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Adjusting the cut: fashion, the body and age in the UK high street

Twigg, Julia (2012) Adjusting the cut: fashion, the body and age in the UK high street. Ageing and Society, 32 (06). pp. 1030-1054. ISSN 0144-686X. (doi:10.1017/S0144686X11000754) (KAR id:34533)

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Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X11000754

Abstract

The article explores the interplay between bodily and cultural ageing in the provision of clothing for older women, examining how design directors of UK clothing retailers act as cultural mediators, shaping the ways in which later years are imagined, experienced and performed at an embodied level. Based on interviews with clothing retailers with a significant involvement with the older market: Marks & Spencer, George at Asda, Jaeger, Viyella and Edinburgh Woollen Mill, it analyses the contexts in which they design, discussing: the potential of the grey market; the association of fashion and youthfulness; and the tensions between lifestyle and age in the formation of the market. It explores the ways in which they adjust the cut, colour and style of clothes to meet the requirements of older bodies and the changing cultural interpretations of these, addressing debates around the interplay of bodily and cultural ageing, and the role of consumption in the constitution of age. Reflecting both the cultural and material turns, it argues for the need to expand the social gerontology imaginary to encompass wider sources shaping the meanings of later years.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1017/S0144686X11000754
Uncontrolled keywords: fashion, clothing, body, consumption, design, marketing, grey market
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
Depositing User: Mita Mondal
Date Deposited: 05 Jul 2013 10:19 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:11 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/34533 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Twigg, Julia.

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