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IS BLENDING INTO SOCIETY A PRIMARY CONSUMER GOAL FOR DRESSING DOWN? Marc Amram, Eunah Choi and Namhoon Kim ABSTRACT Are consumers tired of standing out? This study probes whether or not fast fashion understands the implicit behavior of their customers while dressing up or down. Retailers tend to market their more ready-to-wear (dress-down) fashion product in an approach that allows the customer to customize the outfits to become easily ‘‘me-self,’’ through a big selection of accessories for men and women such as hats, glasses, and scarves. Versus the dress-up look that echoes with conforming to social norms. Today marketers seem to misunderstand the tendency that when one dresses down they often seek to blend in more with the environment rather than display their own personality through fashion. The study extends the literature through explicating the process of picture introspection and member check using confirmatory personal introspection (CPI). Even though when one dresses down you would expect more individuality, according to the findings the subject sample was also more inclined to blend in society and stand out less. In the dress-up look Luxury Fashion and Culture Advances in Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Volume 7, 67–89 Copyright r 2013 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1871-3173/doi:10.1108/S1871-3173(2013)0000007007 67 68 MARC AMRAM ET AL. there was a strong call for displaying features of a powerful and strong individuality. Keywords: Auto-driving through photography; member check; fast fashion; situation; emic and etic interpretation; hegemony versus individuating INTRODUCTION Nonverbal visual narrative art (VNA) is one of the oldest forms of human storytelling and sense-making (e.g., from cave painting to modern digital photography) and remains a major form of communication in the 21st century. Megehee and Spake (2012) convey imagery and meaning of events in the story. Looking at photo albums introspectively is a process that started around the 1830s with the developing of the first photographs (Hirsch, 2000). The daguerreotype is one of the premier photo cameras that became popular to meet the new demand for portraits that emerged from the rise of middle class during the Industrial Revolution. This demand, which could not be met in volume and cost by oil paintings, added to the push for development of photography. Photography as a process has since then become ever more popular. At first people would go to a photo studio; now they are able to take instant color photos from their personal cell phone. This study here proposes and empirically examines how consumers interpret their own use of fashion through self-introspection of photograph and member check. This extends Hirschman’s (1986) call to other researchers to provide member checks. This process helps to transform the implicit meaning of the dress of the subject in his environment into analytic thinking by reviewing the photograph in varied situations. His study explicates the process of confirmatory personal introspection (CPI), including the example of a photograph of three students with their personal interpretation while dressing up or down. On the one hand the findings extend the view that consumers of fast fashion are more interested in blending in society rather than personalizing outfits while dressing down. On the other hand, while dressing up we seek not to conform to social norm but rather to display strong self-identity. The study seeks to challenge the general train of thinking that when one dresses down one seeks to personalize more, and when one dresses up one Is Blending into Society a Primary Consumer Goal for Dressing Down? 69 tries to conform to the tradition. In Ichheiser’s (1949) terms, the individual expresses himself by acts intentionally or unintentionally, and the others in turn have to be impressed in some way by him. LITERATURE REVIEW Thompson and Haytko (1997) claim that consumers use fashion to define their social distinctions and boundaries, to construct narratives of personal history, to interpret the interpersonal dynamics of their social spheres, and to transform conventional social categories. They believed when consumers encode themselves by fashion, a series of tensions exists between consumers’ sense of individual agency (autonomy issues) and sensitivity to sources of social prescription in their everyday lives (conformity issues). Adopting a point of view ‘‘situation’’ is effective, when we try to understand consumers’ behavior. Situations, which are distinguished within the environment as momentary concepts, represent distinct sources of influence on consumer behavior (Belk, 1975). Hansen (1972) states, ‘‘the question must still be asked how the individual transforms the situational input to behavioral output, which makes it necessary to look at the individual’s internal processes.’’ Investigation of the effect of ‘‘the situation’’ on behavior would make a valuable contribution to both psychology and marketing. Most human thinking is unconscious. To collect data on unconscious thnking, Woodside (2004) suggests a multiple-methods approach such as CPI (Woodside, 2004), long interview (McCracken, 1998), auto-driving (Heisley & Levy, 1991), and member checks (Hirschman, 1986). These are useful to surface the unconscious thinking. In these processes, the informant asks interpreting and answering questions to himself or herself or is asked by another researcher. These kinds of approaches allow the informant to confirm both the belief and evaluations held consciously and unconsciously. CONCEPTUAL MODEL This study confirms Thompson and Haytko’s (1997) view that a single hegemonic outlook fails to be representative and lacks sufficient details of how consumers combine, adapt, and juxtapose to fit the conditions of their everyday lives. It is unique in describing the contents and tension-resolution dialogues consumers have with themselves, with traditions and situations. See Fig. 1. 70 MARC AMRAM ET AL. Situation Person Behavior (Stimulus) (Organism) (Response) Stimulus-Organism-Response Paradigm. Fig. 1. Strong Individuality Situation Dress Up Autonomy (Standing out) Low tension Dress Down Conformity (Blending in) High tension Strong Hegemony Fig. 2. Conceptual Model. This study describes the familiar paradigm of stimulus-organism-response integrated within the main thinking of Thompson and Haytko’s model, ‘‘consumers’ appropriation of countervailing cultural meaning.’’ Everyday before people go out, they encounter the moment when they choose what to wear for the day. In this study, we laid two ‘‘situations’’ into this moment: dress up and dress down. We propose that when people are in the situation of dress up, they try to emphasize their identity. They care less about the other person’s thinking or the traditional rules. In this dress-up-situation, the individuals themselves represent a strong autonomy where tension between individual and tradition is low. On the other hand, when they are in the situation of dress down, they try not to stand out and fit into the group where they belong to at that moment. These personalities really care about conformity – if they fit into other people’s perception, the tension between the individual and tradition (other people) is high. See Fig. 2. METHOD Three master students in South Korea, Seoul, self-selected each other and formed a group. The group is composed of a 27-year-old Korean female, a 27-year-old Korean male, and a 23-year-old Swiss male living in Seoul for one year (Table 1). Seoul is a city where fast-fashion retail is omnipresent and has a culture where each situation is immortalized in a photograph. Is Blending into Society a Primary Consumer Goal for Dressing Down? Table 1. (a) (b) (c) 71 Participant Description. Gender Age Name Description Female Male Male 27 23 27 Eunah Marc Namhoon Korean worked in fashion industry Swiss living in Korea Korean Articles regarding personal introspection and member checks were reviewed before each member selected two photographs: one everyday at home, dress-down look and one at a special event, dress-up look with two distinct hair and dress styles. Once the picture is selected, each wrote a 500-words auto-driving report answering six questions describing their dress and hair in each photograph. Data Analysis The data analysis is split in three main parts. First analysis is the personal introspection of the subject in the photograph while writing an auto-driving. Second analysis is a member check, which is reviewing one by another, such as (a) reviewed (b), (b) reviewed (c), and (c) reviewed (a). Third and final analysis is a response by the original auto-driving person to each member check statement. First,the auto-driving report was guided by the following six questions: (1) What does each photo tell about the person in it? (2) What is attractive and/or attractive about the person in each photo? (3) What brands appear in each photo, if any? (4) What do these brands indicate about the person in the photo? (5) Does the photo indicate the person is happy/sad, strong/ weak, and very friendly/unfriendly? (6) What else does each photo say about the person in it? Analysis of a photograph is similar to that of a VNA as the analysis is an ongoing and integrative process that has gradually evolved throughout the interpretation phase (Woodside & Megehee, 2010). Second, member checks were conducted to strengthen the validity of the interpretations. This constant comparison allowed data to collections (photographs) and analysis to intermingle, a strategy particularly useful for exploratory research (McCracken, 1988). Third, the auto-driving author read the statement