Would they wear it in Wigan?: Who is the butt of fashion's joke?

Turney, Joanne (2017) Would they wear it in Wigan?: Who is the butt of fashion's joke? Fashion Theory. (Submitted)

Record type: Article

Abstract

In the 1990s, the UK version of the women's fashion magazine, New Woman, featured a small monthly review of what might be considered the more “outlandish” ensembles from international catwalk shows. These images were then taken to the Lancashire town of Wigan, where public opinion polls were conducted as to whether the women questioned would wear said fashions. Other than the alliteration (“Would they Wear it in Wigan?" sounds rather lovely), but much like the tongue-twisting riddle the phrase imitates, the question was not intended for a serious study. This paper considers why a fashion magazine would deem it necessary to identify “unwearable” fashions and ridicule them, but also why this would be done via the straight talking women of Wigan? Likewise, why would fashion advice be solicited from these women, when their response is already implied? The emphasis is that these women would NOT wear “high fashion” and thus fashion is “not for them”. There is a joke here, but who is it on?
So, who is fashion for, and who decides?

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