In this image, it’s quite obvious that the woman figure dominates the picture. She is standing in front of the natural light source which significantly highlights her face contours and her eye level, which is much higher than the man sitting next to her. One of her arms is raised straightly pointing to the sky, making her body further elongated and firmly positioned, which to me can be recognized as a metaphor to the Statue of Liberty. Her right arm and left leg align as almost perfect parallel lines, steadily forming a statement, powerful and determined. Her slightly tilted right leg gives potential motion to the body, as if she is about to forward. Her bent left arm, making her weight lay on her left foot. In this way the arms level forming a leading line which eventually converges to the level her feet, forming a half steady triangle, further imposing her powerful figure. On the contrary, the man sitting right by her feet seems to be laying in a much more relaxed and comfortable position, as if he is relying on his mate and under her protection. He is also looking into the direction that the woman is looking, but with softer eyes. This softness also reflects on his curly hair, which provokes his subjectivity to the woman beside him, who has long and straight hair. His arms and feet also form three negative spaces with the background, however, it’s more like an assertion to his dependence to the other half of the image. His left hand and his head can be traced in a line back to the woman’s left rising arm and head. Together, they form a right triangle, stressing a secure relationship. However, the gender role in this image is completely flipped to our common knowledge. The girl is in complete control and stands as the lead of this advertisement. Therefore, I believe it’s safe to say this advertisement is to promote a feminist message and had targeted their female costumers at independent working woman. As in “Women in Clothes” Stein stated that, “Though I’ve had a lot of clothes in my life, a few have stood out–not the most beautiful or most flattering, just pieces that, for one reason or another, at a certain moment in my life were invested with powers–had the capacity to transform me every time I put them on.[1]” This advertisement successfully associates women with a powerful and successful image of themselves, which acted as a helpful campaign.
[1] Sheila Heti, Heidi Julavits, and Leanne Shapton, Women in Clothes: Why We Wear What We Wear (London: Particular Books, 2014)
Bibliography
Heti, Sheila, Heidi Julavits, and Leanne Shapton. Women in Clothes: Why We Wear What We Wear. London: Particular Books, 2014.
