Fashion and style as speeches: appropriation of symbols globalizing fashion for low-income groups

Abstract

This article aims to contribute to the discussion of the symbolic dimension of consumption, specifically emphasizing the consumption of fashion references for low-income groups, from field work - involving individual interviews, observation reports and conducting focus groups - held between residents of a neighborhood on the outskirts of Santo Andre- SP. Among the aspects of the discourse on consumption, we focused on the forms of appropriation of original or replicas and the opposition between fashion and style as driven categories in the interviews when referring to their motivations as consumers. The aim is to analyze how the notion of style - associated with the idea of choice and driven by respondents to oppose fashion - is constitutive of an ideology that advocates the calculation and individual choices as characteristic of contemporary societies.