by the member check and commented on it. This enabled the author to consciously understand what kind of image he is pouting out. This confirmation process and 72 MARC AMRAM ET AL. subsequent refinement of interpretations concluded the analysis phase (Megehee & Spake, 2012). FINDINGS Case (a) Dressing Up Auto-driving by Eunah (a). I think the long hair itself is my identity, but sometimes I feel tired of the long straight black hair. I cannot cut them because I would feel like losing my identity when I cut it. Therefore, I started to buy wigs; one of them is a shortcut-style wig as shown in this picture and when I wear it, it makes me feel stronger. Especially in Korea, yellow bright hair is a sign of rebellion. So a short yellow wig makes her feel stronger and escape from the real ‘‘her.’’ Also, because each individual’s body parts are permanently attached to the body, those parts are expected to express one character in a more distinguished way than material possessions which are temporary, easily acquired, and discarded (Belk, 1988). Member check by Marc (b). Reading the story of Eunah permits the reader to see how she describes herself throughout the transformation process to display her strong rebellious side. While interpreting her autodriving report, it shows how extremely conscious the subject is about fashion, and how she consciously thought out her fashion to ‘‘help perceive her as a strong, chic, and professional person.’’ Like, for example, through wearing skinny black pants and high heels. According the me the most important statement is her Prada bag, which enables her to fulfill her transformation into a strong ‘‘business woman’’ by fully using the archetype of the brand, represented by the ‘‘Change Master’’ archetype enabling transformation, self-improvement, and self-mastery. The protagonist’s unconscious thinking, relating to customer and brand experiences, fulfills one or more archetype identified by the storyteller (Jung, 1981). As a western person I could not imagine myself going out into the street wearing a wig, unless at a Halloween party, suffering from a disease that would make me lose my hair (even then I would probably just shave to a bold hair) or being a Hasidic Jewish woman. I personally feel that wearing a wig is a very strong step toward transformation. More so the wig enables the protagonist to fully individuate; through dressing up Eunah is making a Is Blending into Society a Primary Consumer Goal for Dressing Down? 73 clear statement that she doesn’t belong any more to the group of highschool girls and now she is the one showing them around. Response to member check by Eunah (a). I love the word ‘‘transformation’’ that Marc used in the member check statement. The wigs help me to change my image dramatically. Rook (1985) found that when a body part is more highly connected, there is greater use of grooming products to care for this part of the body. Hair is an important part of my body that identifies me, and I ‘‘transform’’ myself by using a number of styling products – wigs. Also the part that he addresses in archetyping brand experiences is interesting. He describes Prada as a ‘‘Change Master.’’ He once asked me what I mean when I say that the image of Prada is chic and strong. I answered, ‘‘Think about Chloe, the lovely, girlish, and fragile brand.’’ Each brand has its archetype. And by possessing the product of each brand, such as jewelry, automobile, make-up, and clothing, people try to define their sense of self (Solomon, 1986). Dress Down Auto-driving by Eunah (a). A cap is not a fashion item, but just the final solution of hiding me when I am not ready to go out or show up in front of people. So the cap doesn’t need to be fashionable or notable but should be really simple and neat. Also it should match with the clothes I am wearing. I really don’t care which brand the cap is, but I don’t want the cap to show big logos on it. The cap should not disturb the harmony of this relaxed day’s look and not display signals of conspicuousness. It is just covering my hair well. When I am wearing a cap, I just act silently, trying to pass incognito and not talk too much. Belk (1988) reports that human exists not only as individuals but also as collectives. There are a number of such levels of self. When we are in a group or public, we exist as both a unique individual by exposing ourselves or just as a part of the group by not standing out. In those cases (when she dresses down), she used a specific item (cap) harmonizing with her relaxed look to be ‘‘normal’’ like the others. Member check by Marc (b). The picture of the subject trying to conform to society in a way to create the least tension in order to be able to ‘‘stay under the radar’’ so that she doesn’t bring up attention is very clear. Even while eating she didn’t remove her glasses or cap! The girl looks attractive to me; if no