LA AuToRiDAD DEL

would give some to my siblings and then go travelling.”(l. 779ff)

Characteristics of Katrine

Katrine is the epitome of a creative person. She uses her innovative skills to create her own unique personality and identity and utilises the surrounding world and media to get inspira- tion, all in order to approach her hoped for self. Just like Cecilie she has a very obstinate atti- tude towards certain types of consumer behaviour and is very attentive to how she does not want to be perceived. Therefore Katrine is very aware of who she is and who she wants to be and is very reflective in relation to how thing are interconnected and how signals are in- terpreted by other. As such she is self-promotional and pays a lot of attention to how differ- ent consumptions objects can support her identity construction because of their signal value.

Self image

It is quite obvious that to Katrine self image and appearance are interdependent. She has a quote on her collage saying “clothes that speaks” (l. 184, which exemplifies this correlation, but also illustrates how the fashion system transfers meaning to the goods. Katrine elabo- rates on the correlation in the following:

“*...+ clothes may say something about a person or a personality. Besides saying ‘she looks good in this outfit’ or ‘she looks funny in this outfit’, it *clothes+ is allowed to show something more. I mean girls who wear naughty clothes all the time send certain signals. I just think that if you wear a lot of colours and details it says that you are lively and dare to try out things. Therefore I think that appearance tells something about a person besides personal style.” (l. 185ff)

In relation to her sense of self she describes how her own personal style reflects her own creative mind just like her love for painting and photographing does. This reflects how pos- sessions help Katrine define who she is and contributes positively to her consumer identity construction – “this is me”

The one thing that really whetted Katrine’s appetite for a unique and personal style was Sex and the City. She explains how that series is one of the contributors to her creative and cou- rageous sense of self (l. 17ff + 130ff). It obviously does not only affect her style but also her self-esteem as she indicates how her experimental style also has had an effect on other parts

of her identity – not only signal wise but also experiential wise. In the case of Sex and the City she relies on the shared meaning inherent in the common symbol system allowing her to assume that her interpretation of reality is reasonable with the interpretation of others. (McCracken, 1988)

Before Katrine became an individuality-seeking girl in relation to style she was a community- seeking girl. She explains how her personal style only has changed within the last couple of years hereby indicating that a role transition has taken place. In extension hereof she nar- rates about how she was a follower in lower secondary school and just dressed like her friends even though the clothes rarely suited her. Then in the first years of high school she dressed very classical before she began to dress more uniquely. When Katrine looks back at how her style has developed she expresses how all her looks have had an impact on her style today - she has learned what is her and what is not her during the years (l. 111ff). As she reflects on the aspect of getting older in relation to fashion, she says: “*...+ when you get a little older you follow fashion but you also see what suits you and fits you instead of just fol- lowing it blindfolded” (l.121ff) . This illustrates how the independent and self-reflective sym- bolic consumption increases with age. Thus, in relation to attaining a unique style consump- tion and identity construction are closely related and certain objects can be said to support Katrine in her acquisition of new and more mature and individualistic role.

Katrine’s creativity and large focus on personal style is clearly a result of her need to differ- entiate but she also indicates how she has ambivalent feelings towards this: “*...+ I like to differ but not too much, because I actually do not like to be the centre of attention as it makes me really shy *...+ I like to transgress boundaries but still feel comfortable” (l. 193ff). Thus, she obviously derives the symbolic meaning from a very private resource, that is, her experience of standing out. As such she uses her personal style in order to approach her hoped for self as being unique meanwhile having in mind her feared for self – as being too self-promoting.

An interesting factor that Katrine mentions, as playing an essential role in relation to her appearance, is others’ appraisal and recognition. It is known that others are an important mirror through which we see ourselves and so it is in Katrine’s case (Belk, 1988). Even though she states that she is not afraid of taking chances and trying out new and different

outfits she pays attention to the feedback from friends. She explicates how it is among the girls that recognition counts the most: “*...+ I think that girls think a lot about whether other girls can see that you are wearing the newest new or something different [...] It is also among the girls you prefer to get the positive reactions” (l. 43ff). This illustrates that Katrine derives the symbolic meaning from a private resource, that is, her specific experience with other girls’ responses.

Katrine also expresses how different looks and therefore signal values fit different situations and recipients. She narrates how going out often is linked up with shorter and tighter clothes as it is often more addressed to the boys but meanwhile expresses how the difference is not so drastic in her case: “*...+ to me, there is not a big difference between dressing for party and school, maybe a detail or so, but it is not great. Maybe I dress a bit more daring at parties [...] it is something about pushing the limits. It means that you dare to put on a little extra or take and extra thing off” (l. 59ff). This exemplifies that she is aware of the common under- standing of dressing up but obviously relies on the private meaning of a party dress instead – making it look cool and different instead of making it look sexy. Hence she connects this ex- perimental behaviour in relation to clothes with getting drunk as she explains how this is often related to doing things you otherwise would not have done. As such she obviously re- lies upon the social information inherent in different outfits to shape her self-image and maximize the quality of her role performance in various situations (Solomon, 1988).

When Katrine is experimenting with new things, details in particular, she gets inspiration from a lot of different places among others Sex and the City, as mentioned earlier, maga- zines and travelling abroad. In her narration she explains what she uses these inspirational sources for: “If I think something is cool I either save up for it or make it myself *...+ I make a lot of the things I see myself because then no one else has them, I get them exactly the way I like and they cost a fraction of the ones in the magazines“(l. 132ff). This illustrates how the inspirational sources contribute in helping Katrine maintain her identity as being creative and unique. Katrine’s self-made creations also represent another way of incorporating pos- sessions into the self – appealing to her own sense of self (Solomon, 1988).

There is no doubt that Katrine is well aware of her self-identifying possessions reflecting her- self as a unique individual – what is her. This is also underlined by her dissociation from the

mainstream look as this is not her (l. 91ff). She clearly expresses how she does not want to be pigeonholed with specific others:

“I have the exact same shoes at home *pointing at the collage+ but I cut out the price be- cause I did not what you to think I paid DKK 3500 for them. I bought the exact same for DKK 850 [...] I think it is all the prejudice about people from up north where I come from. There you leave the DKK 3500 price tag on and use them once. I have just never, or maybe that is what everybody says, but I have always been taught to save up for things or work for it *...+.”(l. 139ff)

Katrine clearly dissociates herself from clichés as she relies upon the social meaning inherent in the expensive products. Getting value for money is definitely her. She further reflects on this issue by explaining her brand-indifference and how brands are never noticeable on her (l. 204f). It does though seem like she has an ambiguous relationship to expensive items as she makes contradicting statements revealing an inconsistency in her possible selves. On one side she saves up money for being able to afford expensive things in magazines and on the other hand she does not want to be pigeonholed with those who do buy these expensive things. This illustrates a clear conflict between her hoped for self and feared for self. Katrine describes her collage and hereby gives an explanation to this contradiction: “*...+ You are more complex than what a collage can cover. I can be very outgoing, but also very shy and that is hard to illustrate on a collage. Therefore everything depends on the situation and su r- roundings.” (l. 754ff).

Overall, Katrine’s self-image is characterised by the use of self-identifying possessions re- flecting who she is as a unique individual and in connection to others. It is evident that crea- tive and experimental attitude is what propels her identity construction.

4.1.6 Portrait of Camilla

Name: Camilla Age: 18 years old Civil status: Single

Family: Dad, mother and a little sister Education: Third year in high school

Student job: Works as a hostess in The Danish National Park in Copenhagen

Disposable income: DKK 1100 in SU and DKK 1200 in salary. A total of DKK 2300 a

month.