Graduation Term
2014
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
School of Communication
Committee Chair
Joseph Zompetti
Abstract
This thesis examines how urban street styles are used rhetorically within local boroughs in New York City as a form of resistance to the dominant fashion industry that dictates what is "in fashion" through media. A total of fifteen video blogs developed by The New York Times were analyzed, each containing a representation of one of the five boroughs of New York City: Staten Island, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Queens. The analysis identified themes of a rhetoric of style, consisting of primacy of text, imaginary communities, aesthetic rationales, market contexts, and stylistic homologies. These themes were then analyzed by drawing upon neo-Marxist and semiotic theoretical concepts. Findings from the analysis suggest that individuals engage in street styles as a form of anti-fashion to convey cultural ideologies, which can possibly be used to create societal change.
Access Type
Thesis-Open Access
Recommended Citation
Pineda, Amber, "Fashioning a Rhetoric of Style: a Rhetorical Analysis of Urban Street Style Representations in New York City" (2014). Theses and Dissertations. 121.
https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/etd/121
DOI
http://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2014.Pineda.A