She’s Got the Look: The Representation of Ideals of Beauty in Contemporary Fashion Magazines

Abstract

This paper reports data from an ongoing program of research intended to explore the ways that beauty is represented in mass media. Building on prior research that identified a finite universe of “looks” used by industry experts to categorize fashion models, we present the results of a content analysis of major American fashion magazines that explores the relative preponderance of different looks, and the degree to which these beauty types “match up” with or are at odds with the images of brands with which they are linked in contemporary fashion magazine advertising.