one had told me the reason why she would wear a cap and glasses, I could not have guessed it was in order to gain time to get ready. To me it 74 MARC AMRAM ET AL. seems that all those details are a way to enhance her and not hide, so well done! Response to member check by Eunah (a). Marc reports in his member check statement that he likes the style with cap and sunglasses. I realized that a fashion product could be differently used and recognized by different people. Some use a cap to conceal themselves while others use it as a fashion item. I am also very happy to read that he thinks my dress-down look is well done. This means all of my items are well-matched, not disturbing each other and not looking ridiculous. Case (b) Dress up Auto-driving by Marc (b). The expression on his face is not very friendly. This impression is enforced through the car he is leaning on and which seems almost part of him. The car in the background represents certain aggressiveness with its oversized front grill; the same statement goes for the protagonist, showing an equal presence. The person in the photo seams strong, pumping its strength from the Chrysler car and the suit he is wearing. Moreover, the position of the legs crossed and the hands in the pocket display strong unsociability. Member check by Namhoon (c). Sometimes the individual will act in a thoroughly calculating manner, expressing himself in a given way solely in order to give the kind of impression to others that is likely to evoke from them a specific response he is concerned to obtain (Goffman,1973). I have never seen him wearing a suit. Maybe on this particular day he has an important meeting like a job interview or business meeting. He looks smart and being part of an elite when he wears a suit. For this reason people sometimes try to wear a suit to express better than usual. Besides he has taken a picture in front of a Chrysler. The image of Chrysler is powerful and strong. So even though he is not the owner of that car, he can get his image from the background image of Chrysler. Response to member check by Marc (b). I was touched when I read: ‘‘For this reason people sometimes try to wear a suit to express better than Is Blending into Society a Primary Consumer Goal for Dressing Down? 75 usually.’’ I asked myself, if given that on a daily basis I don’t wear a suit, the image I project is not good enough. This statement made me question myself if, due to my social responsibility, position, and environment I live in as a Master’s student in South Korea, I should redefine the image I project through my fashion. I was far from realizing that the simple fact of wearing a suit could transform me so much to the outside gaze. Dress Down Auto-driving by Marc (b). My way of dressing as shown on this picture reflects the Western consumer values, having learned to combine thorough knowledge of fashion merchandising and adapting it to culturally available resources to create a new, personalized fashion style reflecting my personality. The person in the picture seems to be self-confident, sure of himself, and socially well-adapted by following the conformity rules of society without a need to dress up or down to provoke any reactions by the environment. On this photo I portray a western guy, in Seoul, sitting alone on a table, even though the place might be buzzing of people. Even though the person in the photo seems to be secluded in a bubble, alone, in a coffee shop on a busy street, he is ‘‘connected’’ through the smart phone by a conversation he is currently involved in. He seems to correspond to the model in which their fashion sensibilities are grounded in a socially negotiated set of rules of interpretational and aesthetic standards (Jenkins,1992). Member check by Namhoon (c). He seems to be a man who works for a fashion company or studies fashion. He doesn’t miss the color combination even though he dresses down; he wears a blue-navy color V-neck t-shirt and white-colored jeans. Navy and white are one of the best color combinations. Even if he is not involved in fashion, he has a good sense it. He puts the sunglasses in the middle of his V-neck t-shirt for a fashion statement. That can be interpreted as a fashionable dressing down look. Response to member check by Marc (b). This comment is quite flattering. I am a person that doesn’t care about combination on a day-to-day basis, but I try to only buy clothes that match the overall style of my wardrobe, so that almost everything can intermatch! I am not a big shopper, but I have very high standards on quality and cut for my clothes. 