AOW # 23: Visual

In the February issue of Vogue, a magazine that millions of women all over the world read for fashion and entertainment, the selections for “FLASH – Talking Fashion” column was called “Gilded Age,” featuring seven images of women wearing gold and sparkly evening dresses. The main text for the collection reads, “A metallic sheen can be more than just an accent as the Red Carpet’s brightest strike gold.” This alludes to the context of the piece; thousands of people watched the Grammy Awards, where popular musicians performed their pieces and the best artists were voted for prestigious award. I had a personal context for noticing this page: the title, “Gilded Age” reminded me of our APUSH discussions about how Twain sarcastically called the time period after the Civil War “The Gilded Age” because the time saw many new advancements and developments in America, which gave the political, social, and economic corruption that were also important characteristics of the era a ‘golden cover-up’. This suggests that a possible purpose of the piece (other than to remind viewers to watch the Grammy’s) was to slyly criticize the ‘golden cover-up’ to today’s time also; there are many political, social, and economic problems America and the rest of the world are facing today, yet so many members of the upper class are spending millions of dollars on expensive, fancy outfits and other unnecessary commodities when they could be using the money to help others who are less fortunate. The audience Vogue is trying to attract with this topic are those who watched the Grammy Awards and those members of the upper class (and perhaps those who know of the historical American “Golden Age”). Notable rhetorical elements included placing, sizing, and shapes; Vogue editors knew that the bright, gold dresses could be overwhelming and confusing to look at, so they placed the rectangular pictures in straight rows to simplify the page. But the pictures were different sizes, which avoided the piece from being boring and monotonous.