This volume examines the cultural history of the fashion industry in the postwar era. Taking an original, interdisciplinary approach, it focuses on the internal culture of the trade, explaining the significance of value creation and assessing the transformation of local industries into global brands.

The period since 1945 has been a transformative era for the fashion industry. Over the course of seventy years, the fashion world has moved from celebrating the craftsmanship of haute couture to revelling in ever-changing fast-fashion. This volume examines the transition from the old system to the new in a series of case studies grouped around three major themes. Part I focuses on Paris as a creative hub, aiming to understand how the birthplace of haute couture adapted to late-twentieth-century developments. Part II considers the retailer’s role in shaping taste, responding to consumer expectations and disseminating fashion merchandise. Part III looks to alternative visions of the European fashion system that have appeared in unexpected places. The volume is highly interdisciplinary, covering design history, cultural anthropology, ethnography, management studies and the cultural history of business.

Foreword by Geoffrey Jones1 Fashion as enterprise – Regina Lee Blaszczyk and Véronique PouillardPart I: Reinventing Paris fashion 2 Recasting Paris fashion: haute couture and design management in the postwar era – Véronique Pouillard3 LVMH: storytelling and organizing creativity in luxury and fashion – Pierre-Yves Donzé and Ben Wubs4 Reawakening the ‘sleeping beauties’ of haute couture: the case of Guy and Arnaud de Lummen – Johanna ZanonPart II: International connections and the role of retailers5 Buying abroad, selling in Paris: the 1953 Italian fair at Galeries Lafayette – Florence Brachet Champsaur6 Anonymous tastemakers: the role of American buyers in establishing an Italian fashion industry, 1950–55 – Sonnet Stanfill7 The rise and fall of European fashion at Filene’s in Boston – Regina Lee Blaszczyk8 H&M: how Swedish entrepreneurial culture and social values created fashion for everyone – Ingrid Giertz-MårtensonPart III: European fashion on the periphery 9 Competitiveness of the Japanese denim and jeans industry: the cases of Kaihara and Japan Blue, 1970-2015 – Rika Fujioka and Ben Wubs10 Rhythms of production in Scottish textiles and fashion – Shiona Chillas, Melinda Grewar, and Barbara Townley11 The ‘ethical sell’ in the Indian luxury fashion business – Tereza Kuldova12 A bag of remembrance: a cultural biography of Red-White-Blue, from Hong Kong to Louis Vuitton – Wessie LingIndex

The period since 1945 has been a transformative era for the fashion industry. Over the course of seventy years, the fashion world has moved from celebrating the craftsmanship of haute couture to revelling in ever-changing fast-fashion. This volume examines the transition from the old system to the new in a series of case studies grouped around three major themes. Part I focuses on Paris as a creative hub, aiming to understand how the birthplace of haute couture adapted to late-twentieth-century developments. Part II considers the retailer’s role in shaping taste, responding to consumer expectations and disseminating fashion merchandise. Part III looks to alternative visions of the European fashion system that have appeared in unexpected places. The volume is highly interdisciplinary, covering design history, cultural anthropology, ethnography, management studies and the cultural history of business.