Aspects of the construction of a politicised female identity in South African fashion photography

Abstract

This dissertation questions and expands currently held notions of traditional fashion identities in South African fashion photography. The impetus for this study stems from observations of a relatively low level of political engagement in local fashion photography as compared to other areas of art and design which seem very enunciative of a politics of identity. Investigation of identity politics in South African fashion photography was informed by a staged investigation. Firstly, accounts of a literature review of fashion theory and key theories of identity allow entrenched constructions of fashion representations to be seen as restrictively politicised. Primary investigation of expert fashion views followed. The concepts of hybridity and fluidity in theories of identity were central to the discovery of alternative politicised fashion identities