I don’t particularly read fashion magazines but I like to be aware of fashion and what’s going on in the fashion world. Partly because the way fashion magazines sell fashion amuses me. And partly because it helps me understand, why some women dress the way they do. Fashion magazines don’t sell reality, they sell a dream. An unattainable dream which I have seen some women try to emulate and achieve all their lifetime. Sometimes I wonder, if it is a frivolous pursuit.

So when I saw Michelle Obama on the cover of Vogue and Vogue India, I was pleasantly surprised. Because for me Obama is not really a fashionista. She totally defies the stereotypes of what a fashionable woman should be all about. She is an intelligent, hard working woman who has embraced fashion. She is not the typical fashion model or a beauty queen. She is someone who doesn’t bat an eyelid before getting her hands dirty in a garden. She is not ‘white’, she eats pizzas, she doesn’t have flowing hair, she doesn’t have a pencil thin body, she is married and she doesn’t give sultry looks.

I think she totally defies the stereotype that intelligent women cannot be fashionable and vice versa. I think Obama brings meaning to fashion. It is not she who is in want of fashionable image, but fashion is in want of more women like her. Who are ordinary, yet charismatic. Who stand up for values, yet fun.

I have always liked fashion, but I have received very typical reaction from friends who think – how I can like fashion if I am intelligent? or I can’t really serious or intelligent if I like fashion? I wish I come out of these stereotypes, sooner than later….

Cell phones are fascinating to me. I still remember my first experience of buying a cell phone in 2003. I was in India. I was very clear about the kind of cell phone I wanted to buy. It had to be a Nokia and a slim phone. The design aspect of cell phone was very important to me, probably because of my aesthetic inclinations and the fashionable image that I wanted to project. 

When I came to the USA in 2004, I was still concerned by the fact that my cell phone should look stylish and must have all the latest features in it. It definitely had to be better than the one I had in India. However, in a couple of months my ideas about cell phone changed. While in USA, the most important aspect of having a cell phone was to be able to connect with my family in India.

It was this realization that cell phones are not only a communication device but also have a cultural dimension that made me want to investigate the various roles that cell phones play in our lives. I was interested in learning about how and why the meanings of cell phones change in our lives. Because while I was in India, it was the cultural aspect of cell phones, that is, its fashion potential was extremely important and when I came to USA, its ability to help me connect with my family became important. The changing context and circumstances had impacted my ideas about cell phones and its role in my life.  

Although communication is what cell phones are primarily designed for, the cultural or the fashion element associated with cell phones can’t be neglected.  

In his book, Cell Phone Culture, Gerard Goggin (2006) explains the importance of investigating the cultural dimension of cell phones. He explores the cultural dimension of cell phones through various standpoints – history, production, design, consumption, representation, and media convergence. He uses the example of cell phone manufacturers such as Nokia to illustrate how producers of cell phones have projected cell phones as an object of desire. He then discusses the text messaging culture, which he says is an example of how consumption of cell phones has led to emerging cultures. Thus cell phone culture, he concludes, is created by both its production as well as consumption.

Katz & Sugiyama (2005), on the other hand, explore cell phone culture to show that the fashionable image of cell phones is co-created by both the industry and the consumer.  According to them, the cell phone marketing and advertising has promoted the fashion element associated with mobile phones. Youth, modernism and futurism are recurrent themes in mobile phone advertising. Similarly, marketers have emphasized on stylish design, elite status and fashion aspect of mobile phones.

To understand whether the consumers perceive and use cell phones they conducted focus group interviews and surveys with college students in a US university. Their discussions with students led them to believe that a kind of “third-person effect” was operating. That is the students said that they themselves use cell phones as a necessity, but the others use it for its style dimension. Therefore, they noted that there is a similarity between the images of cell phone as promoted by the industry and as perceived by the young consumers. However, the cultural contexts have a significant impact on the cultural meaning of cell phones. Therefore, there may be a difference in the way a Chinese or Japanese may use the fashion potential of cell phone.   

Both these studies suggest that cell phone cultures are both actively produced and consumed. That there are several aspects of cell phone culture, for example, the fashion element associated with cell phones is both produced by the industry and perceived by the consumers. Whereas something like text messaging culture is more consumer driven. Further the cultural contexts in which cell phone cultures are produced and consumed cannot be neglected. (to be contd.)