Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FASHION IN IR (The Dematerialization of Fashion and France's Couture Propaganda during the 1960s and 1970s)
Berichtszeitraum: 2020-08-26 bis 2022-08-25
FASHION IN IR aimed to study the role of French women’s sartorial fashion in France’s diplomacy with a focus on both its interaction with the European Economic Community (EEC)—especially with Italy—and its influence on the American mass market during the 1960s and 1970s. This approach sought to open the fields of fashion history and international relations history to each other. This was done through the analysis of the influence of women’s sartorial fashion foreign markets through the prism of the French authorities (industrial, governmental and diplomatic). This project brought the diplomatic perspective of international relations as a new approach to the study of the fashion industry. The project approached both the creative industry and the ways intellectual property can be appropriated by States as well as influence public authorities to act at the behest of those creators of immaterial products such as fashion. This project sought to understand why an aid-to-couture plan was renewed at the end of the 1960s when women’s sartorial fashion had evolved (and changed) to favour, by far, ready-made garments. This project broke new ground by integrating the interest of states to the analysis of the multilayered influence of immaterial and material cultural products of the creative industries. This is of crucial importance in a globalized world where businesses fight for market shares and where states subsidize strategic industries to give them an edge in penetrating foreign markets. The study of the influence of a state-sponsored plan to subsidize a creative industry during a key period in the establishment of the current globalized world by integrating the analysis of new diplomatic data is of importance to understanding the extent of the states’ toolkit to gain competitive advantages for their national industries over their competitors. The overall objective is to contribute to opening the field of fashion studies and deepening our understanding of current cultural policies of states wishing to assert their national influence in the face of a globalized creative industry led by big businesses.
The work achieved throughout the project can be divided intro three main types of output: participation in conferences, publications, and participation to outreach events. The work carried out was planned in such a way that each activity served to help in supporting another with the presentation of paper in conferences helping develop ideas to submit publications that, in turn, helped deepen thoughts for dissemination in outreach activities. As such, work performed included the participation to 4 conferences: the Business History Conference (13 March 2021), the 2nd World Congress of Business History (9 September 2021), the 48th Annual Conference of the Western Society for French History (28 October 2021) and the 89th ACFAS Congress (2-13 May 2022). In addition, as part of FASHION IN IR, an online international workshop was organized on 2-3 December 2021 to discuss fashion and diplomacy from a transdisciplinary perspective with Valerie Steele (New York Fashion Institute of Technology) and Andreas Behnke (University of Reading) being the two keynote speakers for the event. This workshop also served as a springboard for a book chapter titled “Fashion and Diplomacy” that was co-authored with Madeleine Goubau (Université du Québec à Montréal) to be published in 2023 in the collective volume The Routledge History of Fashion and Dress, 1800 to the Present that is being co-edited with Véronique Pouillard (University of Oslo). Beyond this book chapter, work was carried out on three other publications in business history and diplomatic history. An article was published on 3 December 2021 by Enterprise & Society titled “Fashion, Industry and Diplomacy: Reframing Couture–Textiles Relations in France, 1950s–1960s”. Another article to be published later this year by International Relations is titled “Fashion’s Diplomatic Role: An Instrument of French Prestige-Based Commercial Diplomacy 1960s–1970s”. Finally, a last article will be published later this year in Histoire, Europe et Relations internationals titled “Mode et diplomatie française: le role et l’influence de la haute couture dans les expositions tournantes et les Imports Fairs aux États-Unis, 1948-1951”. The third set of work that was done throughout the period was the participation to outreach event starting on 17 February 2021 with an online interview as part of McCord Museum’s exhibition on Christian Dior. This was followed by the participation to an open seminar organized by the ERC Consolidator project CREATIVE IPR on 10 May 2021 and the organization of a roundtable to discuss the differing perspectives in the study of fashion between three EU-funded projects (CREATIVE IPR, MISS, and FASHION IN IR) that took place in Oslo’s Litteraturhuset on 17 February 2022. Finally, the project’s results were also discussed and disseminated through two podcast interviews on 26 November and 20 December 2021 respectively on the New Diplomatic History Podcast and the “Qu’est-ce que la mode?” Podcast.
The work carried out during the project set out to contribute to opening the field of fashion studies and deepening our understanding of current cultural policies of states wishing to assert their national influence. This objective was met through the work carried out first by disseminating preliminary research through the conferences and second by the open discussion fostered through the online international workshop to further discuss the nature of the relationship between fashion and diplomacy from the perspective of various disciplines. As such, the wider societal implications are linked to the potential users of the project results—that is, published articles as well as conference attendees and listeners of the podcast interviews—, which are twofold. First, the development of studies in the field of diplomacy regarding the role of fashion is very topical and is starting to attract more attention at the academic level from different perspectives (history, public diplomacy, communications, sociology and anthropology, curatorial studies). This was made clear by the various contacts developed throughout the advancement of the project and opened new opportunities, such as the podcast interview with the New Diplomatic History research network. Second, as was made clear by the interest expressed by the McCord Museum in the study of fashion’s diplomatic role as part of one of their exhibitions and the subsequent participation of their head curator to the online international workshop, this subject is also starting to attract the attention of a wider audience beyond academia. While this is still very early, as the study of fashion’s diplomatic role is recent, potential users of the project results also include interested members of the public or a new generation of students starting their journey in academia.