Week 3 - Living La Dolce Vita

I have a confession to make, I am not a big fan of women's magazine. If I had to choose between a Vogue magazine or a Reader's Digest, I would choose the latter in a heartbeat. Don't get me wrong, I love fashion, designer bags, the entire of Chanel House and living 'la dolce vita'. But the thought of reading repetitive articles on how to get a man to love you or how to get women into bed or how to stay slim can be daunting. On top of that, I don't like being told how to dress, wear my hair and makeup and how much I should be spending on everything. Having said that, I do not go cold turkey on female magazines. Every once in a while, I'll pick up an issue of Marie Claire for their interesting articles, particularly on females social evolution, inspiring life stories or their personal struggles. So, women's fashion magazine are impossible to resist. On a different note, arising from Dr Chris Woo's lecture on Semiotics, I feel the need to honour Coco Chanel again for liberating women from the constricting fashions of the past. The thought of women in tight corsets and breaking their ribs for the pleasure of men is just bizarre. If not for Coco, we women would not be wearing pants today!! So, thank you Mademoiselle Coco Chanel.

Fashion icon, Coco Chanel

Fashion was torture before Coco Chanel

While we are on the subject of fashion, for this blog entry, I will attempt to analyze the front cover of April 2008 Vogue magazine using the theory of semiotics. The first thing that struck me about this Vogue magazine cover is the unusual combination of basketball player Lebron James and supermodel Gisele Bundchen. 

LeBron-Gisele Vogue cover

Utilizing semiotics to explore a variety of interpretations of the Vogue magazine cover (Griffin, 2009), I shall dissect the elements contain in the front page cover starting with the word on the top of the image, 'Vogue'. The sign printed in scarlet red illustrates the title of the cover and Vogue as we know is a monthly fashion and lifestyle magazine for women. It is also considered as the epitome of fashion and style. Today, Vogue became the fashion bible of modern woman (Winterman, 2007). Generally, Vogue reeks of high fashion and style.

Moving to the image, it denotively shows a huge black man in a black basketball outfit holding a skinny white woman wearing a green strapless dress. The subjects are Lebron James, a 6 foot 9 basketball superstar and top Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen. The image depicts LeBron crouching and dribbling a basketball while holding the petite Gisele by the waist. On a side note, please direct your attention to Lebron's shoes, it is as big as Gisele's leg! The image also show the NBA star snarling at the camera while Gisele smiles benignly. Regardless of skin color; their body sizes and postures draw a striking contrast. In the Vogue cover, Lebron appeared gigantic compared to Gisele and his pose connotes power, fierceness and masculinity as opposed to Gisele who portrays grace and femininity. In my point of view, Lebron dressed in basketball apparel, bouncing a ball and making that facial expression illustrates that he is athlete who brought his competitive spirit on the basketball court into the photo shoot. On the other hand, Gisele clad in a slim fitting dress signifies style and glamour. I have to admit the collaboration was a rather odd one, but this image depicts a sexy and gorgeous woman like Gisele, clad in a designer dress has no problem being around a talented athlete despite his physical appearance and overall presentation.

The photo is anchored with a large caption below the image 'Shape Issue', indicating the Vogue annual issue focusing on women fitness and health. The large written text is accompanied with a slightly smaller caption 'Secrets of the Best Bodies', printed in a red font. Underneath the caption is another written text introducing the identity of the persons in the image “GISELE & LeBRON” printed in capital letters plus another text caption below stating “+ the World's Top Models and Star Athletes”. That caption is intended to inform readers of Gisele's and Lebron's celebrity status.

Through the caption text, it provides readers with a clearer picture of what the image is trying to convey. In my opinion, Lebron and Gisele appearance in the Vogue Shape Issue indicates how beauty and fitness are intertwined. Gisele represents beauty while Lebron serves as a role model for physical fitness. 

'Voguing", the dance craze from the early 90's is also inspired by Vogue magazine. Strike a POSE!

Lastly, it is important to note that this Vogue cover was a subject of controversy as the crafted image has been accused of perpetuating racial stereotypes (USA Today, 2008). It angered people within the black community, citing that Lebron portrayal as 'King-Kong' in contrast to Gisele's tiny figure was racially insensitive and distasteful. I personally don't find this photo provocative, neither offensive. I have seen more controversial images than this. But everyone sees something from their own perspective whether its race, gender, ethnicity or class. Therefore the image is open to different meanings and interpretations.

"A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous." — Coco Chanel

 

References :

Winterman, D. (2007, November 6). The epitome of glamour. BBC News Magazine. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7078859.stm

Griffin, E. (2009). A First Look At Communication Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.

USA Today. (2008). LeBron James' 'Vogue' cover called racially insensitive. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2008-03-24-vogue-controversy_N.htm