Scope...

·       scope: state the limitations/perimeters of research area

·       aims & objectives: what do you hope to achieve. Include clear statements of intent.

·    research methods: explain where the information has/will come from. Could include a brief review of key secondary texts or justify approach to primary research.  Highlight any potential problems/gaps in research and how they will be overcome.

In my Dissertation I will be looking into how image-editing software such as Photoshop has influenced and distorted our observation of the female in fashion editorial (Magazines). For this I will be reading several books such as; Naomi Wolf’s ‘The Beauty Myth’, ‘The Body Snatchers: How the media shapes women’ by Cyndi Tebbel. I read Magazines all of the time, such as Vogue and Wonderland and it is clear to me that women in these magazines are thought of a lot as objects and can be disposed of at the editor’s discretion. A magazine like this is made up of advertisements featuring women, which are highly airbrushed and edited to make them look unrealistic just to sell a product. These kinds of Magazines also include clothing that is ‘in fashion’ and women feel the need to buy it to feel worthy and accepted. Clothes usually go out of fashion quite quickly and trends do not last, its one thing after another all to make money. There are usually beauty pages included here as well. These show women what they should look like and tutorials of how to fit in the latest trend along with tons of products you can buy to do this. Women are never quite good enough for these magazines, on every page there is something that a women should be doing, whether its walking a dog, looking wafer thin, wearing ridiculously high shoes for a perfume or sat on a train with outrageously pretty models, wearing fur to advertise a bag for Louis Vuitton.

This is the kind of thing I will be looking in to. I will also be looking into areas such as models with eating disorders and drug problems and how it is widely ignored in the industry but yet so plain to see.

I will also be looking into sexual discrimination in the fashion industry and how it is usually the women that are seen as not good enough and need to change the most ‘Female sexuality is turned inside out from birth, so “beauty” can take its place, keeping women’s eyes lowered to their own bodies, glancing up only to check their reflections in the eyes of men.’ (Naomi Wolf – The Beauty Myth, pg 155, Sex).

I will write about how it is usually women, which do not feel good enough and feel the need to change their image through things such as make-up, surgery, weight and styling. They also feel the need to ‘touch-up’ photographs or get rid of what they consider a ‘bad’ photograph.