As relações intrínsecas entre moda e pixação: a escrita como linguagem cultural na roupa

Abstract

This case study analyzes pixação (a Brazilian term for graffiti) as a historical, social, and aesthetic phenomenon, establishing its relationship with fashion as a symbolic language and cultural practice. It identifies that both operate through visuality, identity construction, and the pursuit of visibility in urban contexts marked by inequalities. Pixação, like fashion, is identity-based, expressing and exposing opinions that challenge conservative thinking about what is beautiful and what is not. The study questions how fashion incorporates this language and places it within a notable, harmonious, and refined context. The study also examines the distinction between graffiti and pixação in Brazil because of symbolic disputes and processes of cultural legitimation, arguing that the rejection of pixação is linked to power relations and the control of social taste. Both fashion and pixação are structured by the logic of ephemerality, characterized by constant transformation, renewal, and disappearance.