with specic emotional tendencies
(habitualizations). What is particularly interesting to examine here is how particular types of emotional habitus develop and with what social consequences, particularly in respect of consumption experiences. Ones conditions of existence can
either provide advantages and fortitude or set in places tensions and deep-rooted
stresses that then play a key role in inuencing how the relationships we have with
others unfold. Those conditions of our existence become embodied in an emotional
sense as we relate to, and make sense of, the social world around us and our
position within it.
In line with Illouz (2007; 2009), Reay (2005), and Hughes (2007), I contend
that the term emotion should not be referred to as purely psychological,
as though it were something disembodied or a-social. Our emotional tendencies
also come to be heavily shaped by the environment(s) that we grow up in. This is
perhaps most particularly as a consequence of whether we develop close or distant
relationships with others where we feel cared for and supported. In respect to this,
Reay (2004) puts forward the concept of emotional capital, which she describes as
the positive emotional resources, such as love, devotion, support and understanding that parents and elders invest in children in an eort to equip them with
advantages in their life. It is important to highlight that such emotional investments
are highly likely to have a signicant impact upon the childs psycho-aective
development, and specically in terms of self-worth. Following from Bourdieus
conceptualization of habitus more generally, emotional habitus, can be understood
as the development of a set of emotional tendencies or dispositions, that are crucially inuenced by others with whom we interact over the course of our lived
trajectories. It fundamentally shapes our understandings of ourselves and others,
as well as our aspirations and instincts towards certain behaviours. According to
Illouz (2007: 667);
. . . as Bourdieu has suggested (without theorizing it), modes and codes of cultural
evaluation have an emotional style or tonality (as when Bourdieu refers to detachment or to participatory identication). Ones emotional attitudes and style, like
ones cultural taste, denes ones social identity. It is social because emotions are the
very stu of which social interactions are made and transformed. If cultural capital is
crucial as a status signal, emotional style is crucial to how people acquire networks,

Downloaded from joc.sagepub.com by guest on December 3, 2014

Rafferty

247

both strong and weak, and build what sociologists call social capital, that is, the ways
in which personal relationships are converted into forms of capital, such as career
advancement or increased wealth.

Reay (2004; 2005) and Illouz (2007: 67) suggest that intimate and cherished
relationships, as cultural and social resources, help people to achieve a sense of
well being. It is important, therefore, to inquire about how practices of self-fashioning, as a symbolic form of cultural consumption, can grant access to such spheres
of well being by facilitating or negating social connections and, certainly in some
cases, a sense of meritocracy. If we are to consider Sayers (2005) understanding of
the social basis of emotions, our perceptions of how we are being treated and
rewarded as compared to others when we are growing up is fundamental to the
type of emotional inclinations we develop as part of our habitus. I argue that social
class remains particularly important to consider in the context of fashion consumption today because it continues to create unequal possibilities for ourishing. This
occurs for example, by enhancing feelings of self-worth and intensifying experiences of existing for some and then, for others, disproportionate amounts of suffering by producing or arming beliefs about inferiority where self-worth is fragile.
The next sections will detail an exploration into how the emotional styles and
dispositions of the middle class fractions intersect with consumption practices to
ultimately aect consumers state of well being. Informed by Wardes (2005: 143)
call for researchers to investigate the internal psychic rewards derived from competently engaging in a specic consumption practice, it searches for instances of
both positive and negative psycho-aective outcomes from varying levels of
involvement in fashion consumption. Middle-class existence is an interesting site
for exploration of class-based emotions because of its position within the social
structures. Middle class fractions neither enjoy the economic and social security
which typies a privileged existence, though nor are they anchored to the same
extent by the constraints of necessity experienced by the working and under-class
fractions. Many people within the middle classes thus nd themselves at the epicentre of competitive social living. The analysis in the next sections draws upon
data derived from interviews with 21 Irish women about their current fashion
consumption practices and recollections of fashion-related experiences over the
course of their trajectories. Women of a young adult age range between 20
and 35 were chosen as this social group tends to be the most heavily targeted
segment by the fashion industry. For the purpose of having diversity within
the sample, women were recruited from across the three fractions of uppermiddle, mid-middle and lower-middle class status. Middle class status was
determined largely by occupation or, in the case of students, by their fathers
and/or mothers occupation(s).1
An understanding of each womans position at origin was arrived at by obtaining information about their parents occupational status over the course of their
lives, both within interviews and through a brief pre-interview questionnaire, while
her position at arrival was also obtained through these processes. The goal of data

