ANIMAL IMAGERY AS SEMIOTIC TOOL FOR ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATION IN FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY

Abstract

This paper investigates how animal imagery functions as a semiotic tool for environmental communication in fashion photography. Against the backdrop of biodiversity loss, visual culture plays a crucial role in raising public awareness. Integrating semiotics, environmental communication, and fashion studies, this research develops a three-tiered analytical framework encompassing visual form, semiotic metaphor, and contextual intertextuality to conduct an in-depth analysis of three representative cases: Vogue Italia’s “Animal Issue” (2021), Zhong Ling’s Heat Wave (2022), and Arno Elias & Cara Delevingne’s I’M NOT A TROPHY (2016). The findings reveal that through strategies such as “anthropomorphic connection,” “fusional alienation,” and “symbolic bearing,” animal imagery constructs multi-layered ecological metaphors, evoking a spectrum of affective responses from empathy to moral reflection. However, within commercial contexts, its ecological signification risks “semiotic drift” into mere consumerist symbols. Therefore, effective environmental communication depends on striking a balance along the spectrum from “aesthetic infiltration” to “critical positioning,” and on constructing a robust ecological “strong sign” through narrative anchoring, formal innovation, and contextual consistency. This study not only provides a systematic analytical tool for understanding the ecological rhetoric of fashion imagery but also offers evidence-based strategic insights for sustainable fashion communication. This paper is a substantially extended and revised version of our prior conference paper presented at [ICSSMT, 2025].