The Fashion Show Goes Live

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.

Rebecca Halliday

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