FASHION IN THE PROCESSES OF CULTURAL SOCIALIZATION : VISUAL MODELS OF FEMININITY

This chapter presents an analysis of fashion as a component of cultural activity that participates in the processes of socialization and the formation of conceptions of femininity within visual culture. The historical evolution of the image of femininity in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries is examined in relation to social and cultural transformations that have shaped changes in aesthetic norms and models of bodily representation. Particular attention is devoted to floral motifs, which are interpreted as a stable visual code formed within cultural traditions and subsequently reinterpreted in contemporary fashion design.It is demonstrated that fashion functions as a mechanism of symbolic communication through which socially significant conceptions of femininity, gender roles, and corporeality are reproduced and transformed. In examining contemporary design practices, it becomes evident that floral motifs are no longer confined to a purely decorative role. Instead, they function as a meaningful compositional and semantic device through which diverse expressions of female identity may be articulated, ranging from conventionally codified forms to alternative, hybrid, and conceptually driven interpretations. The generalization of the findings allows fashion design to be understood as a space of cultural socialization in which visual models of femininity are formed, internalized, and redefined.