Ana Paiva

Dissertation: In Vogue: The Representation of Indian Contemporary Jewellery Through the Advertisements in Vogue India 2007–9

Vogue magazine published its first Indian edition in October 2007. Being generally known as an ambassador of fashion, in India the magazine is expected, according to the welcoming messages included in its first issue, to bring order to chaos, to redefine the language of fashion and to act as a certificate of status in the global world of fashion.

The number and visual impact of jewellery advertisements in the magazine is striking. Most of the jewels surpass the ones featured in western advertisements, in dimension, volume and amount of precious stones. The majority of the jewellery advertisements by Indian brands feature fair-skinned and western female models in very seductive poses. The clothes worn by the models fall into the category of evening dresses, and rarely into what one could call the Indian dress, such as the sari or the salwar kameez.

This research aims to understand if the representations of the jewellery in the advertisements are linked to changes in society, or in the social roles played by men and women, for instance the increasing number of working women, or even to fashion changes, such as the abandonment of the sari for the dress. This study will attempt to establish that the presence of such a high number of advertisements is directly related to India’s historical passion for jewels and its relationship with the body, but also to the country’s perception of images and visual connections.