Abstract

SADABA, Teresa  and  AMBAS, Gabriela. Dress to win: fashion and electoral campaigns in Latin America. Rev. panam. comun. [online]. 2023, vol.5, n.1, pp.11-22.  Epub Sep 08, 2023. ISSN 2683-2208.  https://doi.org/10.21555/rpc.v5i1.2858.

The digital revolution has strongly erupted into the election campaigns and changed the traditional ways of political communication by inserting new actors that take away the leading role in the political parties as the main characters. Therefore, contemporary campaigns are created by anonymous citizens in social media or organized groups on behalf of a specific cause. This paper focuses on a new factor in political campaigns - fashion - and studies three cases of Latin American campaigns where fashion has had a relevant role. The article develops a theoretical framework that explores the main relations between fashion and politics, with its symbolic and communicative power. From there we explore, through case studies, two areas in which fashion plays an important role in campaigns: 1) the symbolism of fashion, as seen with the lack of tie in Gabriel Boric’s attire and Guillermo Lasso’s red tennis shoes, and 2) the use of influence and fashion influencers, as seen with Mariana Rodríguez - top influencer and wife to Governor Samuel García - and her role during his election campaign.

Keywords : digitalization; fashion; electoral campaigns; symbols; influence.

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