In what was a golden age of British advertising, the notion of the 'peacock male' was a strong theme in fashion promotion, reflecting a new affluence and the emergence of stylish youth cultures. Based on a detailed study of rich archival material, this pioneering study examines the production, circulation and consumption of print, television and cinema publicity for men's clothing in Britain during the second half of the twentieth century.
The study explores design issues and period style in advertising, the role of market research and consumer psychology in determining target audiences, the idea of the 'new man' in representing fashionable masculinities, and the various ways that menswear retailers and brands dealt with sex and gender, race, class and age.
From y-fronts to Austin Reed suits to Levi's jeans, menswear advertising epitomised the themes, stereotypes, contradictions and ambiguities of masculinity in an age of great social change. This meticulously researched and detailed work of scholarship will be essential reading for students and scholars of fashion, history, sociology, advertising, media, cultural and gender studies.
Author(s): Paul Jobling
Series: Dress and Fashion Research
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Year: 2014
Language: English
Pages: 272
City: London
ADVERTISING MENSWEAR
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
PART ONE GOING FOR A BURTON: MENSWEAR ADVERTISING FROM AUSTERITY TO AFFLUENCE, 1945–57
1 The Post-war Market for Men’s Clothing
2 Menswear Advertising: Agents, Accounts and Audiences: ‘Will It Be Seen? Will It Be Remembered? Will It Be “Accepted”?’
3 The Economics of Press Advertising
4 The Design and Rhetoric of Menswear Press Advertisements
5 The Art versus Commerce Debate
6 Poster Publicity and Menswear
7 Early Commercial Television and Menswear, 1955–60
8 The Impact of Consumer Psychology and Motivation Research
9 ‘Feeling with’ and ‘Feeling into’: Appealing to Men and Women
10 The Turn to New Consumers and Youth Culture
PART TWO THINKING YOUNG: MENSWEAR ADVERTISING AND THE GENERATION GAME, 1958–78
11 Sedimenting the Youth Market
12 Cinema and Television Advertising for Menswear
13 Menswear Advertising in Newspapers and Magazines
14 Poster Publicity and Menswear
15 ‘You Bring the Body, We’ve Got the Clothes’: Publicity for Tailors
16 From Dummies to Dandies
17 Ironing out the Creases: Artificial Fibres and Menswear Advertising
18 Synthesizing Sex: Publicity for Artificial and Natural Fibres
19 ‘Cloth for Men’: Wool and the Whisper of Darker Things in Dormeuil’sTonik Press Campaign, 1968–75
20 Looking Good, Feeling Good: Materiality and the Interplay of the Senses
21 Getting More for Your Money: Menswear Publicity and the 1970s Recession
PART THREE LEADER OF THE PACK: JEANS ADVERTISING SINCE THE 1960s
22 The Jeans Market and Advertising between 1950 and 1985
23 Levi’s 501: Back to the Future?
24 Here Comes New Man—Again
25 A Soundtrack for Consumerism: Music, Image and Myth
26 More Than Just a Number: A New Style of Advertising for the 1990s
27 Racial Sameness and Racial Difference
28 From ‘Mothers’ to ‘Flat Eric’: Race, Gender, Age and Generation
Epilogue: Getting the Right Fit—Objects/Images/Readers
Appendix I: Advertising Agents and Menswear Accounts, 1945–2000
Appendix II: Menswear Advertising, 1945–80s: Illustrators andPhotographers
Appendix III: Television, Film and Radio Advertisements for Menswear in Britain, 1955–2000
Appendix IV: Levi’s Press, Poster, Cinema, Radio and Television Advertising Campaigns in Britain, 1968–2000
Bibliography
Index
