Date of Award
2005
Document Type
Thesis
Publisher
Edith Cowan University
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
School
School of Marketing, Tourism and Leisure
Faculty
Faculty of Business and Law
First Supervisor
Associate Professor Ron Groves
Abstract
This dissertation explores the `sign' of visible face make-up and examines how women consume appearance in everyday life in contemporary Australia. Using a semiotic framework, it presents a novel new method for interpreting and gaining increased meaning into an everyday consumption phenomenon. The purpose of the study is to gain insights into why women wear make-up. It seeks to provide understanding of what this medium signifies to women and what the `sign' of make-up symbolises to the female individual. It explores how visible face make-up affects the way women consume appearance in everyday life, how they feel about themselves, and the role make-up plays in defining their own self-identity. The study utilises an interpretivist approach and uses a qualitative methodology in the form of phenomenology. The theoretical framework used to underpin this research is semiotics and this study examines the sign of make-up using two different semiotic perspectives previously not used together. The significance of this process is that by combining these perspectives a richer and more in-depth understanding is derived.
Access Note
Some illustrative material is not available in this version of the thesis due to copyright considerations.
Recommended Citation
Ogilvie, M. (2005). The semiotics of visible face make-up: The masks women wear. Edith Cowan University. Retrieved from https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/110