Downloaded from joc.sagepub.com by guest on December 3, 2014

248

Journal of Consumer Culture 11(2)

collection was to elicit detailed descriptions of peoples tastes, consumption habits

and emotional experiences connected to the practice of self-fashioning.2
Comparisons of how female relations are facilitated by consumption practices
were made both within and between these class fractions. A life history approach
to interviews also allowed for an illumination of any social and geographical mobility that may have occurred and it allowed them the opportunity to oer whatever
narrative accounts of their fashion-related experiences they felt were signicant for
them personally. The combination of discovering the informants life history and
their recollection of signicant fashion related experiences enabled interpretations
to be made which connect current fashion consumption practices to repetitive
emotional tendencies. These emotional tendencies are conceptualized as being largely derived from positional status and both family and friendship dynamics.
In recent years, some have argued that, while the historical development of
fashion was a case of an initially exclusive activity becoming popular and plural
over time, it is now driven more by sub-cultural or lifestyle variation than by the
logic of class relations (Davis, 1992; Crane and Bovone, 2006). Yet, as will be
demonstrated with this data set, practices of self-fashioning retain a capacity to
mark social distinctions as a function of social hierarchy, which can help to provide
access to elitist social spaces and experiences of existence. This is particularly perceptible when examining the consequence of self-fashioning activity at the psychoaective level. In the following section I argue that emotional style is a form of
social currency a capital per se and I present two ways in which self-fashioning
continues to act as one of the modes through which competitiveness over social
status unfolds in modern society. To do so, the respondents self-fashioning and
consumption practices are analyzed according to the nature of their emotional
involvement (i.e. the signicance of their position within the practice for their
sense of self-worth), which falls across the axes of low-versus-high emotional
investment (i.e. the psycho-aective stakes or gamble).

Low emotional involvement and smart shopping practice

Investigations began by looking into the discrepancies in the emotional content of
recalled fashion consumption experiences for women across middle class fractions.
The emphasis of examination was placed on the manner in which each woman
became emotionally involved in their self-fashioning engagements and with the
nature of their emotional investments when positioning within one, or more, particular stream of fashion culture. Immediately this illuminated a sense of superiority asserted by upper- and mid-middle class women through their demonstration of
how vast the array of knowledge and skill they devote towards the practice of smart
shopping is. Smart shopping is essentially the adoption of consumption strategies
that look for aordable ways to access rare and/or high-value goods which they
feel are likely to retain their value for longer periods than high-street fashions. In
the next extract, Suzy, a 34-year-old woman from an upper-middle class

Downloaded from joc.sagepub.com by guest on December 3, 2014

Rafferty

249

background, demonstrates one aspect of smart shopping practice through her fervent devotion to sale shopping. Suzy oozes self-condence and has a vibrant attitude to life. Because of her resolute sense of self-assurance she happily labels herself
as the bargain queen and relates, with great pride, humorous stories centred upon
her ability to nd high-valuable fashion items (principally designer pieces) at a
fraction of the original cost. In one particular recollection, she describes the serious high she experienced upon nding the greatest bargain ever:
S: . . . it was years ago and we were looking at the Gucci section (. . .) I just thought Oh
my God, thats just the most beautiful skirt ever. Oh, I wish I could have that skirt!
But then! Literally about six or seven months later, [the store] were having a sale, this
is when I would have been really like dedicated to it [laughs], and it was the end of the
end of the sale. The drags (. . .) And, um, I was going through and [pause] I saw the
Gucci skirt. And it was . . . in a really large size (. . .) and I just thought the skirt didnt
look that big. And it was at a time, back then, when people used to wear skirts quite
low on their hips . . . and because of the kind of shape of the skirt I kind of thought
Well you know what? Maybe I can take it in or (. . .) I think its cause everyone would
have gone either they would have been a size fourteen and thought Ill try it on and
it didnt t, and they just put it back on the rail. Or they were a size eight or ten and
looked at it and thought Thats far too big for me, I wont bother. (. . .) I was just like
Ill just see does it t. . . and it did! [laughs loudly] And I was just . . . on a high! (. . .)
just like, serious high (. . .) It was a hundred pounds . . . down from over a thousand.
And [laughs] I remember like leaving Brown Thomas like clutching the bag going Oh
my God, checking to see is it still in there? [laughs] Going Oh my God, I got it! (. . .)
so that was probably the greatest ever bargain.

All of Suzys fashion-related narratives are steeped in senses of thrill, anticipation, exhilaration and the fun that she recalls from the time of her consumption
experiences. Suzy is an avid shopper with a busy work and social life and it is
obvious that one key function of fashion consumption for her is to add excitement
to her life, thus keeping her far removed from a monotonous existence. The thrill
she describes in the previous extract is derived from her eort to align her selffashioning standards more closely with that of the most privileged class fractions of
society. Suzy relates that such treasured nds are a common outcome of her
shopping expeditions. Like Suzy, the other women who discussed smart shopping
practices were of an upper-middle class status. These women have found a route
through which they feel they can buy themselves into the upper social class taste
distinctions that would otherwise have been denied to them. The thrill is thus
connected to the associated sense of elevation they feel within the taste hierarchy
for self-fashioning practice. It comes, however, at a cost of being slightly out of step
with the most current fashion trends. Restraint is also an important issue here.
Suzy consciously maintains a strict control over any urges she has to buy items
when they catch her attention so that she conserves her nances for smart purchases. This practice, she explains, ensures that her wardrobe is full of things that

