Fashion, the media and age: How women’s magazines use fashion to negotiate age identities

Abstract

The article explores the role of women’s magazines in the negotiation of later life identities, focussing on the treatment of fashion and dress. It locates the analysis in debates about the changing nature of later years with the emergence of Third Age identities, and the role of consumption in these. Focussed on the treatment of fashion and age, it analyses four UK magazines: three chosen to represent the older market ( Woman & Home, Saga, Yours), and one to represent mainstream fashion ( Vogue). It is based on interviews with four editors and analysis of the content of the magazines. The article analyses the media strategies that journalists use to negotiate tensions in the presentation of fashion for this group and their role in supporting new formations of age. This article forms part of ‘Media and the Ageing Body’ Special Issue.