The Femme Fatale in Vogue: Femininity Ideologies in Fin-de-siècle America

Abstract

This article explores how marketing influences ideologies of femininity. Tracing the evolution of femme fatale images in Vogue magazine in 1890s America, we develop a typology around four archetypal forms of the femme fatale that prevailed during this period. In doing so we respond to calls for more critical historical analyses on femininity. While studies on masculinity ideologies proliferate, there is a paucity of research on dissonant representations of femininity in popular culture media. The femme fatale, often a self-determined seductress who causes anguish to the men who become involved with her, is an intriguing and enduring challenge to traditional notions of femininity. Thus, in studying the femme fatale in her historical context and revealing the multiplicity of feminine ideologies contained within this trope, we contribute to a deeper understanding of marketing’s role in both reflecting and reinforcing societal assumptions, attitudes and problematics around gender norms.

Problematizing the Postfeminist Gaze: A Critical Exploration of Young Women’s Readings of Gendered Power Relations in Advertising

“…The ad for Liquid Plumr (Figure A3) features a White male (“beefcake”) model and has working-class (blue-collar) connotations. The ad for Dolce and Gabbana (Figure A4) – referred to in the text as Dolce and Gabbana I – portrays a “self-determined seductress” consistent with representations of femme fatale figures (Minowa, Maclaran, and Stevens 2019, p. 1); although the female model largely conforms to heteronormative beauty standards, the references to Byzantinism may hint at a foreign (exotic) aesthetic. She is also surrounded by six men of indeterminate ethnic origin.…”

“…Beginning in the 1990s, advertisers began marketing female empowerment by portraying women as autonomous and empowered subjects, not constrained by inequalities or power imbalances, but as embodying active, confident, and autoerotic sexualities for themselves (Gill 2008). Today, there exist many variations of the empowered female subject in popular culture, including the young, heterosexual, desiring midriff, always "up for" sex; the vengeful woman determined to punish her (ex)partner for his transgressions; the femme fatale, who uses her sexual attractiveness not only to feel empowered, but to exert power over men; the hot lesbian kissing or touching other women while embodying the norms of heterofeminine attractiveness; the career woman blending conventional feminine codes with individual empowerment in the workplace; and the housewife reclaiming domesticated femininity and pursuing a life of leisure and luxury (Gill 2008(Gill , 2009Minowa, Maclaran, and Stevens 2019;Munford and Waters 2014). Recently, advertising portrayals have begun to incorporate a wider range of intersectional imagery, incorporating diversity across multiple dimensions at once, e.g.…”

“…Macromarketers have long been interested in how marketing and consumption-related activities at the individual or firm level occur within and derive meaning from larger systems (Saatcioglu and Corus 2019). Accordingly, gender research within this discipline tends to focus on how gender is produced and reproduced over time (Brace-Govan 2010; Minowa, Maclaran, and Stevens 2019; Yazdanparast et al 2018) and how depictions of gender reflect and shape societal values (Gurrieri, Brace-Govan, and Cherrier, 2016; Minowa, Maclaran, and Stevens 2014). Less research has explored how meanings of gender are shaped by the interplay of wider socio-historical discourses, market systems, and consumers’ lived experiences.…”

Hidden in Plain Sight: Building Visibility for Critical Gender Perspectives Exploring Markets, Marketing and Society

“…A number of papers consider the area of representation . Most recently Minowa, Maclaran and Stevens (2019) examine how feminine ideologies are influenced by marketing. Once again an historical perspective is utilized as the authors assess images from Vogue magazine in the 1890s.…”

“…As well as the specific contexts mentioned above, it is important to emphasise that 6 of the 25 articles have a key historical dimension to them (Branchik 2002; Fullerton and Punj 2004; Hupfer 1998; Minowa, Maclaran and Stevens 2019; Walsh 2011; Witkowski 1999). Thus, the existing articles in the journal provide not only a rich discussion of issues in relation to gender, markets, marketing and society, there is also an in-depth historical element to these discussions, with issues varying from the portrayal of femme females in Vogue magaizne in the 1800s, to how kleptomania has been examined in the predominantly male psychiatric community since the nineteenth century.…”