Downloaded from joc.sagepub.com by guest on December 3, 2014

250

Journal of Consumer Culture 11(2)

she loves to wear, as opposed to rubbish, thus increasing her prospects of always
feeling good about herself in what she is wearing.
With regards to internal rewards, for smart shoppers such practice enables them
to feel elevated from other middle class consumers because they perceive that they
are getting the maximum benet out of their money spent, where investments made
go towards achieving high standards of luxe self-fashioning. However, while Suzy
gets emotional rewards from smart shopping practice, interestingly she does not
become overly attached to any items. This becomes apparent when Suzy tells about
how, after a very bad re in her house, she lost most of her clothes:
S: (. . .) A lot of them had to go. Shoes and bags a lot of them were kind of sitting
under my cupboard sort of they were all smoke damaged, so they were all gone.
I: Oh, I see, of course. And how was that for you?
S: Well yeah [laughs], I guess thats a big . . . fashion disaster moment! Em, well it was
Tuesday. It was . . . it was a bit hard cause I was like Oh, I lost that Mark ONeill
skirt that I really loved and I lost that vintage handbag that I really loved but
then . . . [voice becomes lively] I realised the good side of it. That I had this amazing
opportunity to go shopping completely guilt free. [laughs] So like you know the way
sometimes youre like I dont really need this. I shouldnt really do it. I shouldnt
really buy it [laughs]. I had no guilt. I could just walk into Brown Thomas and just go
I have to buy that dress cause I dont have one and I have to buy those boots cause
I dont have any. So that was great . . . and eventually I got back the insurance money
anyway.
I: Of course, yeah.
S: So [laughs] that insurance money should have, you know, could have gone on other
things and stu, but I literally, you know, I functionally needed clothes. So I had a
really good time shopping [laughs].

Suzys emotional investment in fashion items is low, signied by how she recalls
overcoming the loss she felt relatively quickly, essentially though knowing that she
had the means available to rebuild her wardrobe with ease. In fact, this new project
presented new exciting opportunities for her to re-position with higher standards of
self-fashioning practice because it enabled her to redesign her apartment and build
herself a walk-in wardrobe with a whole new set of clothes. This walk-in wardrobe
is now a management system for her to see where the gaps are and further simplify
her smart shopping decision-making processes. Suzy exhibits an obvious pride in
her fashion consumption skill set, which she has established, in part, from her
educational background and training in fashion textiles at a prestigious college,
and also from going straight into employment as an interior designer at her fathers
architectural rm. However, her understanding of her capacity to make rened

Downloaded from joc.sagepub.com by guest on December 3, 2014

Rafferty

251

aesthetic choices centres on her rm belief that she has a natural (innate) love and
understanding of the artistic dimension of fashion and design. She understands that
her fashion choices are based on items feeling right when she tries them on and
just knowing when she wont regret a purchase. She has a sense for fashion and,
though she admits to having learned from mistakes in the past, she attributes this
sense to her current philosophy of carefully evaluating every item before she buys
so that she feels condent she is not being duped into buying faddy fashions fashions that are destined to only have ephemeral social value.
However, through a discussion of her life trajectory, Suzy recalls that her mother
was also always very interested in fashion and particularly enjoyed dressing Suzy
up in pretty frocks from the time she was a baby. Her parents always encouraged
her creative trials with new fashions and in one instance she laughs as she recalls
how her father, unlike the fathers of her friends, would tell her she looked fabulous in short dresses as opposed to expressing disapproval. Through such disclosures in her narratives, it is evident that Suzy learned about the polarity of value in
the dierent fashion brands available, and the correlating aesthetic discrepancies
between them, from a young age. She mentions her mothers preference for taking
her time to shop while in the more expensive and aesthetically-orientated highstreet retail outlets for children, and then rushing in and out when having to shop
in the lower-cost retail stores for basic items. Rather than innate, Suzy has developed her fashion competence and smart shopping capacity in line with uppermiddle class tastes that are particular to the conditions of her existence and class
habitus trajectory. Having been socialized into practicing fashion with highly aesthetic and quality crafted items from a young age, Suzys consumption wants can
be understood to emanate from this vantage point. However, in order to maintain
her position within this practice beyond the sustenance of her parents, and to
consistently achieve intense emotional highs through fashion consumption, she
now tends to shop in high-end boutiques or department stores during their seasonal
sales, as well as in discount retail outlet where she can nd treasure amongst the
rubbish.
Women learn how to practice self-fashioning in dierent ways and develop
attitudes towards it in accordance with their class positions and, of course, their
capacity to practice. As Holt (1998) indicated previously, women who are higher in
cultural capital resources may be more inclined to place signicant value on protecting their sense of individuality with their fashioned appearance. The smart
shopping strategies of accomplished middle class fashion consumers certainly reinforce this suggestion. For the same reason it is important to understand the nature
of their emotional engagement with self-fashioning practices. For accomplished
middle class fashion consumers, the overriding objective is to legitimize, maintain
and protect their own position within broader cultural practices of self-fashioning.
For this reason, shopping alone was expressed (almost exclusively) as their preference. Though many of the women avoided openly admitting it was to prevent
copycats threatening their individuality, and hence their capacity to attain those
elevating feelings centred around specialness, sexiness or glamorousness, some

