Re-presentation Policies of the Fashion Industry

2Investing Symbolically in the Museum, Transforming the Store: Re-presentation as an Iterative Event

With a view to enhancing the material heritage of an haute couture or ready-to-wear fashion house, but also for promotional purposes, fashion brands proceed with the non-commercial presentation of their previous but possibly also recent or even current collections. This is done by occupying spaces that are not identified as commercial spaces, either boutiques or department stores: museums, art galleries and exhibition spaces are regularly invested in by the fashion industry, particularly the luxury goods industry.

As Nicole D’Almeida points out:

All major French companies are conducting the same historical reconstruction process. The luxury industries are certainly the most committed (jewellery, champagne, couture, leather goods) and use time – in its dimension of durability and duration – as a distinctive sign, a factor of excellence for the brand. (D’Almeida 2001, p. 21, author’s translation)

However, it should be recalled that this dimension of durability and duration also responds to other injunctions and constraints. On the one hand, there is the “pressure on [fashion museums] from large organizations in the sector that see museum exhibitions as a marketing tool, especially if they celebrate the work of living designers who will benefit from this publicity” (Crane 2012, p. 250, author’s translation). On the other hand, the need for brands to conceal the commercial dimension ...