Beyond the Glass: The Role of Window Displays in the French Fashion System

by Diana Vassar

According to Tom Beebe, the creative director of Paul Stuart�s menswear, �Stopping traffic is the goal for any window designer worth their salt.� (Droganes) Retail shops allot a significant amount of thought and, typically, money to the design of their window displays for good reason: would we as potential customers be inclined to venture through a mysterious, impenetrable door without first getting a peek of what is available inside? Would we even be able to discern a clothing boutique from a supermarket without store-front advertising? Windows offer a glimpse, a snapshot, a quick summary from which we can form the fateful opinion that determines our pursuing actions. To enter or not to enter is the question and window displays offer the answer. They wield power to reel us in, but the final decision is within our own control.

BCBG Paris 2010, What does this window say?

What is it that makes a shop window speak and customer compelled to act? Is power concentrated in the corporation, the brand, the shop space, or simply the windows themselves? Is power invested in the hands of the consumer? These are the questions that have led my study of shop window displays that frame the streets of Paris. The answers, I have discovered, rest in the inherently dynamic nature of fashion and shopping: the power of the window depends on the active participation of consumer, commodity, and place. As part of the fashion system, each constantly moves, changes, and negotiates power as quickly as fashion re-dresses itself.

Le Pantheon, rue Soufflot, 1877 and today

Beginning in the mid-19^th century, both Haussmann�s physical redesign of and the World Expositions held in Paris contributed to the city�s new identity as the culture capital of the world. Vast changes had a profound effect on the everyday lives of Parisians who, in an attempt to reconcile the unrecognizable city, took to the streets walking. These walkers were fl�neurs, as Baudelaire called them, engaging in an active, evolving relationship with their surroundings. Thanks to mass production, displays of fashion proliferated both in shops and on the streets. As the surroundings and fashions became familiar, they also began to change, thus trapping the street walker into the fashion cycle of differentiation and equalization, defamiliarization and familiarization.

The Louis Vuitton flagship in Paris, displaying a dream

Shops play a significant role in this cycle by means of their displays: they attempt to lure walkers and shoppers inside with a clear message, a spectacle, a dream. In response, the commodity and the consumer negotiate power between the panes of the glass window. The walker and the shop engage in a moving dialogue and the cycle begins again.

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Fashioning the Self

by Angela Marzan

Marie Antoinette�s clothing was social currency to her during her life at the Court of Versailles. It oftentimes, like this pouf in support of the American Revolutionaries, had a political agenda as well.

How does one fashion the self? Indeed how does one fashion the political self? Was not, after all, Marie Antoinette merely a young girl, young wife, young mother? Was not Diana, Princess of Wales, the same? And what of Carla Bruni, former beauty queen, now current queen to France�s president? Is she not also just a woman? To define these women is impossible, but to define them through their fashion is dangerous. For clothing, as Oscar Wilde writes, is not a symbol of a nation but rather, it is its own political entity, carrying a power so explosive, for women particularly, that one seldom knows what to do with it. To begin, one must uncover in dress its implications of ladyhood � that ever elusive, surreal embodiment through dress of what it is to be a woman. Then one must regard these marks through history. It is only after that one can begin to witness the place in history that Marie Antoinette, Princess Diana, and Carla Bruni hold. And through an understanding of female dress, on these women in particular, is one finally able to postulate to the why and how of political dress and how it has come to hold such power.

This picture, taken during her tour of India in 1992, reveals the strength and power of Diana, Princess of Wales, as she worked side by side with Mother Teresa to help the poorest of the poor, despite the unraveling of her marriage. All of which, I might add, she did in style.

Demure in Dior, Carla Bruni�s visit to the UK in a French label designed by a British designer garnered not only sales for the fashion house, but also expressed her political agenda.

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The Official Preppy Handbook

In society, fashion is used to assert, affirm and refute power. Prep helps sustain status quo style. In the The Official Preppy Handbook (1980) writer Lisa Birnbach uses semiotics to de-code preppy subculture. Prep is based on economic resources for a life of advantages emphasizing college preparatory education. It is also associated with American aristocracy, WASP subculture, and traditional values expressed through classic outward aesthetics. Because is it largely about socio-economic status, it is promoted in consumer culture as an achievable style that drives many brand visions.

Prep subculture was originally about quality education in the classics and could be recognized by accent, through region and schooling. Now it is the clothing that serves as index.

The Preppy Handbook is based on Britian's Sloan Ranger Handbook and has been followed by the Filthy Rich handbook below and also below a Japanese version.