76 MARC AMRAM ET AL. Case (c) Dress up Auto-driving by Namhoon (c). My ex-girlfriend likes that hairstyle and I want to grow my hair before I graduate from university, because it is uncommon to grow hair like that in a traditional Korean office environment, unless one works in the music or art industry. I can’t do that. In Korea, it is not easy to keep hair like that because of the social recognition and the conservative approach of many elderly Koreans. Especially, Korean people are very sensitive about social recognition. So if someone does something out of common, it will be perceived very strangely in Korea. Member check by Eunah (a). It seems that he is recalling one of his happiest days from the past. Auto-driving (self-narrative, introspection) method is not just asking questions about opinions or reasons, but encouraging people to narrate about themselves in their life or particular situations Rosenthal (2003). As Shultze (1984) proclaims, the effect of selfnarration is ‘‘interrelations and passages of experiences have been made explicit to be won back for a consistent concept of identity for the respondent.’’ The first time I saw this picture, I thought he was a musician or an artist. He also comments in his auto-driving interview that people who met him asked if he was involved in music. Goffman (1973) addresses people trying to make their first image strong by presentation of self. In everyday life, first impressions are important. He said his hair was long because his girlfriend wanted him to be like that, but I think that is not the whole reason for growing his hair. It seems that he was enjoying to be perceived by people as an artist and making his first impression this way intentionally. Response to member check by Namhoon (c). Again, the first impression is very important. There are no instruments in my photo. But Eunah also said that he looks like a musician or an artist. I just have long hair. Longhaired guys are artists, where as tidy or short-haired guys are perceived to be good office workers in Korea. It means that it is not easy to express individuality. Second, I have an outgoing personality. So I am prone to do things just to get attention from other people. I often enjoy it. If I am an introvert person, it is hard to express personality especially in Korea. Is Blending into Society a Primary Consumer Goal for Dressing Down? 77 Dress Down Auto-driving by Namhoon (c). Most New Yorkers are used to walking a lot in Manhattan. So they want to wear comfortable clothes but still look fashionable. This is what I tried to match while being in New York. I didn’t put gel or anything in my hair to express more naturalness. And blue and white color is a nice combination in summer, fitting any summer style in 2011. Don’t choose one thing, fashionable or comfortable; take both of them. That is the best way to be more stylish. Member check by Eunah (a). Goffman (1959) reports, ‘‘Sometimes he will intentionally and consciously express himself in a particular way, but chiefly because the tradition of his group or social status requires this kind of expression and not because of any particular response that is likely to be evoked from those impressed by the expression.’’ Although he presented this photo as his dress-down look, I thought that this is perfectly welldressed-up look. He said, in New York every person tries to wear easy fashion but also tries not to be ‘‘unfashionable.’’ That is a kind of New Yorkers’ social rule. He, as an individual, living in New York, was sensitive to the group he was in. Response to member check by Namhoon (c). One important thing is where you live. If I lived in the country with nature, I don’t need to wear the same style as in New York. That means man is a creature of his environment. For example, people who want to study fashion or art usually go to New York, Paris, London, or Milano. Because it is easy to be strongly influenced by regions, the area where you live can influence people how to wear and act. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION Going through the process of analyzing the different situations of dressing down and dressing up have clearly demonstrated that the situation cannot be ignored when trying to understand the role of fashion in the presentation of self. The type of situation (dress down or dress up) is the antecedent of whether the protagonist will experience high or low tensions. Interpreting photographs through the three different steps – from the first step of emic auto-driving to the second step of etic member check to the final step of emic response by the original auto-driving author – enables the study to develop very deep understandings of the respondent. System-1 thinking 78 MARC AMRAM ET AL. (automatic, implicit, holistic, old, emotional, low-effort, visual, and primal) (Evans, 2003) plays a large role in the consumer’s decision on how to dress up. The study was able to bring out unconscious thinking, emotion-based associations, brand-personality attributes, affective-based motives, and other attributes of the brand that cannot be easily captured in more logical, quantitative methods of research (Megehee & Spake, 2012). This process of auto-driving and then interpreting the member check has been uniquely fulfilling, pleasurable, and possibly healing for the artist (Rosenthal, 2003). This technique has possible managerial implications for fast-fashion merchandising that consumers of fast fashion are more interested in blending in society rather than personalizing outfits while dressing down. On the other hand, while dressing up, we seek not to conform to social norms and rather to display a strong self-identity. 