Downloaded from joc.sagepub.com by guest on December 3, 2014

252

Journal of Consumer Culture 11(2)

did hint around such a suggestion. Aligning their practices with the objective of
individuality elevates their sense of legitimacy in distinctly elitist relations. Yet also
crucial to the legitimate status of accomplished smart shoppers is the relative ease
with which they can consistently make choices outside of what is obvious or typical
in terms of fashion trends (ideationally dicult preferences). Such ease is aorded
to accomplished fashion consumers through a long term close relation with highend fashion culture, as can be seen in the development of Suzys fashion consumption practices. Women learn to relate to self-fashioning practice a practice of
choosing in disparate ways depending on their class position at origin, their
related trajectory development (experiences), and the emotional capital bestowed
to them.

Fragile self-worth: High emotional involvement and the chase

towards an aspirant habitus
The previous section emphasizes that self-fashioning practices develop alongside
the individuals trajectory. While Suzys consumption practices developed in ways
rather typical for her class trajectory, these next two sections aim to demonstrate
some of the ways in which discernible shifts in consumption strategies occur for
women who experience more of an adjunctive trajectory. For these women, senses
of belonging to any set of social relations or class position are notably more turbulent as they appear to chase toward an aspirant habitus. The reality of the
constraints that they experience, however, coincide with a strong desire to be
other than what they are (where their appearance remains in line with the positional tastes of their parents and lifestyle restraints), thus synthesising highly
ambivalent self-evaluations. This emotional discontent can manifest in either frantic action or tenacious inaction via new self-fashioning and consumption strategies.
Such shifts are essentially navigated by the development of priorities that appraise
fashion consumption over other aspects of lifestyle, and they are very much emotively-driven. In the following examples, the women perceive emergent opportunities, encountered at particular life stages, as potentially enabling them to suddenly
immerse into what they see as a highly valuable cultural category and set of social
relations. Importantly, these social relations had previously been considered denied
or distant to them. As will be outlined, this ultimately results in the women having
specic psycho-aective experiences which inuence their consumption practices in
dramatic ways.

Extrinsic rewards of self-fashioning and low versus high emotional stakes

As Warde (2005: 148) outlines, Bourdieus analyses of elds is almost exclusively
preoccupied with how position within social hierarchy enables people to acquire
particular habitual dispositions and capitals. These are ultimately responsible for
either the delivery of extrinsic rewards, such as social status and career advancement
or, conversely, exclusion from them. Competitive currents seem to structurally

Downloaded from joc.sagepub.com by guest on December 3, 2014

Rafferty

253

underpin the dierent types and levels of emotional gratication demanded by different classes of consumers. In line with Thompson and Haytkos (1997) ndings,
the interview data here indicates that the meanings surrounding practices of selffashioning and forms of fashion consumption are very much disputed among
women from dierent class backgrounds, who do so with the intention of serving
their own group interests. While the notion of being fashionable was perceived as a
favourable label used by women with less cultural capital, the same marker was
considered to be highly undesirable for those with more cultural capital and expansive tastes. Smart shoppers, with more cultural capital, saw it as representing a
failure to participate at the forefront of fashion trends, or else as indicative of
ones ignorance that consuming classic styles of fashion (quality) was preferable
to superuous and ephemeral fads (quantity). Instead, spending money wisely on
pieces that will have longevity in the structures of taste was seen as a marker of
distinction (i.e. the consumption of elitist [luxury] brands was of paramount importance). Natalie, a 24-year-old fashion student comes from a privileged upper-middle
class position. She positions herself as an accomplished fashion consumer and, in
detail, outlines her penchant for the good stu. While describing her consumption
tastes and practices she infers that she can aord to buy the more expensive fashion
items and, in particular, situates dominant designer fashion items as superior. Less
directly, she expresses a dismissive attitude towards high-street items, maintaining
that they are fun but to throwaway by the end of the season rather than valuing
them in any signicant way. She demonstrates here her unquestioned acceptance
that luxury or designer items are hierarchically superior (assumed via their quality
and design properties), and self-classication as an elitist consumer in so far as the
objects substanialize her connection to elitist relations. Natalie implies that the
good stu provides greater fullment in terms of self-esteem because, in the sets
of social relations that she engages within, they are recognized as unequivocally
rened. At the same time, upon examining Natalies level of emotional engagement
towards self-fashioning practice, she displays a nonchalant attitude to the practice
of self-fashioning and, while she clearly appreciates the benets of it, her self-worth
does not appear to be deep rooted in it:
N: I think you can carry o anything if you have the attitude to match. People pick up
a lot on body language and how you present yourself. Like if youre standing with
your head held high, clearly not giving a crap what anybody else thinks, and if you
think you look attractive . . . I always think that going to rub o on other people.
Other people are going to be like She does look attractive. Like theyll see
past . . . theyll see past what the person is wearing, theyll see the person. Like clothes,
I think, are only ever an enhancement as opposed to . . . I think thats the epitome of
style to me, is when you notice the woman, not the dress. Thats when fashions doing
its job. Not when you notice the dress, not the woman.

