When posed with the task of choosing a commodity that has undergone conflict along with exploring its cultural implications, Burberry’s nova check lingered in my mind. Founded by Thomas Burberry in 1856, the iconic motif consisting of beige with black, white and red intersecting stripes became a signature seen in the inner linings of Burberry’s outerwear and bags (Bass-Krueger, 2019). The word “modernize” rightly depicts the brand’s evolution from the 19th to 21st century. Previously carrying associations to the aristocratic elite, the youthful narrative Burberry encouraged resulted in a rise in middle and working class consumers, creating a discussion surrounding who is considered the “good” or “bad” consumer when intended ideologies are challenged. This essay will use the Nova Check as a demonstration of struggle over meaning, and explore how the motif has transformed ways that communities are perceived; firstly by introducing cultural theorist John Fiske's take on Brands’ multifaceted narratives, then investigating the societal effects from the working class challenging the ideologies attached to the nova check.
This idea of narratives ideologically being marketed alongside garments is further discussed In The Jeaning of America (1989), written by John Fiske where he utilizes Levi jean campaigns to demonstrate the semiotic richness of commercial narratives, and how often brands create specific ideologies for their commercial interests inspired by fashion subcultures’ refusal of commodification. Examples of this can be seen in Levi’s ad campaigns, where the American west workwear identity of Levi was expanded to fit narratives ranging from exploring femininity as seen from their 505 jeans, to showcasing youth culture along with themes of toughness in their 501 campaign. The range of their campaigns display the brand’s
understanding of the different inflections of their jeans, and in terms of commercial interests, the more subcultures they appeal to, the more sales are made. In addition to the multifaceted undertones, from the garment a person chooses to wear, contemporary western society almost instinctively perceive them by the narratives marketed, leading to the ongoing conflict between the dominant consumer market wanting to preserve the original ideologies created by the brand and the subcultures’ readaptations of the garments. Posing the question, Who has the power todetermine how garments should be interpreted?
Futhermore, we can apply Fiskes' insights on the fluidity of narratives when examining the Nova check. Historically viewed as the embodiment of the British bourgeois lifestyle, Burberry was reinvigorated in 1997 with the decision by CEO Rose Marie Bravo to push a younger, modern identity. Weston (2016) points out in her work how the shift can be seen in their Spring 2000 ad campaign featuring Kate moss photographed in a Burberry check bikini, creating mass nova check hysteria.
In addition to this, whether it be hats, shirts, scarves and often counterfeit garments, the working class began wearing the nova check. They were adorned initially to signal upper class connotations in an effort to avoid Police profiling during football games. (Treadwell, p.124) However, the opposite happened as the check became a uniform associated with violence, “hooliganism”, and “Chav culture”. ( A “Chav”, is a young lower-class person who displays brash and loutish behaviour and wears real or imitation designer clothes (Oxford English Dictionary)). The nova check soon became the aesthetic focal point of “Chav culture”, and a wave of “Chav Bashing” ensued with stories such as “Pubs slap ban on Burberry lager louts”(Sky news 2004) and comments found on, Chavscum.com, such as ““The founders of Burberry must be so annoyed that their brand has
become the staple diet of chavs across the country. They put in so much hard work coming up with designs only for them to be adopted by idiots & neanderthals.”” (Lcarlisle, 21 February, 2008). The public had become angry in relation to what they perceived as an “undeserving” marginal group tarnishing a historic British brand. The term “middle class disgust” (Lawler 2008) can be utilized to encapsulate this phenomenon, originating from the belief that their “good taste” had been violated, and that brands should only be consumed by the the intended audience, the dominant consumers.
In this essay I have used the example of the Burberry nova check as a demonstration of popular culture as a site of struggle over meaning. Deploying Fiske’s (1998) ideas around the paradoxical relationship between large brands commercial narratives and subordinate communities, along with Lawler’s term of “middle class disgust”. I displayed how corporations utilized these ideologies to distinguish the “correct” way their garments are intended to be consumed by utilizing the history of the nova check’s associations with “Chav Culture”, raising the question of what defines the “correct” way of consumption, who is given the power to gatekeep this, along with exploring the long term societal implications of “middle class disgust”, something I intend to explore more in my next essay.
The iconic nova check, 2021, Image courtesy of Burberry
Kate Moss for Burberry, Spring Summer 2000 campaign by Mario Testino
Photograph of Chavs in the early 2000s, Image courtesy of T. Sanders