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From élite fashion to mass fashion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

R. T. Horowitz
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European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , November 1975 , pp. 283 - 295
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Copyright © Archives Européenes de Sociology 1975

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References

(1) Sapir, E., ‘Fashion’, The Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences, vol. VI, p. 141Google Scholar.

(2) See Laver, J., Style in Costume (London 1949), pp. 4–12Google Scholar; Summer, W. W., Folkways (Boston 1907), pp. 190–194Google Scholar.

(3) Mary Quant, the designer whose name is associated with the teenage fashion in the sixties, wrote: “Good designers—like clever newspapermen—know that to have any influence they must keep in step with public needs, public opinion […] and with an intangible ‘something in the air’. They must catch the spirit of the day and interpret it in clothes, before other designers begin to twitch at the nerve ends. I just happened to start when that ‘something in the air’ was coming to boil. The clothes I made happened to fit in bars and jazz clubs. The rejuvenated Queen magazine, Beyond the Fringe, Private Eye, the discotheques and That was the Week That Was, were all born on the same wave length”. Quant, M., Quant by Quant (London 1965), p. 74Google Scholar.

(4) See Meyerson, R., Katz, E., Notes on a Natural History of Fads, The American Journal of Sociology, LXII (1957), 594–601CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Katz, E., Levin, M. L., Tradition of Research on the Diffusion of Innovation, The American Sociological Review, XXVIII (1963), 237–252CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Lazarsfeld, P. F., Merton, R. K., Mass Communication, Popular Taste and Organized Social Action, in Rosenberg, Bernard and Manning-White, David (eds), Mass Culture (Chicago 1957)Google Scholar; Tarde, G., Law of Imitation (New York 1903). PP. 144–147Google Scholar; Mills, C. W. The Man in the Middle: the designer, in Horowitz, L. L. (ed.), Power, Politics and People (New York 1963), pp. 374–386Google Scholar; Simmel, G., Fashion, The American Journal of Sociology, LXII (1957), 374–386Google Scholar; Konig, R., Mode in der Menschlichen Gesellschaft (Zürich 1958), p. 266Google Scholar; Lynes, R., The Taste Makers (New York 1949)Google Scholar.

(5) Barber, B., Lobel, L., Fashion in Women's Clothes and the American Social System, in Bendix, R. and Lipset, S. (eds), Class, Status and Power (Chicago 1953), pp. 323–332Google Scholar; Goffman, E., Symbols of Class Status, The British Journal of Sociology, II (1951), 294–304CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Fallers, L. A., A Note on the “Trickle Effect”, in Lipset, S. and Smelser, N. (eds), Sociology: the progress of a decade (New Jersey 1961), pp. 501–506Google Scholar; Allen, F. L., The Big Chance (New York 1952) pp. 192–193Google Scholar; Scharz, J., Men's Clothing and the Negro, Phylon, XXIV (1963), pp. 224–231Google Scholar; Veblen, T., The Theory of the Leisure Class (New York 1899)Google Scholar; G. Simmel, op. cit.

(6) Blumer, H., Fashion Movements, in Lee, A. M. (ed.), An Outline of Principles of Sociology (New York 1939), pp. 216–218Google Scholar; Lang, G., Collective Behaviour (New York 1961), pp. 465–471Google Scholar; Turner, R. H., Killian, L. M., Collective Behaviour (New York 1957), pp. 194–197, 207–211Google Scholar; Smelser, N., Theory of Collective Behaviour (London 1967) PP. 170–173 180–187, 196–198, 205–207, 210, 214, 217Google Scholar; Turner, A. H., Surace, S. J., Zoot Suiters and Mexican Symbols in Crowd Behaviour, The American Journal of Sociology, LXI (1956), 14–20CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

(7) See Goffman, E., The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (New York 1959) PP. 1–16Google Scholar; Id.Encounters (Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill, 1961), pp. 145–147; Goffman, E. V., Behaviour in Public Places (New York 1963), pp. 25–28, 23–35, 64–69, 108–109, 203–205, 211–213Google Scholar; Stone, G., Appearance and the Self, in Hoult, T. F. Rose, Experimental Measurement of Clothing as a Factor in Some Social Rating of Selected American Man, The American Sociological Review, XIX (1954), 324–328Google Scholar.

(8) Meyerson, R., Katz, E., op. cit. p. 594Google Scholar

(9) For an analysis of social differentiation based on generation, see Eisenstadt, S. N., From Generation to Generation (New York 1955)Google Scholar. The term “generation society” was applied to problems of British society among others by B. Wilson. See Wilson, B., War of the Generations, The Daily Telegraph, 24 August, 25 08, 1964Google Scholar.

(10) Smelser, N., op. cit. p. 8Google Scholar.

(11) G. Stone, op. cit.

