THEORY READING - FASHION CYCLES (CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION, TRICKLE-DOWN/UP/ACROSS)
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FASHION CYCLES
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CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION
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... Thorstein Veblen, an economist and sociologist, wrote 'The Theory of the Leisure Class' (1899) during unprecedented industrial expansion that resulted in a visible class of wealthy, powerful elites whose lifestyle contrasted sharply with those of lower socioeconomic status. Influenced by Marxist philosophy, Veblen critiqued what he called the 'leisure class' for its 'conspicuous consumption' and waste of goods, including dress ... (Lillethun, 2011, p.117).
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TRICKLE-DOWN
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Soon Georg Simmel (1904), a philosopher and sociologist, postulated that fashion occurs in stratified societies with the potential for social mobility (i.e., a person may move between strata) and theorised that lower-status groups emulated the fashions of adjacent higher-status groups. As lower-status groups appropriated their fashions, the higher-status groups would move on to new styles to differentiate themselves.This directional process of imitations (or conforming) and subsequent innovation of new styles (differentiation) forms the basis of the 'trickle-down theory; innovation disseminates from the elites down the status hierarchy. (Lillethun, 2011, p.117-8).
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TRICKLE-UP
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In contrast, G.A. Field (1970) observed a reverse phenomenon, calling it the 'status float phenomenon'. By the mid-twentieth century, technology was transforming communication, and many cultural attitudes shifted from past ones. In the West these included the 'youth quake', the sexual revolution, the struggle for civil rights, and acknowledged cultural diversity. In this unstable atmosphere, affiliation with a subgroup or ideological cause found symbolic expression in appearance and was not necessarily associated with socioeconomic status. Mass culture and elites appropriated aesthetics developed within subgroups, but not the meaning originally attached to them. Inevitably, subgroups innovated new looks to maintain uniqueness and therefore meaning: they purposefully differentiated themselves from imitators. These innovations emerged outside the elites, and often from lower-status groups. Thus Field's proposition is widely called the 'trickle-up theory', characterising upward flow through strata in opposition to the trickle-down theory's downward flow through strata. Ted Polhemus, an anthropologist, called the process 'bubble-up'. He found that in the late twentieth century, an 'insatiable craving for authenticity' motivated subgroups (e.g., goths, punks) to create unique styles: authenticity also motivated people who copied their looks... (Lillethun, 2011, p.118).
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TRICKLE-ACROSS
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C.W.King (1963) observed a horizontal flow of fashion change called the 'trickle-across theory', as styles emerged and disseminated simultaneously across each stratum.This happened as mass manufacturing produced at many quality levels and price points and marketing increased consumer awareness of fashion change through promotion and advertising across media. (Lillethun, 2011, p.118).
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REFERENCE
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Lillethun in Welters, L. and Lillethun, A. (eds) (2011) The fashion reader. 2nd edn. Oxford: Berg.