Historic northeastern prep, the Kennedys, and in LA Robert Evans at home in the 1960's.

Prep is evident in many fashion brands and campaigns.

Brooks Brothers 2006 above & JCrew 2008 below

Italian heritage brand Marina Yachting, 2010

Juergen Teller, Washionton DC, W , 2009

Some suggest prep subculture is increasingly irrelevant. The following ad for alcoholic tea was targeting the American collegiate audience but the product did not succeed.

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Subcultural Power

by Emily Kearns

Dick Hebdige �Style�

Dick Hebdige is a British media theorist and sociologist who is most well known for his studies of subcultures. He wrote a book on the subject called Subculture: The Meaning of Style, which was published in 1979. He is currently a professor of film, media studies, and art at the University of California, Santa Barbara. These excerpts of Hebdige�s writings were written in 1979.

In this selection, Hebdige looks at style and subcultures, specifically the style of punks. He begins broadly, by defining the meaning of style in relation to subcultures. Subcultural style is very intentional and thought out. Additionally, members of subcultures dress themselves in a way that sends a message. Their ensembles are �obviously fabricated,� �display their own codes,� and �go against the grain of mainstream culture.� The goal of the style of subcultures is to communicate a difference and a group identity.

Next, Hebdige looks at �Style as bricolage� and begins the section by noting that, aside from the fact that many members of subculture are working class, they are also �cultures of conspicuous consumption.� To further explain this idea he illustrates the concept of bricolage and offers the following definition of the term: �the means by which the non-literate, non-technical mind of so-called primitive man responds to the world around him� (258). Bricoleurs change and subvert the meanings of signs that normally have a certain meaning.

Sex Pistols

In the next excerpt, Hebdige closely focuses on the punk subculture. The punks chose ordinary objects and made them a part of their style, giving these objects new meaning in the process. For example, they removed safety pins from their context as useful and utility and chose to wear them instead as facial ornaments through the cheeks or lips. The main goal of the punks was to go against convention and to make a statement. Both men and women wore makeup, contrary to standard practice, and parts of school uniforms were �symbolically defiled� (260).

Vivienne Westwood

Hebdige also explains how the punk subculture went beyond just clothing and wardrobe. It went against every �relevant discourse� at the time (260). The dancing style of the punks was deliberately different from every other relevant style. Dances like the robot were popular among the subculture because they were very far from mainstream dance moves. They were a reaction to what was mainstream and popular at the time. Similarly, punk music was very different from typical pop and rock music at the time.

In the last section, the author examines how although the punk culture signified chaos, it was actually extremely orderly. He explains this paradox with the concept of homology and uses the skinhead subculture as an example. Finally, he talks about the significance of the swastika as a symbol in the punk subculture. Punks did not wear the symbol because they necessarily agreed with the beliefs behind the symbol. They wore it because as one punk said, �punks just like to be hated.�

Appropriation is the gesture of taking an object and reusing it, as in the swastika or safety pin. Homology is when a group appropriates and makes sense of those aspects as one group, such skinheads who repeat the style among one another and in then end look conforming. We have also seen that almost all previously rebellious signs have lost potency and are used freely among youth and alternative subcultures in mass.

Sophie Woodward �The Myth of Street Style�

Sophie Woodward is currently a research fellow and lecturer at Nottingham Trent University in the School of Art and Design. She is also a faculty member in the sociology department at the University of Manchester. Woodward�s research interests include feminist theory, material culture, fashion and consumption. Her article �The Myth of Street Style� was published in Fashion Theory in March 2009.

In her article �The Myth of Street Style,� Woodward examines the mythologization of street style and the relationship between street style and many parts of fashion industry, including fashion magazines and high street retailers. Through her research, she explains the myth of street style, its emergence, and examines the relationship between the myth of street style and actual street style. She begins her article by talking about Andrew Hill, who wanders around the streets of London and observes what people are wearing. He expects to find people in quirky outfits that express their individualism. However, he finds that's people dress �boringly� (84). This anecdote sets the framework for Woodward�s further investigation into street style. The �quirkiness and sartorial expressiveness� that Hill expected to find are major elements of the myth of street style (84).

The article is based on Fashionmap, which is a research project at Nottingham Trent University. The study is based on two key components: the documentation of fashions and styles at high street stores and photographs of people taken on the streets or in bars. These photographs were collected over a four year period in Nottingham, England and tend to feature young people between the ages of 18-26. By comparing these photographs, researchers can determine any �common trends� and �potential areas of innovation� (86).

