Business History of Fashion Summary

Bieke van Nes – 426520 Business History of Fashion – Summary
November 6th, 2017

Business History of Fashion Summary – Exam November 6th, 2017

Week 1

Fashion as a dress




Simmel  Trickle-down theory: fashion influences only the upper classes, as soon
as the lower classes start copying their style, the upper class has to redefine the
boundary between them by finding a new style.
 Still relevant, or more and more bottom-up theory?

Humans have dualistic nature (masculine/feminine, motion/response), same in
society  Generalization (imitation)/specialization (individualization)
 Fashion gives the opportunity to imitate and differentiate!

Fashion – the struggle to balance fitting in with standing out  without the need
to satisfy both desires, there would be no fashion.
 Fashion does not only involve clothing, but any type of art.

According to Simmel, women do not have a position within a class, and fashion
makes up for that lack. Women are less different and feel a bigger need to fit in
with the average.

Edelkoort – Anti-Fashion: Students are trained to be individual designers, very
20th century, when nowadays fashion is more of an interaction.

Fashion: cultural force that draws sustenance from social customs, group
psychology, material life, economic institutions and other types of human
interactions and, in turn, influences them / an unplanned process of recurrent
change against a backdrop of order in the public realm.

Blaszczyk  Fashion in 4 cultural areas:
 Mode: the way we dress
 Manners: the way we express ourselves
 Mores: the way we live
 Markets: demographic and psychological

Fad: sudden changes, often spread quickly and fade away rapidly

Innovation: alters social practices in a deeper way and has a longer-lasting effect

Style: a combination of silhouette, construction, fabric and details that exist and
thus can be used over time (e.g. Punk)

Trend: a direction in which fashion may be heading



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, Bieke van Nes – 426520 Business History of Fashion – Summary
November 6th, 2017

Week 2

Johannes Guttenberg – First person to show practicalities of movable press 
Guttenberg’s Printing Press  accelerated spread of Renaissance culture

Before 1500: 2500 European cities with printing presses

Ruane – The Development of the Russian Fashion Press
In Russia  Big issue of censorship

18th century: Tsar Peter the Great was in love with Europe, wanted Russia to be
and dress more like Europe.
Problem  late arrival of European fashion magazines
Solution  publishing domestic fashion magazine

Early 19th century: Establishing fashion press in Russia
Challenges
 Size of the reading public
 Market too small for women prior to 1830
 Technological problems
Rise of romantic nationalism
- Creation of national literature
- Literary genius as male

1828: Central Censorship Administration – Prevent circulation of ideas
undermining the government
 2 functions: editorial and maintenance of the status quo
 Reporting on styles from Paris and St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg women
had superior taste)
 French fashions made suitable for Russian conditions
 Advertising and supplements
 Important female publishers (Safanova and Riumina)

Late 19th century: Birth of new journalism in Europe and America
Main developments
- Technological advancements
- Larger print runs
- Large publishing houses
- Expansion of public education
 New journalism in Russia: uneven development
 New censorship statute in 1865
 Publishing technologies
 Size of the reading public
 Transportation system
 Small circulation figures compared to other countries




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