Abstract

Fashionable femininity is a complex discursive terrain. Multiple discourses compete to assert meanings for fashionable femininity and these discourses influence women’s experiences of their bodies. This article focuses upon oppressive and celebratory discourses as two powerful forces within designer fashion boutiques. From philosopher Michel Foucault, I consider how these discourses operate through a boutique “panopticon” and “confessional,” with this analysis illuminating complexities of power within the pursuit of fashionable femininity in boutique settings. This inquiry draws from a study that combined autoethnographic memoir and in-depth interviews with 18 women working in designer fashion boutiques in Melbourne, Australia. I argue that the duality of panopticon and confessional dynamics intensifies lived tensions between oppressive and celebratory discourses beyond the boutique. With fashion part of contemporary ideals of femininity, boutiques become political sites of discursive contest creating contradictions in how the fashionably feminized body is experienced, necessitating constant negotiation without the possibility of reconciliation.

摘要

时尚女性气质是一个复杂的话语领域。多种话语争相主张时尚女性气质的意义，这些话语影响着女性的身体体验。本文重点关注设计师时装精品店中的两种强大力量，即压迫性和庆祝性话语。从哲学家米歇尔·福柯那里，我考虑了这些话语是如何通过精品店的“圆形监狱”和“忏悔室”运作的，这种分析阐明了在精品店环境中追求时尚女性气质的权力的复杂性。这项调查来自一项研究，该研究结合了自传民族志回忆录和对澳大利亚墨尔本设计师时装精品店工作的 18 名女性的深入访谈。我认为，全景式监狱和忏悔动态的双重性加剧了精品店之外的压迫性和庆祝性话语之间的紧张关系。随着时尚成为当代女性理想的一部分，精品店成为话语竞赛的政治场所，在时尚女性化身体的体验中产生了矛盾，需要不断的谈判而没有和解的可能性。