THE SYNECDOCHE OF ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA

In this image of Ermenegildo Zegna we can see the presence of a symbol and of a synecdoche.

There is a synecdoche when a part of something is used to refer to the whole, such as in “the boy asked for her hand” which indicates that the boy asked her to marry him and he wanted her in her entirety.

Infact the model wearing a very beautiful and elegant "Ermenegildo Zegna" is touching a sample book of the fabrics, that is a citation and a synecdoche of the famous painting "Le Bureau de coton à La Nouvelle-Orléans" of Edgad Degas.

Edgar Degas, Le Bureau de coton à La Nouvelle-Orléans, 1873.

The sample book of the fabrics is the symbol of Zegna's quality and implicates that for this company is not important only the value of the brand, but the quality of the fabrics, too.

Another effect of the economical crisis: the symbolic value of the brand is not enough for the target when the value of the money became day after day more and more important. The quality of the material used, the denotative aspect, became more important than the connotation of elegance and luxury.

Versione italiana:
http://polisemantica.blogspot.it/2014/03/ermenegildo-zegna-il-valore-simbolico.html