Abstract
As is noted in the McKinsey State of Fashion Report of 2022 “the metaverse is
becoming a big business […] As gaming increasingly becomes an extension of the real
world, and with the pandemic supercharging participation, it has become a prime target
for fashion brands.” (McKinsey State of Fashion Report 2022, p. 57). How then does the
deepfake and animation used in digital fashion impact on female body aesthetics? The
impact of the fashion industry on body aesthetics is an area in which much research has
been already done (cf. Rodgers et al., 2017; Record & Austin, 2015), but there are, to
my knowledge, currently no studies that closely investigate the impact of deepfake and
animation on the female body aesthetic of the fashion industry and their influence on
societal body norms. In this dissertation, I apply Richard Shusterman’s (1999)
somaesthetic approach combined with Paul Taylor’s (2016) sarkaesthetic approach to
develop what I assert is a fruitful, philosophical account of the impact of deepfake and
animation on the body aesthetics being promulgated in digital fashion, with a focus on
the female body.
I begin by considering two contemporary examples of deepfake and assert that these
reveal that the female body norms that have traditionally been at the forefront of runway
and fashion modelling – blonde and long haired, stick-thin, white, tall, (eurocentric,
unrealistic, exclusionary and often unattainable) (cf. Jestratijevic, 2019, Rodgers et al.,
2017; Record & Austin, 2015; Mears, 2010; Preti, Usai, Miotto, Petretto & Masala, 2008)
– are still being valorised in the world of digital fashion.
Then, using a combined somaesthetic and sarkaesthetic analysis, I discuss the
ingrained traditional norms and their impact on the female body in the fashion industry. I
argue that deepfake and animation technologies can and should be deployed as
revolutionary tools for designers, creators and consumers to challenge and change
identities, and so-doing, positively impact conceptions of the female body aesthetics in
digital fashion. The impact of deepfake and animation on female body aesthetics,
especially by means of extending the body positivity movement is explored. I argue that
the metaverse can provide a powerful platform to foster the rejection of the ingrained
traditional views on the ideal female body - views that exclude or under-represent
non-traditional female bodies in the fashion world.
Keywords
animation, beauty, biopower, deepfake, digital fashion, diversity, female body,
metaverse, somaesthetics, sarkaesthetics