(12) For the discussion about fashion and social control, see Simmel, G., op. cit. pp. 541–558Google Scholar; Spencer, H., Principle of Sociology (New York 1897), vol. IV, pp. 205–210Google Scholar; ID.Essays (London 1883), pp. 61–65; Carlyle, T., Sartor Resartus (Boston 1897), pp. 30–37Google Scholar; Duncan, H. P., Communication and Social Order (Totowa 1962), pp. 190–200Google Scholar; Nystrom, P., Economics of Fashion (New York 1928)Google Scholar; Richardson, J., Krofber, A. L., Three Centuries of Women of (Fashion, Anthropological Record, V (1940), 111–153Google Scholar; Kroeber, A. L., On the Principle of Order in Civilization as Exemplified by Changes in Fashion, American Anthropologist, VI (1919), pp. 235–263CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Tumin, M., A Note on Cultural Style, The American Journal of Sociology, XLVI (1941), 569–571Google Scholar; Koplin, J. N., Schiffer, N. J., The Limit of Fashion Control, The American Sociological Review, XIII (1948), pp. 730–738Google Scholar; Ginsberg, M., Sociology (Oxford 1937), p. 158Google Scholar.

(13) E.g. Landis, , op. cit. p. 305, 309–310Google Scholar; Summer, , op. cit. pp. 184–185, 194–195Google Scholar; Konig, op. cit.; Sapir, , op. cit. p. 141Google Scholar.

(14) E.g. Nystrom, , op. cit. pp. 123–124Google Scholar, 132–141; Ginsberg, , op. cit. p. 152Google Scholar.

(15) See Nystrom, , op. cit. p. 124Google Scholar.

(16) Sapir, , op. cit. p. 140Google Scholar.

(17) Simmel, , op. cit. p. 543Google Scholar.

(18) Kornhauser, W., The Politics of Mass Society (Berkeley 1959), p. 28Google Scholar.

(19) The concepts of “élite fashion” and “élite fashion behaviour” are derived from the literature about haute couture and from intensive interviews with designers and fashion editors. — See Bertin, C., Paris à la mode (London 1956)Google Scholar; Chr. Dior, , Dior by Dior (London 1957)Google Scholar; Devenport, M., The Book of Costume (New York 1949)Google Scholar; Beaton, C., Glass of Fashion (London 1952)Google Scholar; A Letter of a Girl on the Future of Clothes (London 1946)Google Scholar; Fashion and Class Distinction (London 1950)Google Scholar; The Past and Future of Clothes (London 1958)Google Scholar; Styles and Costume (London 1948)Google Scholar; Dress — Horn and Why Fashion in Men's and Women's Clothes have changed during the past soo years (London 1958)Google Scholar; Burrow, J., The History of the House of Worth (London 1928)Google Scholar; Latour, A., Kings of Fashion (London 1957)Google Scholar; T. Veblen, op. cit.; Schneider, P. E., What Makes Paris Fashion's Capital, York Times Magazine, 27 07 1958, pp. 18–19, 43, 45Google Scholar; Contini, M., Fashion (London 1965), pp. 261–298Google Scholar; Adburgham, A., View of Fashion (London 1966)Google Scholar; Robinson, D. E., A Note on Fashion Leadership, Business History Review, XXXVII (1961) p. 451Google Scholar; Brenninkmeyer, I., op. cit. pp. 133–142Google Scholar; Nystrom, P., op. cit. especially pp. 189–302Google Scholar.

(20) The concepts of “mass fashion” and “mass fashion behaviour” are derived from the literature concerning the development of mass production in the clothing industry in Britain after the Second World War, and from literature on recent trends in British society and from interviews with fashion editors and the survey of consumers' attitudes towards fashion carried out especially for this study. The relevant publications include: Heaton, H., Economic History of Europe (New York 1948)Google Scholar; J. M. Keynes, op. cit.; Wray, M., The Women's Outwear Industry (London 1957)Google Scholar; D. E. Robinson, op. cit.; P. Nystrom, op. cit.; Contini, M., op. cit. pp. 299–311Google Scholar; Brenninkmeyer, I., op. cit. pp. 143–154Google Scholar; Halliday, L., The Fashion Makers (London 1966)Google Scholar; Chillingworth, J., Busby, H., Fashion (London 1961)Google Scholar; M. Quant, op. cit.—The evaluation of marketing of mass produced fashionable cloths is also illustrated in the experience of Marks and Spencer Chain Store.—See Adburgham, A., The Sparks Behind Marks, Harper's Bazaar, 05 1965Google Scholar; Marks, S., How Contact is Kept with Consumer, The Times, 30 05 1961Google Scholar; G. Rees, Sir Simon Marks—Artist of the Bazaars, Penny, The Sunday Times, 7 02 1960Google Scholar; Black, S., The New Archangel of Baker Street, Vogue, 02 1965Google Scholar.

(21) See especially: M. Wray, op. cit.; M. Quant, op. cit.; P. Nystrom, op. cit.

(22) See Rostow, W. W., The Stages of Economic Growth (Cambridge 1963)Google Scholar.

(23) I. Brenninkmeyer, op. cit.; M. Quant op. cit.; A. Adburgham, op. cit.

* This research was carried out at Leicester University.