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Journal of Consumer Research, 24(1), 15–42. Woodside, A. G. (2004). Advancing from subjective to confirmatory personal introspection in consumer research. Psychology & Marketing, 21(12), 987–1010. Woodside, A. G., & Megehee, C. M. (2010). Creating visual narrative art for decoding stories that consumers and brands tell. Psychology and Marketing, 27, 603–622. 80 MARC AMRAM ET AL. APPENDIX A: AUTO-DRIVING BY EUNAH (A) Dress Up This is actually not my ‘‘best’’-dressed-up picture (Fig. A.1a), but I chose this because of the hair. When I was a middle-school student, girls’ hair shouldn’t be longer than 3 cm below the ears under the school regulation. After I graduated middle school, my hair has never been shortcut style. It has been always long. I mean, very long. Usually my hair color is natural black or dark brown and it’s naturally straight, but sometimes I make it curly by drying. Then what happened to my hair in this picture? Yes, I’m wearing a wig. I could never cut it very short or dye it very brightly. My hair always used to be long and dark and it became my trademark. And now I think the long hair itself is my identity. Sometimes I feel tired of the long, straight, black hair but I can’t cut it because I would feel like losing my identity when I cut it. So I started to buy wigs. A wig can make me look different, and allows me to escape from my real self. Fig. A.1a. Dress-up Look of Eunah (a). Is Blending into Society a Primary Consumer Goal for Dressing Down? 81 Especially a shortcut-style wig as in this picture makes me feel stronger. It gives me a masculine feel. So when I want to be perceived as a strong, chic, and professional person, not as a lovely and fragile girl, I wear the short wig. That day I was participating in a palace touring program as staff. The participants were high-school students and I was in charge of leading them. I wanted to be differentiated from the students as a staff, and not be perceived as a young, small girl. And the wig worked well. To match the image of a strong, chic person with short blond hair, I wore a black skinny jeans and black heels with sharp, pointed toes. High heels make me feel more confident and help me swagger more. On the top, I wore a white silk blouse inside and a blue cashmere sweater on it. The blouse has big but delicate details on neck and wrist with feathers of ostrich. It was from the very first collection of a new brand by a Korean designer at that time. In a magazine advertisement of the brand, the main model was wearing that blouse and I bought it immediately. The blue sweater was a birthday gift from one of my friends. He had bought it from his trip to New York. Lastly, the bag is Prada. It almost looked like a men’s briefcase. It had an A4-sized rectangular shape and cold beige oxford texture. The bag’s handle as well as the surrounding edges and sides of the bag are made of dark brown leather. The logo and crest of Prada was embroidered in front of the bag with the same beige color so that the brand could not be recognized easily. I liked the subtle expression of brand name on this bag. In terms of make-up, I drew a strong eye line but skipped the mascara because it could be pretty girlish. Dress Down A day when I really dress down is usually when I have no time to wash my hair in the morning. What a shame! My hair is long and heavy, so it takes pretty much time to wash and dry. So if I get up late sometimes, I wear a cap. Wearing a cap is very unusual for me. A cap is not a fashion item but just the final solution of hiding my hair, which I wear when not ready to go out or show up in front of people. So the cap doesn’t need to be fashionable or notable but should be really simple and neat. Also it should be matched well with the clothes. I really don’t care which brand the cap is, but I don’t want the cap to have a big logo on it. Actually, wearing caps is really uncomfortable. It feels like a cap squeezes my head (Fig. A.1b). 