The Language of Fashion

‘Blue is in Fashion This Year’ 43

8. a full link must supply me then with at least three pieces of
   information: a signifier, a signified and a support for the meaning. as
   these links are fairly numerous in fashion magazines, I can risk making
   a list of them which conforms to the following model:

I can classify these data in two ways: by signifieds or by signifiers.
This would be a difficult one to choose between if I was dealing with a
vast corpus of materials, with statistical importance analogous to that
of linguistics, for example.^7 But since the list concerns models that
are purely qualitative, it is not difficult for me to try and establish the
two sets of classifications. The first will give me all the ‘morphemes’
of one single signified; I will find out, for example, that the signifiers
for ‘romantic’ are: chiffon, lace, batiste, Swiss cotton, lawn, organza,
flounces, hats with veils, headbands; here I am in the same situation
as a linguist having to list all the different markers for the plural form
(-s, their, etc.). But in the same way that the ‘s’ is both a marker of the
number and of the person (she sings), so organza is the established

Signified: Signifier(s):

Five o’clock Satin

Support for meaning

(or object aimed at by it):

A dress

Expression of meaning

(phraseology):

Elle, no. 611

‘To give an air of.. .’ Reference: