Title: "Military Chic" and the Rhetorical Production of the Uniformed Body.
Authors: Achter, Paul
Abstract: In this essay I perform a critical analysis of military uniform rhetoric and military design aesthetics in everyday life. I compare and contrast the Army's efforts to codify the meaning of the uniformed body with the appropriation of military uniform elements in everyday dress, from high fashion to sports to the sales rack. I argue that military-inspired styles draw on the positive ethos of the military to capitalize on the pleasures of militarism even as they rely upon the creation of rhetorical distance from the violence of war. The campy, pastiche rhetoric of milchic reinforces traditional views of femininity and cultivates affective participation in state-sponsored violence.
Subjects: CRITICAL analysis; MILITARY uniforms; RHETORIC; AESTHETICS; MILITARISM
Publication: Western Journal of Communication, 2019, Vol 83, Issue 3, p265
ISSN: 1057-0314
Publication type: Academic Journal
DOI: 10.1080/10570314.2018.1536802

"Military Chic" and the Rhetorical Production of the Uniformed Body.

Achter, Paul