While Natalie thoroughly enjoys self-fashioning and uses it to boost her

self-esteem, her self-worth appears to be rmly established in her social status.

Downloaded from joc.sagepub.com by guest on December 3, 2014

254

Journal of Consumer Culture 11(2)

Though her preference for elitist fashions is clear, she does not attribute her ownership of objects as the primary reason for her pride in her personal appearance.
Her condence in her economic, social and cultural competence enables her to be
above fashions and have a more complacent attitude to her fashioned appearance
should she so desire. For her, attractiveness in appearance is not entirely about
possessing certain objects, though this helps, but is more a feat of ones charismatic
capacity to look good in anything. Here, her social position is embodied and
realized through her sense of condence. She asserts that fashion should not be
entirely masquerade and she expresses here that she is unlikely to feel wounded
should the threat of ridicule or condescension from others over what she wears ever
occur. When comparing herself to other girls at school, she claimed to know when
others pretended their fake handbags were real and assumed this signied their
positional insecurities essentially chasing a position and habitus that was beyond
their reach. While less detrimental than other more blatant displays of class antagonism or symbolic violence, these psycho-aective dimensions remain fundamental
to the unequal politics of fashion as a form of cultural consumption and important
element of aspirational lifestyles.
Natalies low emotional investment in fashion stands in stark contrast to
Charlotte, who demonstrates a signicantly divergent attitude towards the importance of fashion in her life. Charlotte comes from a lower-middle class position and
takes the consumption of high-street items far more seriously, primarily because
the lower prices are fundamental to her capacity to keep up with the social
demands for regular revision in her fashioned appearance. In the next extract
she reveals how her spending habits got out of control as a result of her perception
about how important it was to participate in fashion consumption at a relatively
high frequency:
C: . . . the other girls . . . they just couldnt believe that every single lunchtime I would
be running the whole way [to the high-street shopping area]. Like its a twenty
minute walk there and a twenty minute walk back . . . and Id go every single day
just to have twenty minutes of shopping because thats how important it was to me
to know what was in the shops. And no, I wouldntnecessarily buy something, but
Id say eight times out of ten I would (. . .) it was getting to the stage where in my
cycle [referring to income per month] I was kind of out. When it was coming to
payday . . . like I was in serious trouble in the last week of every month. And honestly, like I havent even admitted this to anyone, I was spending three-quarters of
my wages just on clothes (. . .) I had considerable debt for a while there just because
of clothes. My main priority in life was for about two years there, when I rst
started work . . . I had to have a new outt like head-to-toe every single time I went
out (. . .) every single time I went out. And it did get really ridiculous, to the point of
I wouldnt wear something twice, yknow? (. . .) Ive accumulated so much stu. And
that scares me to think that I . . . Now when I look at the house and I look at all the
other priorities that I have in life, Im like What was it that its so important
to me?

Downloaded from joc.sagepub.com by guest on December 3, 2014

Rafferty

255

Its clear that self-fashioning took on a very intense role in Charlottes life for
a number of years when she found herself in a position of earning a substantial
income for the rst time, while still living at home she had few nancial responsibilities, which meant she could participate in fashion consumption at a relatively
high level of engagement. She explains that her purchases mainly centred on highstreet items because spending large sums on designer items would restrict her
consistent appearance revisions through new items. Her emotional investment
was high as these revisions in appearance became fundamental for her to condently participate in the social competition of living it large (Hesmondhalgh,
2008) and position herself above her friends in this cultural practice. She started
to take the development of her fashion competence very seriously as it increasingly protected her sense of well being. This seriousness can be connected to her
distinctly middle middle class position and compounded by the fact that she was
not able to participate in fashion until she began to earn a substantial income in
her twenties. In the next extract, Charlotte recalls her rst opportunity to avidly
participate in self-fashioning after spending a summer working and living in
America:
C: . . . in college all I wore was jeans, and tops, and runners because I still didnt have
enough money (. . .) But then the following summer I went to Nantucket (. . .) we
couldnt spend money in Nantucket, it was too expensive to spend money there, we
clocked up thousands earning money there (. . .) and I went and met my mum in New
York that summer. I had never been to New York, and I came home from that
summer and I had so many of these individual pieces (. . .) I came home with loads.
And thats when that started then my wardrobe of these dierent pieces. And when I
came back from that year I remember everyone kind of saying to me every day Jesus,
look at the style of you!. And that kind of set me o then.

