The Brazilian fashion is young, white, and skinny: profile of stylists and models in SPFW between 2013 and 201

Abstract

The body, understood as a medium and as a language which communicates personal tastes, possibilities, as well as cultural continuities and discontinuities, was employed in this article as a study object directed towards the understanding of one among the multiple strands of the workings of current fashion. In order to achieve said goal, a profile investigation of the stylists and participants of that which is considered the greatest and most significant fashion event in Brazil, namely, SPFW, was carried out, with a special focus on the period between the years of 2013 and 2017. Such a time lapse is, therefore, representative of the current dynamics and behaviors of the fashion field regarding this theme. This research is justified by the importance of fashion as a social phenomenon which is materialized in consumer goods which permeate society’s entirety and daily life. It expresses behaviors and national, regional, local, individual and collective identities, becoming an instrument both for and in the investigations about cultural practices and narratives. The justification also comes from the relevance of the fashion segment in Brazil, which plays in the apparel axis an important part in the composition of the national transformation industry, whether because of the monetary worth of its manufacturing or its capacity for job creation. By means of bibliographical and documental research and data analysis, a hegemony of young/adult, white and thin biotypes was verified in the investigated subjects, who therefore represent Brazilian fashion in this way for the country itself and for the rest of the world. Among the authors who provided support for the analysis, some worthy of mention are Bourdieu (1996, 2001, 2006), Del Priori (2000), Mesquita and Castilho (2012), and Santaella (2004).