Journal of Fashion Business (패션비즈니스)

The Korean Society of Fashion Business (한국패션비즈니스학회)
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Characteristics of Fashion Memes in Vetements based on the Playfulness of Mikhail Bakhtin's Carnival Theory

미하일 바흐친(Mikhail Bakhtin) 카니발이론의 유희성을 중심으로 본 베트멍(Vetements)의 패션 밈 특성

  • Yun, Jiae (Dept. of Clothing & Textiles Changwon National University) ;
  • Park, Hyewon (Dept. of Clothing & Textiles, Interdisciplinary Program in Senior Human Ecology, Changwon National University)
  • 윤지애 (창원대학교 의류학과) ;
  • 박혜원 (창원대학교 의류학과, 시니어휴먼에콜로지 협동과정)
  • Received : 2020.12.01
  • Accepted : 2021.01.19
  • Published : 2021.05.30
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Abstract

The development of the Internet has led to the emergence of an internet meme culture using duplication. This phenomenon has appeared in the fashion field as 'fashion memes' and its playful expression has helped it to spread. Vetements is one of the well-known brands that actively incorporates fashion memes into their fashion. The purpose of this study was to examine the playfulness of Mikhail Bakhtin's Carnival Theory and identify the playful identity, design characteristics, and implications of Vetements' fashion memes in light of Bakhtin's playfulness. The research methods were literature research and collection case analysis, and empirical content research was conducted in parallel. The scope of this study was fashion memes shown in the products from 2017 S/S to 2019 F/W. The study results showed that Bakhtin's playfulness could be divided into "playfulness in the destruction of hierarchy", "playfulness in grotesque imagery" and "playfulness in the emphasis on the lower bodily stratum". Based on these findings, the playful identity of Vetements' fashion meme images can be described as follows. First, it breaks down the existing order of fashion brands like the destruction of hierarchy in Bakhtin's theory. Second, it is grotesque; it is strange, eerie, yet ridiculous at the same time. Third, it is a playful metaphor of contamination, filth, and lower stratum. The modes of embodiment of such identity include Vetements' collaboration with famous brands, the use of cheap items, and the expression of genderless ideas.

Keywords

References

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