Upon being able to participate in fashion consumption at this level, Charlotte

experiences hugely intense emotions from the positive attention she receives o
other people, particularly for wearing striking and unusual outts, which bolster
her sense of individuality and provide her with an enhanced sense of feminine
identity. She describes the transformation at this point in her life as moving
from a tomboy to being pretty, glamorous and overtly feminine, a move
which saw her distinctly diverge from her mothers taste for practicality. Because
her capacity to fashion herself in the ways she yearned to was delayed until she
reached her twenties, she became engrossed in the sensations surrounding her participation in competitive self-fashioning practice: as long as Im stepping out of it
and I feel good, it wouldnt matter what it is. It is apparent that fashion became
crucial for Charlottes identity value and her establishment of a sense of self-worth,
which was more fragile than that exhibited by Natalie. As a consequence, her
narratives about her fashion consumption experiences tend to be contextualized
in an assortment of manners. Some of her fashion-related narratives detail joyful
and proud experiences that made her feel dignied and energized. However, in

Downloaded from joc.sagepub.com by guest on December 3, 2014

256

Journal of Consumer Culture 11(2)

others she describes feeling psychotic when she recognizes she must abstain from
fashion consumption in order to save for a mortgage boyfriend. This is then followed by more reective admissions of feeling guilt-ridden and ashamed at her
overly indulgent patterns of spending beyond her means.
The anxiety and depressive mood here expressed in Charlottes latter narrative
can be understood as class-based because it is referring to her feeling deated and
out of depth while chasing an aspirant habitus. For Charlotte, this anxiety manifests as she frantically tries to accumulate an immense number of fashion items
that she hopes will be useful props to facilitate her consistent appearance alterations. Natalie, on the other hand, is clearly comfortable in her (fashioned) habitus
of entry. Through intense autodidactic processes and full immersion into fashion
consumption, it appears that Charlotte was trying to emulate the cultural capital of
others who consistently revise their appearance with greater ease. In trying to be
condent in herself and allay class anxiety via intense fashion consumption practices, she eventually came up against overwhelming barriers of nancial inability,
which produced considerable psycho-aective distress. While being so engrossed in
maintaining her position within the practice of self-fashioning, Charlotte was also
blind sighted to her friends plans to purchase properties. Once they began to live
independently from their parents, the psycho-aective elevations Charlotte derived
from fashion became hugely overshadowed and forced the recognition of the reality of her positional constraints. She has since decided that she should have been
more conscious to save money in order for herself and her boyfriend to move on to
the next stage in their relationship (living together). She experiences guilt as a
consequence of her self-indulgent consumption habits and shame for her ignorance
of the realities of the nancial constraints placed upon her, disabling her from
living it large in all aspects of her lifestyle. In turn, this brings about a dramatic
change in her consumption practice (from buying every week to only on special
occasions) and prevents her from splurging. At this point there is a denitive clash
between her class-based aspirations for a personalized feminine identity and an
unquestioned responsibility to nurture her boyfriend by building their home. Some
middle class women participate in projects of individual self-creation in an attempt
to actualize their self-evaluations as positive vis-a`-vis other and interpret self-fashioning practices as critical to those projects (see Hesmondhalgh, 2008: 333 for a
similar argument regarding music acionados). However, in many cases such
eorts are likely to clash with their class habitus, depending on whether their
spending habits are in line with the realities of the nancial constraints placed
upon them. The psycho-aective discomfort experienced as a result diers depending on class position. In Charlottes case, while her consumption practices are now
far more restrained, she admits that at rst the experience left her feeling very
agitated, distressed and depressed. Chasing an aspirant habitus became all consuming because the boosts to esteem that she experienced helped shelter her more
fragile sense of self-worth, enabling her to ourish socially, but which was hit
hard when she acknowledged the nancial limits that hamper her lifestyle
aspirations.

