Author(s)

Mao Yunpeng ¹, A. I. Smolik ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ Culturology, Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts, Minsk, 220021, Belarus

Corresponding Author

Mao Yunpeng

ABSTRACT

This article employs Jean Baudrillard's post-structuralist framework to critically analyze the semiotic mechanisms underpinning fashion culture within consumer societies. By interrogating concepts such as hyperreality and simulacra, the study posits that fashion operates as a self-referential system of coded signs, detached from intrinsic aesthetic values. In this paradigm, distinctions between beauty and ugliness dissolve under the hegemony of symbolic codes, which prioritize differentiation and novelty to sustain perpetual consumption cycles. Baudrillard's critique extends beyond material production to reveal how capitalist logic transmutes objects into sign-values, wherein commodities derive meaning through relational differences (e.g., short vs. long skirts). The analysis further explores how luxury brands, such as Chanel, construct symbolic hegemony via proprietary emblems (e.g., quilting patterns), thereby standardizing individuality through mass-produced uniqueness. By deconstructing the illusion of consumer agency, the article underscores fashion's role in perpetuating homogenized desires, wherein aesthetic innovation serves capitalistic seduction rather than humanistic expression. This investigation bridges political economy and semiotics, offering a nuanced critique of fashion's complicity in eroding ontological authenticity within hyperreal consumer landscapes.

KEYWORDS

Jean Baudrillard, post-structuralist framework, semiotic mechanisms, hyperreality, simulacra, symbolic codes, sign-values, symbolic hegemony, capitalist logic, consumer societies, aesthetic innovation, homogenized desires, ontological authenticity, political economy, semiotics, self-referential system, coded signs, luxury brands, proprietary emblems

CITE THIS PAPER

Mao Yunpeng, A. I. Smolik, Jean Baudrillard's interpretation of the essence of fashion culture in the consumer society. Journal of Sociology and Ethnology (2025) Vol. 7: 82-86. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/jsoce.2025.070212.

REFERENCES

[1] Barthes, R. The Fashion System. Trans. S. N. Zenkin. Moscow: Sabashnikov Publishing, 2003. 512 p.
[2] Baudrillard, J. The System of Objects. Moscow: Rudomino, 1999. 224 p.
[3] Baudrillard, J. Symbolic Exchange and Death. Trans. S. N. Zenkin. Moscow: Dobrosvet, 2006. 389 p.
[4] Baudrillard, J. The Consumer Society. Trans. Zhi Gang Qiu. Nanjing: Nanjing University Press, 2014. 82 p.
[5] Baudrillard, J. For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign. Trans. Xia Yin. Nanjing: Nanjing University Press, 2020. 89 p.
[6] Simmel, G. Philosophy of Fashion. Trans. Fei Yong et al. Beijing: Culture and Art Publishing, 2021. 73 p.
[7] Yang, Haifeng. "Critical Analysis of Consumer Society Theories in the Context of Baudrillard's The Consumer Society." Changbai Journal, 2020, no. 2 (3): 53 p.

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