82 MARC AMRAM ET AL. Fig. A.1b. Dress-down Look of Eunah (a). In this picture I am wearing a light-orange cotton cap. It is my sister’s. To tell the truth I don’t even have my own cap! The cap in this picture is made with vintage cotton, so it fits relatively more comfortably than others. Also it does not disturb that day’s look. It’s just covering my hair well. When I am wearing a cap, I just act silently. I try to be recognized by nobody and not talk too much. What I keep thinking is, I just want to finish the schedule and go home as quick as possible. Usually with a cap, I wear sunglasses. Sunglasses are more related to make-up. Of course, I also have no time to put on make-up if I get up late. Then the sunglasses hide my no-makeup-eyes perfectly. On that day in this picture, I am wearing big sunglasses to hide my eyes. I don’t like a simple small T-shirt because it makes my body look thinner. I usually wear a big T-shirt or one that has a big motif on it. In this picture I am wearing a light-pink cotton T-shirt that has a long boat neck so that it can emphasize my long neck and collar bone. And it does not show in this picture, but I was wearing short jeans, exposing my legs. In summary, on this day, the point is hiding and exposing. I didn’t like to attract other’s attention because I was not ready with my hair and make-up, and so I just wanted to avoid people by covering my hair and eyes. But on the other hand, I made sure it wasn’t very ugly and mismatched. The very ugly and messy look could reversely not only attract the attention of all but also I cannot stand being ugly myself. Is Blending into Society a Primary Consumer Goal for Dressing Down? 83 APPENDIX B: AUTO-DRIVING BY MARC (B) Dress Up The photo (Fig. A.2a) displays a young man, wearing a suit, white shirt, and shiny black shoes. He is not looking particularly friendly. He seems to be waiting for someone, maybe a date for a formal dinner or overlooking a situation that he won’t join. His outfit is very formal and his hairstyle is combed in a traditional manner. The man looks attractive, well-groomed, and neat. The formal suit, in a subdued gray color, is well cut and the fabric seems to be of excellent quality. However, the expression on his face is not very friendly. This impression is enforced through the car he is leaning on and which seems almost part of him. No brands can be recognized in this picture. But the suit is well cut and the viewer can deduce the involvement of either a good tailor or a good brand ‘‘behind the scene.’’ Fig. A.2a. Dress-up Look of Marc (b). 84 MARC AMRAM ET AL. The Chrysler 300 is a major part of the photo covering almost the whole background. The car represents a certain aggressiveness with its oversized front grill; the same statement goes for the protagonist, showing an equal presence of aggressiveness. The person in the photo seems strong, pumping its strength from the Chrysler car and the suit he is wearing. Moreover, the position of the legs crossed and the hands in the pocket display unfriendliness. Through this photo I, the protagonist, do not allow much interaction at an emotional level, using the suit and the car as well as the very organized hairstyle as a shield for perfection. FMET is a tool for surfacing metaphors for use in researcher introspection. FMET includes naming an animal that first comes to mind during an event (Woodside, 2004), in our case during the instant of the picture. I would compare the man to a tiger. He seems well adjusted as long as nobody gets in his way or bothers him, but I think that he is also capable to bite or jump at anybody who tries to disturb him or come too close without being invited. Dress Down The person portrayed in the photo (Fig. A.2b) looks like a young man in his early 20s taking a relaxing day out of office. Maybe he is going for a day around town with friends and organizing the upcoming outing on the phone. My way of dressing as shown in this picture reflects the Western consumer values, having learned to combine thorough knowledge of fashion merchandising and adapting it to culturally available resources to create a new, personalized fashion style reflecting my personality. ‘‘He seems to correspond to the model in which their fashion sensibilities are grounded in a socially negotiated set of rules of interpretational and aesthetic standards’’(Jenkins, 1992). When I look at this photo of myself, I can see through my fashion and hairstyle my mood and state of mind. My uncombed hair and scruffy look signify that it is not business work time. I look like somebody with a strong character, friendly, enjoying the good things in life and self-confident. ‘‘The desire to be unique is formulated in terms of an anti-conformist narrative that expresses a theme of autonomy and independence’’ (Thompson & Haytko, 1997). In this picture I am wearing white pants and a simple V-neck t-shirt reflecting a sunny summer day, definitely not conforming to the norm of the Is Blending into Society a Primary Consumer Goal for Dressing Down? Fig. A.2b. 85 Dress down-look of Marc (b). traditional blue and black pants as common among the Korean young businessmen. The picture pouts out a statement of a person that is going to enjoy the day, taking it easy, but nevertheless