Vogue’s 100 years issue

This short essay will examine the cover of the Vogue’s 100 years anniversary issue which featured HRH The Duchess of Cambridge. The semiotic analysis will, at first, explore the signifiers and all the denotative elements and then move on onto the connotative meanings that are intended to the readers.

O’Shaughnessy, Stadler & Casey (2016) define semiology as the science of signs and the idea that all communication is based on them, through certain rules and structures. One important distinction that needs to be done is the relationship between the two sides of a sign: the signifier and the signified. The first is the appearance of the sign while the second, perhaps the most important, is the cultural value and the associated meanings of the sign. In a magazine cover, for example, the signifiers would be the photography techniques used, the font and sizes of the texts and the general appearance whereas the signifieds would be all the messages that are transmitted to the readers through those means.

Signifier and signified also represent the two levels of meaning transmitted by the signs: denotation and connotation. A sign’s denotation is the purely descriptive analysis of it, on a value-free level, but its connotation refers to the set of values and emotions the readers associate with it (ibid). McLoughlin (2000) argues that connotative and denotative elements are equally important as they both convey information about the type of magazine one is reading.

In the specific case of the cover above, the first noticeable factors are the code and conventions of magazines’ language. These are standardised methods of communicating meaning and organising signs, such as the font and the size of the title and the subtitle, and where they are positioned (O’Shaughnessy, Stadler & Casey, 2016). In the first subtitle, The Duchess is addressed by her formal title of Her Royal Highness (HRH) while the second one specifies the recurrence of the anniversary. The picture chosen for the cover is a very bright one where the Duchess, the main focus point, is smiling genuinely in what seems to be a rural and natural setting in the blurred background. She is wearing a white shirt, a leather jacket and a hat that recalls the whole environment, and she is lying towards the reader while crossing her hands and showing the wedding ring on her finger. The colours are simple and neutral shades of yellow and brown that perfectly fit the Duchess’ colours, and the brightness is given by her broad smile and the warm sun that hits her from the left as the camera angle is frontal.

Probably the message behind this cover is one of authenticity since the magazine is portraying an institutional figure and everything, from the colours to the font, suggest that idea of balance and grace. However, the most remarkable element in the picture is the very visible wedding ring which reminds us of the values of the royal family but also makes a statement on the power of the monarchy, that has been stable for a long time through difficulties and changes, just as Vogue has been the leading fashion magazine for a hundred years. It could be argued that it is a case of metonymy which is, as O’Sullivan (1994) defined it, when a single element shows parts of the implied whole meaning. Accordingly, the choice itself of the Duchess on the 100 years issue’s cover may be related to the timeless elegance the magazine is trying to transmit.

References

• McLoughlin, L. (2000) The language of magazines. London: Routledge.
• O’Shaughnessy, M., Stadler, J. & Casey, S. (2016) Media & society (6th edn.). Australia: Oxford University Press.
• O’Sullivan, T. (1994) Key concepts in communication and cultural studies (2nd edn) London; New York: Routledge.