From proper name to epithet: motivation and change in the fashion industry

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate English terms and, more precisely, nominal constructs (Booij [2010]) with proper names as modifiers, in the changing history of fashion and customs. Starting on the assumption that proper names and common nouns form prototypical categories with fuzzy boundaries (Van Langendonck [2007]; Van Langendonck & Van de Velde [2016]), we provide a qualitative investigation of a representative selection of terms that were manually gathered from encyclopaedic dictionaries, visual dictionaries and landmark publications on the history of fashion. Data shows that conceptual metonymy plays a key role in the shift from the identifying and individualizing function of prototypical place and personal names to classifying and appellative uses as common nouns, also in reductions to simplexes. Additionally, considering motivation and the semantic relations in the composite structures under scrutiny, it seems reasonable to suggest that associative meanings can be motivated metonymically based on extant cultural-encyclopaedic knowledge. This allows for complex descriptions which cannot be subsumed by individual attributive adjectives and appeal to the consumer’s symbolic needs. Regarding the potential for luxury fashion constructs and iconic products to be perceived as conveying intangible benefits, much turns out to be a matter of extant cultural and encyclopaedic knowledge (knowledge of brand, brand products, and style icons).

Keywords

• metonymy
• English fashion terms
• commercial names in fashion
• nominal constructs with proper name modifiers
• commemorative function