Digital Commons Network^™

The Semiotics Of Visible Face Make-Up: The Masks Women Wear, Madeleine Ogilvie

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This dissertation explores the `sign' of visible face make-up and examines how women consume appearance in everyday life in contemporary Australia. Using a semiotic framework, it presents a novel new method for interpreting and gaining increased meaning into an everyday consumption phenomenon. The purpose of the study is to gain insights into why women wear make-up. It seeks to provide understanding of what this medium signifies to women and what the `sign' of make-up symbolises to the female individual. It explores how visible face make-up affects the way women consume appearance in everyday life, how they feel about themselves, and …