Embracing diversity and body positivity: the role of marketing in fashion markets and culture

One of the most recent conceptualizations of marketing in the modern society defines marketing as an institution that is instrumental in and part of the process by which consumers’ desires are culturally imagined and formed, and not simply fulfilled from a consumption standpoint (Atik and Firat, 2013). This is particularly prominent in the fashion context, where consumers do not simply address clothing or personal adornment choices, but larger individual, social and cultural needs, embodied in all spheres of life (Levy and Czepiel, 1999). Over the last decades, fashion brands have mainly run marketing campaigns promoting an unreachable body image perfection. However, this approach did not seem to fit into recent evolutions in consumer culture, where inclusivity and self-acceptance play a predominant role. Indeed, today’s contemporary fashion advertising increasingly embraces imperfection and diversity that shape new models of beauty, affecting consumer perceptions and behaviors in fashion apparel markets. So, fashion brands that have been promoting unreachable aesthetic norms now seem to be struggling and need to revise their marketing efforts, as it happened for Abercrombie & Fitch and Victoria’s Secret. Against this backdrop, this chapter sheds light on the role of marketing in forming contemporary cultural beauty imageries in fashion through the presentation of three case vignettes in the context of luxury and fashion brands, the field where aesthetic perfection was more pushed by marketers. These highlight how different breakthrough fashion brands’ campaigns – (i) inclusive fashion runways; (ii) body imperfection; and (iii) genderless capsule collection and communication campaign – contributed to marketing’s institutional role in the construction of more inclusive fashion markets.