Feast Of Fetishism

Victoria's Secret is a multiple shop for female underwear.This company holds fashion show every year since 2015.In these fashion shows,there would be several themes in every show.In the show of 2016,which was held in Paris,models wore designed underwear and special wings,walking on the stage.This thesis aims to analyze three aspects of fetishism,which are reflected by signs in Victoria's Secret Fashion Show: sexual fetishism,commodity fetishism and signifier fetishism,to reveal fetishism behind this show and the commercial aim of this brand.This thesis consists of five parts.The introduction part includes the brief introduction of Victoria's Secret and its shows and the theory of fetishism,literature review,the significance and structure.Chapter one analyzes sexual fetishism in signs in Victoria's Secret Fashion Show such as models,underwear and wings,with the theories of Sigmund Freud and Alfred Binet.Chapter two investigates commodity fetishism in Victoria's Secret Fashion Show by analyzing the signs of stage and lights,singers,brassiere with gold and gems with the theory of Karl Marx and some other theories of neo-Marxists.Chapter three focuses on signifier fetishism and studies on signs such as background voices,themes and brand effect,and analyze how these things conceal and deepen fetishism with the theories of Jean Baudrillard,including his theories of consumer society and simulation.Finally,this thesis comes to the conclusion that fetishism in the show influences people's consuming behaviors from perspectives of psychology,economy and society,distorting relationship between human beings.Consumers should see the aim and nature of the show and build up a rational consumption view.