The Mirror Men: An integrated approach to profiling male fashion innovators in London by using self-concept and gender theories

This thesis is a multi-disciplinary study that explores the notion of 'fashion innovativeness' of male consumers in London. In contrast to traditional marketing and consumer studies the thesis redefines 'fashion innovativeness' in terms of 'sexuality' rather than just gender or sex.

The study exclusively utilises 'sexuality' within two conceptual spaces: the first one in the form of community-constructed environments as actual consumption platforms, and the second one as abstract, transitory, or experiential spaces, in which a male feels comfortable expressing or acknowledging his sexuality.

The focus of the thesis relies on the conceptual intersections between the two and what links the signs and codes of such fashioned looks and appearances at various levels, rather than the space(s) in which they are captured, staged and negotiated. These spaces are explored and links are drawn through the literature review, enabling an amalgamated framework to be developed for empirical analysis.

This postmodern approach provides an empirical insight through the tools of Questionnaires and Content Analysis and examines the correlations between fashion innovativeness, magazine readership, and self-concept for male fashion consumers in London in the intersection of such conceptual spaces.

The results produced suggest that they are broadly consistent with the theoretical framework and demonstrate the value of using ‘self-concept’ and ‘gender’ theories together within a marketing context, which makes for a divergent 'self' that strongly differs from the traditional perspectives of 'fashion innovativeness' that are employed to define and market to male sample groups.

The empirical analyses conclude that the novel method developed by this thesis enables fashion brands to identify the distinctive personality characteristics of fashion innovative males and market their products more effectively and efficiently to both heterosexual and homosexual groups at the same time, without suffering from any ‘crossover’ communication effects.

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