Next, the author explains the origins of the myth of street style. It began in the 1940s with Polhemus� observation of defined style groupings, starting with the �Zooties� in Harlem. Groups like this, as well as other subcultures like punks, dressed as �a reaction against established mainstream fashion design� (87). Although these distinct style groupings are less present today, they are still an important part of the history of street style in that being �alternative� is a major element of street style. In Woodward�s research project, nearly 78% of the people interviewed pointed out that part of their outfit was from an �alternative source� such as a second-hand store.

Terry Jones created street photos for i-D magazine and later Fruits magazine developed in Japan

Woodward also explains how the idea of street style trickles down into the mainstream, thus becoming �sanitized� (88). She gives the example of the magazines The Face and i-D, which claimed to offer authenticity, but photograph ordinary people. The styling of these shoots soon appeared in mainstream fashion magazines like Vogue and Elle. However, in these magazines the styles appeared on models wearing a �fantasized imitation of The Real Thing� (88). The depiction of street style in magazines has continued to evolve and today the street style pages feature images of people on the street. She then introduces the idea that current street style is paradoxical, as it claims to show something other than the mainstream, but it features people wearing lots of garments from high street stores.

The high street stores play an important role in street style according to Woodward. These stores, like Zara, Topshop, and H&M, are particularly present in the UK. They are able to provide their customers with constantly changing goods as opposed to �predetermined seasonal collections� (90). This has led to the term �fast fashion.� Although there is a rapid turnover in stock at these stores, Woodward�s research shows that the styles change subtly over time and some styles keep reappearing. In high street store windows and in fashion magazines, fashion is presented to consumers as looks and every season there are distinct new trends. However, if trends in fashion are considered through what people actually wear, then it is evident that these shifts occur much more gradually. This is a result of people buying new pieces but then appropriating them into their current wardrobe. In summary, Woodward argues that although fashion is supposedly faster than ever, fashions actually evolve very gradually, so perhaps �fast fashion� is not an appropriate term.

The fashion industry absorbs styles and street style has been used as a basis for editorials and campaigns above model Agnes Dyne and below Juergen Teller

Woodward then focuses on observations made at a bar in Nottingham. All of the people at this bar have a very clear �look.� These looks are identifiable at this particular bar, which is less mainstream than many others. Although the people at this bar are more alternative, Woodward notices that many of the women are wearing items that were from high street stores, carefully mixed with clothing from vintage or alternative sources. She reaches the conclusion that many people dislike high street stores in theory because the clothes are mass-produced, not because they dislike the styles of the clothing.

Therefore, an important element of street style is where specific elements of an outfit are sourced from and how they are combined with other articles of clothing. Many of the people interviewed for the research project expressed a desire to appear �different.� As a result of the street style pages in magazines, the current idea of street style is �now characterized by the ordinary person that manages to set themselves slightly apart� (92). Young people then internalize this idea and, even if their outfit is from the high street, talk about their love of vintage clothing and the importance of wearing secondhand items with high street items.

In her conclusion, Woodward summarizes the article by arguing that street style should not be looked at as those possessing �quirky individuality,� but as �the intersection of different arenas� of fashion (99). She ends by noting that, despite the omnipresence of the term fast fashion, the rate of change in fashion today is really no faster than it was in past centuries.

The images above and below are from Scott Schuman�s street style blog The Sartorialist. While Schuman is known for shooting people on the streets, these images were styled and shot specifically to appear in a magazine editorial (British Elle 2007). According to Woodward, editorials like this further propagate the �myth of street style.�

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Resistance

by Nora Daly

Unlike subcultures who use the fashion system to express difference, fashion resistance is people or groups who resist taking part in the fashion system for various reasons

Barnard: 7. Fred Davis, �Anti Fashion: The Vicissitudes of Negation�

Fred Davis was emeritus professor of sociology at the University of San Diego. This article is an excerpt from his book Fashion, Culture and Identity, published in 1992.¹ The article comes from a contemporary, academic context; nevertheless it is structured in a fashion that makes it easy to digest. In the introductory paragraph, Davis identifies six anti fashion movements, which he proceeds to discuss individually in the remainder of the body of the essay.

The first anti fashion movement Davis calls �utilitarian outrage.� This perspective criticizes fashion on a moral basis for its �wastefulness, frivolity, impracticality, and vanity.� Davis contends that the viewpoint can be traced far back in history, citing the bible as an early source of the anti fashion sentiment. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries economic and social theorists are continued proponents of �utilitarian outrage.� However, Davis mentions that people outside of the intellectual elite also experience �utilitarian outrage,� and criticize fashion for its instability and excess. Davis also points out that established designers sometimes champion �utilitarian outrage.� He cites as examples the early work of Chanel, and Liz Claiborne.

