I just tend to wear what I like: contemporary consumption and the paradoxical construction of individuality

Abstract

Recent theoretical arguments about the inter-locking of identity and consumption pose a challenge to individuality. We explore this initially through literatures relating to the paradox that arises from the role of the (fashion) code and the use of social groupings in the production of the self through consumption practices. Then we explore individuality through narrative data collected by multiple methods in two studies. Detailed analysis of consumption accounts shows the marking of one’s individuality to be an important, if often precarious, accomplishment. Rhetorical devices we associate with this accomplishment include the rejection of the dictates of mass fashion and branding, the development of a personal choice rationale and the definition of the self as somehow different from a mass other. We argue that the consumer paradox exists but is more or less successfully resolved through such devices. In resolution of the paradox we suggest that while the consumer collective is semiotically represented, representations of individuality are adequately and locally narrated.