Downloaded from joc.sagepub.com by guest on December 3, 2014

Rafferty

257

Discussion
In this article I have argued that more attention needs to be paid to the emotions
surrounding self-fashioning practices. Self-fashioning is practiced in numerous
ways and so it is useful to conceptualize it by applying a more overt emotional
dimension to Bourdieus theory of practice amongst social relations. The work of
Illouz (2007; 2009) and Reay (2004) provide useful extensions by situating emotions within a class-based framework. The nature of the emotions experienced by
consuming agents occurs dierently depending on how their class habitus and
cultural competence enables them to interact in dierent sets of social relations.
Ultimately these emotions then play a central role in prompting fashion consumption desires, distastes, choices and behaviours of dierent class groups.
Conceptualizing fashion consumerism as a mechanism that operates within the
psychic and emotional landscape of social relations, it can be seen to facilitate a
space of social relations where class discrimination actively continues, though now
in less perceptible and more nuanced modes based upon how practices of selffashioning occur rather than purely though the possession of branded objects.
Self-fashioning practice thus remains as a tool of distinction, identication and
segregation for social collectivities.
The emphasis of this study was on conceptualization and reaching understanding rather than generalization. As the exploration of this area is in its initial stages,
a small, yet in-depth empirical study was considered to be the best means by which
to draw out the main themes and concentrate on theory building. Examining how
consumption practices interconnect with emotional tendencies pushes research
questions towards asking about the variety of practices that are prevalent, what
consumption strategies people are engaging in and why, about the level of commitment to the practice they display and about the type of psycho-aective dimensions underpinning that level of engagement. These questions work towards a fuller
understanding of how and why consumers are prioritizing their consumption
choices in the ways that they do. It can thus add not only to understandings of
how class-based emotions structure consumption practices, but can also add insight
to research which seek to understand how and why some modes of consumption
can become obsessive and irrational. According to Illouz (2007), people use consumption as a means to connect to others and so we should analyze the social
relationships that consumption practices facilitate as moral goods in which the
content of selfhood and well-being are at stake (p. 678). She suggests that by
reversing the Bourdieusian model we can inquire about the ways in which certain
classes or class fractions tend to socialize their children towards a certain type of
emotional habitus, which in turn will help them reach particular forms of eudaimonia (happiness, inner condence). By focusing primarily upon the psycho-social
aliations and contagions that uctuate between the appearance ideals and consumption practices of discordant, and often competitive, class fractions, new
insight is brought to explain the relationship between self-fashioning practice,
female identity, emotions and social class relations today. This article attempts

Downloaded from joc.sagepub.com by guest on December 3, 2014

258

Journal of Consumer Culture 11(2)

to illuminate how knowledge of how to consume and self-fashion in the correct

ways can become critically linked to a persons psycho-aective well being or balance. In doing so, it demonstrates that if emotional capital is lacking alongside a
lack in other economic, social or cultural resources, a persons sense of self-worth
may be particularly vulnerable to deation and experiences of consumption can
become shrouded in negativity.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to extend special thanks to Dr. Paddy Dolan of the Dublin Institute
of Technology for the considerable time, advice and insights he has given in supervising the
research study on which this article is based. I would also like to thank Dr. Paul Hewer of
the University of Strathclyde and Gerry Mortimer for their important involvement in the
development of this research.

Notes
1. Class relations may not typically be a context that is reflexively employed by individuals
to comprehend their own sense of self, or to question why they act in the ways that they
do (Savage et al., 2001). However, the conditions that structure a persons existence, in
terms of the restrictions on the composition of capitals possessed, can prove to be in
varying ways psychologically and emotionally damaging or advantageous (Reay, 2004;
2005).
2. An interview guide was developed to elicit peoples understandings and evaluations of
different modes of self-fashioning via the consumption of diverse brands and objects,
styles of body presentation and the ways in which their own approach to making consumption choices has developed over their life course. Interviewees were asked to recall
the memories they had surrounding their fashion consumption experiences and were
encouraged to show me any fashion items or photos that held some kind of significance
(either positive or negative) for them. Questions probed for details regarding their understanding of fashion, their stylistic preferences, consumption strategies and the recall of
particular episodes across a variety of life stages and situations (for example, as a child; as
a teenager; when working; with family, friends or when alone; during the week as compared to at the weekends; when attending special events, such as weddings) to elicit as
much detail as possible.

References
Arnould EJ and Thompson CJ (2005) Consumer Culture Theory (CCT): Twenty years of
research. Journal of Consumer Research 31: 868882.
Banister EM and Hogg MK (2004) Negative symbolic consumption and consumers drive
for self-esteem: The case of the fashion industry. European Journal of Marketing 38(7):
850868.
Boland H and Akram S (2007) Age is no barrier to wanting to look good: Women on body
image, age and advertising. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal 10(3):
310333.
Bordo S (1997) Material girl: The effacements of postmodern culture. In: Lancaster RN and
Leonardo M (eds) The Gender Sexuality Reader. New York: Routledge, 335359.
Bourdieu P (1984) Distinction, trans Richard Nice. London: Routledge.

