Towards an intellectualisation of the fashion industry: rethinking its role into the social structure.
For a long time devalued, the role of fashion into our structure is a real social and philosophical question. It is not before entering the industrial area, in which fashion as a subject, was analysed through a sociological lens by searchers such as Gabriel Tarde or Georg Simmel. These theories tend to place fashion as a tool to decipher social mechanisms like imitation or distinction. Although their work truly helps understanding the deep implications of fashion, the latter still had a hard time to be taken seriously within the society. Clichés on its frivolity and superficiality are still very vivid and we cannot blame the audience for having such perceptions – since they are the most mediatised aspects. However, when we decide to go further and go above the mainstream representations, fashion has a fundamental role in cultural transformations. More than simple trends and garments, could we claim this industry is about questioning the establishment and asking the ‘real questions’? Should the role of fashion be to reflect more the actual collective concerns?
