Beginning with Alexander McQueen’s infamous attempt to live stream his 2009 Plato’s Atlantis collection on SHOWStudio, this book traces how digital and social media have disrupted social structures within the field of fashion, and transformed the way it is communicated and consumed. Analysing key case studies, from Chanel, Givenchy, Yeezy and Opening Cermony to interactive social media and ‘see now buy now’ campaigns from Burberry, Topshop and Tommy Hilfiger, The Fashion Show Goes Live analyses the mode and impact of fashion shows’ transmission. Through the rise of experimental film, fashion shows tailored for media transmission and the use of live streaming and social media to render shows ‘immediate’ to consumers, fashion weeks – and fashion shows – have become not just trend barometers but material sites that demonstrate media’s effects.
Rebecca Halliday evaluates the performativity of consumer relations to such live streams and other mediatized content. In linking these relations back to fashion show footage, she demonstrates that although intended to communicate fashion to mass audiences, these practices also promote it as exclusive and aspirational. Despite democratized, international access to content, the shows themselves remain elite events; kindling new forms of consumer attention, interaction, immaterial labour and desire.
Through the microcosm of the fashion show, The Fashion Show Goes Live asks broader socio-political questions about the effects of the fashion industry's mediatization, challenging the notion that new technology has fostered inclusivity.
By:
Rebecca Halliday (University of Victoria Canada)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
Spine: 25mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9781350226357
ISBN 10: 1350226351
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 21 September 2023
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction The Function of Fashion Weeks Economies of Fashion, and Fashion as Cultural Field Economies of Mediatization and Performance economies of affect Fashion Shows in Tension with Fashion Films Organizational Structure 1. The Fashion Show and/as Theatre 100% Lost Cotton, Opening Ceremony Spring/Summer 2015 Historical Confluences Between Fashion and Theatre 100 Years Later: 100% Lost Cotton at New York Fashion Week Conclusion 2. The Fashion Show as Immersive Simulation Fashion as Immersive Simulation Chanel Supermarket Fashion Show, Fall/Winter 2014 Kanye West - Yeezy Season 3, Fall/Winter 2016 Conclusion 3. Fashion Show Footage: From Newsreel to Live Stream Internet Spectatorship and ‘Real Time’ Fashion Shows on Film Fashion on Television Fashion-Themed Television in Film Fashion Shows in Television Series (or Fashion Television) Fashion Shows and/as Sporting Events Fashion in the Live Stream The Handheld Live Stream The Handheld Front Row Perspective as Moving Image Conclusion 4. Social Media Fashion Shows: Interactive and Exclusive Fashion Shows as Pleasurable Interaction Burberry and Topshop—Digital Competitors Burberry – Digital Interaction in the Luxury Market Burberry Prorsum, Autumn/Winter 2015 – #TweetCam Topshop – Ready-to-Wear Takes to the High Street Topshop Unique, Autumn/Winter 2015 - #livetrends Conclusion 5. Manufactured Affect in the Fashion Show Preshow (Re)Mediation as Increased Brand Access Topshop Unique Autumn/Winter 2015 Live Stream Preshow Affective Labour/Mediation of Affect at the Topshop Preshow Textual Reactions to the Topshop Preshow Conclusion 6. ‘This is the runway’: the Camera as Scriptive Thing at New York Fashion Week The Camera as Scriptive Thing or Scriptive Prop Indoor Audience-Performer Relations Outdoor Observations at New York Fashion Week Camera Interactions on the ‘Street’ Models ‘Off Duty’ at Fashion Week Street Style Photography as Embodied Practice Street Style Photography as Cultural Practice The Photograph as Dance The Photograph as Action Sequence Conclusion 7. the Fashion Show as Mediatized Proliferation Fashion Shows as Photographic ‘Moments’ Versace Spring/Summer 2018 and Spring/Summer 2020 as Late-Postmodern Mediatization The Fashion Show as Spectacular Entertainment Givenchy Spring/Summer 2016 Ready-to-Wear in New York Tommy Hilfiger’s ‘See Now Buy Now’ Spectaculars Conclusion Conclusion: Fashion’s Pandemic-Era Pause References
Rebecca Halliday is Assistant Teaching Professor and Professional Communication Adviser in the Department of English at the University of Victoria, Canada. Previously, she taught at Toronto Metropolitan University in its School of Professional Communication and School of Fashion.
Reviews for The Fashion Show Goes Live: Exclusive and Mediatized Performance
In The Fashion Show Goes Live, Rebecca Halliday convincingly interrogates the nature of the fashion show in the age of social media. Drawing on the concept of mediatization, she traces the different forces at play in the making of shows, paying attention to the dynamics of bodies, artefacts and technologies. The book is a pleasure to read, and is a vibrant and engaging contribution to studies of the fashion media and fashion communication. * Agnès Rocamora, London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, UK * Halliday’s brilliant analysis of the fashion show is a theoretically bracing, methods spanning, highly readable analysis that gorgeously fills a gap in fashion, media, and cultural studies’ scholarship. A must-read, incisive guide to negotiating fashion’s multifaceted rendering by today’s media worlds. * Elizabeth Wissinger, City University of New York, USA * This is a timely and significant contribution to the analysis of fashion shows. Halliday’s comprehensive analysis, and beautifully written account, covers the many aspects and functions of the fashion show, providing scholars and students with a definitive account of the continued importance of such events within the field of fashion. An essential read that belongs on all fashion reading lists. * Joanne Entwistle, King's College London, UK * Rebecca Halliday's contribution offers a comprehensive and insightful view on the origin, evolution and role of fashion shows within the cultural industry of fashion. Key issues such as mediatization and the impact of Covid-19 are also discussed. This is definitely a must-have book for fashion scholars. * Marco Pedroni, University of Ferrara, Italy *