Downloaded from joc.sagepub.com by guest on December 3, 2014

Rafferty

259

Bourdieu P (1990) The Logic of Practice. Cambridge, Oxford: Polity Press.

Bourdieu P (1995) Haute Couture and Haute Culture, Sociology in Question. London: Sage.
Crane D and Bovone L (2006) Approaches to material culture: The sociology of fashion and
clothing. Poetics 34: 319333.
Davis F (1992) Fashion, Culture, Identity. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Delhaye C (2006) The development of consumption culture and the individualization of
female identity. Journal of Consumer Culture 6(1): 87115.
Dolan P (2009) Developing consumer subjectivity in Ireland: 190080. Journal of Consumer
Culture 9(1): 117141.
Elliott R (1997) Existential consumption and irrational desire, European Journal of
Marketing, 31(3/4): 285296.
Englis BG and Solomon MR (1997) I am not, therefore I am: The role of avoidance products in shaping consumer behavior. Advances in Consumer Research 24: 6163.
Entwistle J (2000) The Fashioned Body: Fashion Dress and Modern Social theory. Cambridge:
Polity Press.
Gabriel Y and Lang T (1995) The Unmanageable Consumer. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Hesmondhalgh D (2008) Towards a critical understanding of music, emotion and self-identity. Consumption Markets & Culture 11(4): 329343.
Holt D (1998) Does cultural capital structure American consumption? Journal of Consumer
Research 25(1): 125.
Hughes C (2007) The equality of social envies. Sociology 412: 347363.
Illouz E (2007) Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism. Cambridge, Malden:
Polity Press.
Illouz E (2009) Emotions, imagination and consumption. Journal of Consumer Research
9(3): 377413.
Jantzen C, Ostergaard P and Sucena Viera CM (2006) Becoming a Woman to the
Backbone: Lingerie consumption and the experience of feminine identity. Journal of
Consumer Culture 62: 177202.
McDowell C (2000) Fashion Today. London: Phaiden Press Limited.
McRobbie A (2005) Needs and norms: Bourdieu and cultural studies. The Uses of Cultural
Studies A Textbook. London: Sage Publications.
McRobbie A (2008) What not to wear and post femininist symbolic violence. Paper presented at the Putting Bourdieu to Work Conference, Manchester University, May 2008,
173-210.
Nam J, Hamlin R, Gam HJ, Kang JH, Kim J, Kumphai P, et al (2007) The fashionconscious behaviours of mature female consumers. Journal of Consumer Studies 31(1):
102108.
Park H-J and Burns LD (2005) Fashion orientation, credit card use, and compulsive buying.
Journal of Consumer Marketing 22(3): 135141.
Reay D (2004) Gendering Bourdieus concepts of capitals? Emotional capital, women and
social class. The Editorial Board of the Sociological Review 5774.
Reay D (2005) Beyond consciousness? The psychic landscape of social class. Sociology 395:
911928.
Redden J and Steiner CJ (2000) Fanatical consumers: Towards a framework for research.
Journal of Consumer Marketing 17(4): 322337.
Roux D and Korchia M (2006) Am I what I wear? An exploratory study of symbolic
meanings associated with second hand clothing. Advances in Consumer Research 331:
2935.

Downloaded from joc.sagepub.com by guest on December 3, 2014

260

Journal of Consumer Culture 11(2)

Savage M, Bagnall G and Longhurst BJ (2001) Ordinary, ambivalent and defensive: Class
identities in the Northwest of England. Sociology 344: 875892.
Sayer A (2005) Class, moral worth and recognition. Sociology 395: 947963.
Simmel G (1957) Fashion. The American Journal of Sociology LXII 6: 541558.
Thesander M (1997) The Feminine Ideal. London: Reaktion Books Ltd.
Tseelon E (1995) The Masque of Femininity: The Presentation of Woman in Everyday Life.
London: Sage.
Thompson CJ and Haytko DL (1997) Speaking of fashion: Consumers uses of fashion
discourses and the appropriation of countervailing meanings. Journal of Consumer
Research 24(June): 1536.
Warde A (2005) Consumption and theories of practice. Journal of Consumer Culture 5(2):
131153.
Warde A (2007) Does taste still serve power? The fate of distinction in Britain. Sociologica 3:
126.
Workman JE and Studak CM (2007) Relationships among fashion consumer groups, locus
of control, boredom proneness, boredom coping and intrinsic enjoyment. International
Journal of Consumer Studies 311: 6675.

Karen Raerty is a PhD scholar at the Dublin Institute of Technology and lectures
in fashion sociology and consumer behaviour for the college of business. Her
research interests lie in the areas of consumption trends, emotions in consumption,
sociology and the psychic landscape of social class relations.

Downloaded from joc.sagepub.com by guest on December 3, 2014