still displaying a loud fashion statement wearing bright white jeans. The person in the picture seems to be self-confident, sure of himself, and socially well-adapted by following the conformity rules of society without a need to dress up or down to provoke any reactions by the environment. In this photo I portray a Western guy, in Seoul, sitting alone on a table, even though the place might be buzzing of people. My facial expression is not exceptionally attractive and pretty unique as I have my tongue sticking out, maybe because I am talking on the phone or licking my lips after a sip of coffee. No brands appear in the photo, showing that the person is not influenced by the preset perceptions that we have of logos. When I look at the person in the photo, he seems happy and relaxed with a strong and confident personality; due to his leg position, a sense of friendliness can be sensed. The position of his left arm could be interpreted 86 MARC AMRAM ET AL. as a strange body language, but I would be more inclined to attribute it to a relaxed mood by just placing it above the right arm. Even though the person in the photo seems to be secluded in a bubble, alone, in a coffee shop on a busy street, he is ‘‘connected’’ through the smart phone by a conversation he is currently involved in. Looking at this picture, I would identify myself with an eagle given the striking look on my face. It gives me an expression of being focused as well as very far-sighted and scanning the distance for something. Is Blending into Society a Primary Consumer Goal for Dressing Down? 87 APPENDIX C: AUTO-DRIVING BY NAMHOON (C) Dress Up I wear longer hair than other Korean guys, white shirt with red color sweater, navy jacket, and red pocket-square. It was not easy to choose this photo (Fig. A.3a) because the day I took this picture it was Christmas, maybe with my ex-girlfriend. This photo brings bitter–sweet memories. At that time, my ex-girlfriend liked that kind of hairstyle and also I wanted to grow my hair before I graduated from university, because it is uncommon to grow hair like that in normal Korean offices,except as musicians and artists. Anyway I dressed up for Christmas. I wore a jacket with a sweater. I didn’t wear a tie because I did not want to look too formal. But I had a point with red color pocket-square. Red color is the symbol of Christmas and it mixes well with navy color. The red color can be seen all over in the street especially in the winter during Christmas season. And again, I don’t like to appear wearing branded logos. But if it has a character, I can accept it. For example, the Polo Ralph Lauren logo is like a polo game player. It contains the history of polo. In my opinion, it depends on what kinds of logo they are. If someone suggests me to grow my hair like that in the picture, I can’t do that now. In Korea, it is not easy to wear long hair because of the social recognition. Many Korean old people are conservative. Lots of oldfashioned people go out with horse and buggy. So that is a reason why I tried to be more progressive. Fig. A.3a. Dress-up Look of Namhoon (c). 88 MARC AMRAM ET AL. Dress Down First, I wear white pants, work denim shirt with playboy logo t-shirt, boat shoes, and sunglasses. I was on the way to have a cup of coffee with my friend. Nice weather, good friends, and wonderful place to make me feel happy (Fig. A.3b). Now I am going to tell you what I wanted to say in the photo. I was in New York when I took this picture. As you know, New York has certain unique characteristics compared to another city. Most of New Yorkers like to wear clothes that are fashionable and also comfortable because they are used to walking a lot in Manhattan. So they want to wear comfortable but still fashionable outfits. This is the reason why I chose this photo to explain what dressing down means to me. ‘‘Is that dress-down look?’’ someone may think like this. But I think it depends on the person. First of all, the work denim shirt is my favorite item because it is so characteristic of American casual, and I also rolled up the sleeves to express more comfort. Sunglasses are required to protect eyes from strong sunshine. White pants and navy-color boat shoes are a good Fig. A.3b. Dress-down Look of Namhoon (c). Is Blending into Society a Primary Consumer Goal for Dressing Down? 89 combination. Lastly, I didn’t want to miss making a point so I wore playboy logo t-shirt to add wit. Actually, I don’t like to wear any brand logos on my clothes because I don’t want to be a common person who wears the same branded clothes as others. But the playboy logo represents not only a brand but also a symbol for being sexy and cute. So I wore this t-shirt. And I didn’t put gel or anything in my hair to express more naturalness. My look and color combination shown are comfortable and stylish. That is a tip when I wear a dress-down look.