CHAPTER ONE

                                                                                                   INTRODUCTION

• Information

The consumer is the central focus of fashion marketing (Burns, Mullet & Bryant, 2011). An understanding and application of consumers’ appearance management decisions and actions to fashion product development and marketing, is the ultimate competitive tool that leads to the success of every fashion business. Kaiser (1997) stated that appearance management encompasses all thought processes and activities leading to the purchase and use of clothing items as well as processes of body modification such as makeup and hairstyling techniques. Lee & Johnson (2009) also mentioned that appearance management behaviours range from the routine such as apparel selection to the extreme such as surgical procedures. Appearance management therefore is a highly observable behaviour (Johnson, Francis & Burns, 2007) as all humans engage in some form of appearance management everyday (Kaiser, 1997).

However, the level of involvement and concerns related to appearance management differ among individuals (Kaiser, 1997) and cultures (Johnson et al., 2007). These individual differences are due to the tendency of humans to be distinctive individuals as well as conforming members of their society (Solomon & Rabolt, 2004). Individuality and conformity are predispositions that form the basis of all fashion behaviours (Eicher & Sumberg, 1995).

Management of one’s appearance is an important aspect of daily living of consumers as it serves several purposes. It is a means of adorning the body (Johnson, Yoo, Kim & Lennon, 2008). It acts as a communication tool to reflect personality, mood and emotion (Moody, Kinderman & Sinha, 2010), reflect self-concept (Entwistle, 2000), as well as express identity (Feinberg, 1992). Furthermore, first impression is formed based on the appearance of an individual (Johnson, Schofield & Yurchisin, 2002), which in turn affects an observer’s behaviour towards the individual (Kim & Lennon, 2005).

The significance of appearance management cannot be overemphasized. It is not surprising that as far back as 1601, Polonius stated in William Shakespeare’s play entitled “Hamlet”, “for the apparel oft proclaims the man” and in 1927, Merle Johnson cited the undocumented old adage by Mark Twain, “clothes maketh the man”. Additionally, Greek philosopher, Aristotle (384-322 BC) stated, “personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of reference”. These statements support the fact that one’s appearance with regard to what one wears is a silent language, carrying a symbolic meaning that counts in judging one’s character and background, among others.

The most important concept for success in the fashion industry is that the company needs to know its target market, and provide the right merchandise desired by its customers at the right place and time (Burns et al., 2011). As a result, fashion marketers conduct research to explore the social and psychological factors that influence consumer lifestyle (Keiser & Garner, 2012). The social factors that influence appearance management have been found to include cultural expectations (Rudd & Lennon, 2000), identity (Newholm & Hopkinson, 2009), and agents of socialization such as the family (Ogle & Damhorst, 2003), friends (Lee & Johnson, 2009), school (Gillen & Lefkowitz, 2009), and the mass media (Adomaitis & Johnson, 2008). The psychological factors include body image (Rudd & Lennon, 2000), self-concept (Kaiser, 1997), mood, emotion (Moody et al., 2010) and personality (Goldsmith, 2002).