Exponents of �utilitarian outrage� advocate a simple mode of dress based on function rather than aesthetic. In extreme cases they may subscribe to �modular dressing,� an aesthetic of �loose-fitting, single colored garments,� usually unisex.

Davis refers to the second anti fashion movement as �health and fitness naturalism.� He emphasizes this movement�s roots in the nineteenth century dress reform movement, which was a reaction against restrictive Victorian styles, in particular the corset. Davis cites as the modern day equivalent the health and fitness craze that began in the late seventies and continues to this day. There are two options of dress in for �health and fitness naturalists,� the first �loose, baggy, and under-designed� (sweatpants for example), the second skintight, Lycra stylings such as bike shorts or leotards. He points out the quick acceptance of these rebellious forms into the fashion mainstream, in particular the absorption of Spandex by fashion in the eighties.

Leisure, leisure everywhere. While it began apart from fashion it has become common to see people wear athletic clothing in public, negating all the fashion codes for appropriateness.

The next movement is �feminist protest.� The objections of this group to the fashion system are fairly well known- they feel that the majority of styles (created by men) are restrictive to women and attempt to maintain the status quo by relegating them to traditional, subservient roles (such as �domestic/housewife� and �sex object�). Davis notes that within the fairly large category of �feminist protest� there are several sub-divides. There are those who believe women should dress in a masculine fashion, thus closing the gender gap. There are others who feel that society must produce a new form of dress, free from gender bias, in order to move forward.

The fourth movement Davis called �conservative skepticism.� This category was particularly interesting in that it did not stem from any particular intellectual or social movement, but instead from �millions upon millions of women� who object to new fashions on the ground that they are unflattering, or do not reflect the individual consumer�s personality. Interestingly this group seems to wield the most power, �killing off the new fashion altogether or causing it to be so modified as to greatly neutralize its symbolic intent and visual impact.� Also interesting is the fact that the members of this anti fashion group are not inherently anti fashion, the normally do follow fashion, which is why undesirable new styles are a threat to them.

Conservative skeptics are also those in general who doubt or do not take part in fashion. While women with occasional skepticism about an aspect of fashion can influence the market, conservative skeptics such as critics negate fashion in society and themselves dress in consistent plain clothing.

The last two anti fashion movements Davis discusses are closely linked. �Minority group disidentification� and �counterculture insult.� The former phenomena stems from cultural subgroups attempting to distinguish themselves through fashion. As examples Davis cites religious sects (i.e. Hassidic Jews or the Amish) and racial minorities (i.e. African Americans). The primary difference between the two forms of �minority group disidentification� is that when employed by religious sects different dress serves to keep mainstream society out, while the styles of racial minorities often �float upwards� helping to bridge the gap between societies.

Clothing is not only away to indicate group association but it is also an extension of values which is why faith based clothing stands apart from the fashion system

In 1943 in a series of riots between sailors and Latinos, the Latino dress of the Zoot Suit made them an easy target and more notable to media

The last movement, �counterculture insult,� Davis argues is the most easily integrated with mainstream fashion despite being the most directly anti fashion of all the movements discussed. Integration occurs for a variety of reasons. Firstly, the proponents of �counterculture insult� are usually middle-class teenagers, thus they are members of the very group they rebel against (Davis cites the hippies and the punks). Younger designers seeking to find their niche in fashion often latch on to these counter culture fashions as a way to set themselves apart and give themselves an edge. Also, fashion has a historical link to counterculture, since the earliest designers collaborated with avant-garde artists at the dawn of the twentieth century.

Davis article applies in particular to our course because it discusses a classic power struggle, that between fashion and anti fashion. In a close reading of Davis� text it is interesting to note that each of the anti fashion movements he discusses attempt to seize power away from fashion, except for the �conservative skeptics.� These women adhere willingly to the power of the fashion system, and yet they are the only group truly successful in wresting power from it. While the other groups become integrated into the fashion mainstream in one way or another, this group alone is able to defy and change edicts of fashion by subverting trends.

The afro once a minority expression has not only been accepted into the fashion landscape but has been recently elevated to a high position of beauty and style, above in Vogue Paris Nov 2009 by Mario Testino

Article: Brian Hilton, Chong Ju Choi, Stephen Chen, �The Ethics of Counterfeiting in the Fashion Industry.� Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 55, No. 4 (Dec. 2004), pp. 345-354

All three of the authors of this article are on staff at the Australian National University. Brian Hilton works for the National Graduate School of Business. Chong Ju Choi is the dean of the University�s National Graduate School of Management, and Stephen Chen is the senior lecturer at that same school. In the article, the authors discuss the ethics of counterfeiting in the context of high fashion and luxury goods. The first distinguish between three types of goods, then between four ethical perspectives, and finally between four types of counterfeit products. Afterwards they analyze the four types of counterfeits based on the four ethical perspectives raised earlier in the article.

