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The Semiotics of Extraordinary Dress

Hip-hop style, a controversial dress form associated with rap music culture in the 1990s, is analyzed and interpreted based on premises associated with structural approaches to semiotics. The semiotic system is isolated in time, and three coding operations are considered in terms of the relationships they establish between elements of the system and potential meanings ascribed to these: paradigmatic alignment (bipolar opposition), denotation and connotation (literal and extended descriptions), and figurative devices (implied figures of speech). Results reveal the structure of the system in terms of a dialectic between signs in the hip-hop system and signs in the system of conventional dress. Components of the rule system of conventional dress are exposed, and figurative language supporting the hip-hop system is described. The hip-hop system is construed as an example of a larger category of appearance-related systems designated extraordinary dress, poised in opposition to ordinary appearance forms. Implications include potential contributions to theory development.