To begin with, the three types of goods are: �credence goods,� �experience goods� and �search goods.� The value of a �search good� is apparent before purchase. That of the �experience good� becomes apparent after purchase and sometimes even after a period of use. It is extremely difficult ever to determine the value of �credence goods.� The authors specify that while counterfeits may fall under any one of these three categories, authentic high fashion holds the mystical value of a �credence good.�

Next, the four ethical perspective by which the authors analyze counterfeit products: The first is �utilitarianism,� which dictates that if intellectual property goes unprotected there will be no grounds for innovation on behalf of the producer and society as a whole will suffer. The second, �distributive justice,� argues that the benefits you reap from a product should be equal to the amount of effort you put into it. By this argument, designers deserve the full profits of their designs on the grounds that they are responsible for the creation of the intellectual property on which counterfeits are based. Third is the �moral rights of man perspective,� which states that �there are certain basic human rights that need to be respected at all costs.� If you view intellectual property as one of these rights, this perspective also becomes an argument against counterfeiting. Finally, �ethical relativism,� which �bases decisions on what others are doing under similar circumstances.� This perspective offers the least grounds for defending counterfeiting, for (as is discussed in the article�s introduction) while most countries have copyright and intellectual property right laws, they are for the most part rarely and loosely enforced.

The authors then introduce the four types of counterfeits: �vanity fakes,� �overruns,� �condoned copies,� and those fakes produced by the same house whose high fashion product they imitate. The authors proceed to examine the four types of fakes based on the four ethical perspectives, and largely find within each perspective grounds for the defense of the counterfeiter.

�Vanity fakes,� have both a low use value and a low mystic value. However, as this low value is apparent to the consumer before they purchase the product. On the grounds of �moral rights� producers of these �vanity fakes,� usually working out of low-income countries, have the right to make their living. Also, the consumer targeted by the product, most likely in a similar low-income situation, has a right to purchase the product that brings them some joy. On �utilitarian� grounds, the cheap copies can encourage designer innovation, as the designer must produce new designs more rapidly to distinguish their name and brand from the cheap, counterfeit styles as they become readily available. Also, the authors make the argument that the prospective consumer of the �vanity fake� would never have the buying power to purchase the genuine luxury product; therefore no one is harmed in this equation.

�Overruns� are counterfeits created by the owners of factories that produce genuine designer products. The counterfeits are forged from the left over material, they are of good quality, and often are identical to the designer�s product save a name or logo. The authors defend this kind of counterfeiting on the grounds that many designers produce their luxury products in sweatshops, through producing �overrun� counterfeits, workers are able to supplement meager wages, which would otherwise constitute only one percent of the cost of the designer�s product. Clearly, this defense works from the perspective of �moral rights.� It also applies to a �utilitarian perspective,� without the additional income of counterfeiting workers would not receive a benefit from the product that equaled their share of the labor. Finally, from the �relativistic� perspective, the majority of societies condemn sweatshops as unethical, so this small revenge could be seen as fair.

UNESCO's campaign to expose counterfeiting in connection to the other crimes and abuse of the black market

Third, �condoned copies,� in which legitimized fashion houses produce less expensive copies of haute couture designs (the authors cite as examples Victor Costa and Jack Mulqueen) is defended on �relativistic� grounds. Designers themselves often agree to the use of their designs, and one could argue the entire industry of fashion is based on copying, therefore this form of counterfeiting could be deemed acceptable.

�Self-Copies,� are designers� reproductions of their own work. It is difficult to turn a profit in the luxury good industry; therefore many designers rely on supplementary ready-to-wear lines to keep their businesses afloat. However, if not handled carefully, increased production can flood the market with your product, thus diminishing its mystic value (the authors use as an example Gucci in the 1980s).

The main ethical dilemma around �self-copies� and other counterfeits of a high quality, equal to that of the luxury good they imitate is that it confuses the value attributed to the original product. Designers must rely solely on mystic value, brands and logos, to justify the higher cost of their product when counterfeiters begin producing products of equally quality at a lower cost.

At the conclusion of the article counterfeiting remains an ethical �gray area,� where equal arguments can be made for and against the practice.

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