Delivery of value and identity through fashion curation
Nowadays, it is very crucial for fashion brands to present themselves effectively through well-oriented curation, as it is essential to customers not only the products but also the brand value, heritage, and experience they get from the brand. The trend is not now made only by certain fashion industry powers, but by individuals and diverse trends, as well as values. Fashion brands cannot survive and maintain their power and strength only with the product itself now; they have to justify and show themselves how valuable they are and what story they have. When it was a time when customers were less sensitive, designers and industry tried to control the public, but now they cannot force a change in fashion, and any designer cannot force people to change their style (Kawamura, 2022).
If we look at the process of fashion curation of the brand Dior and also look into the fashion film that they had made, especially for 2020-2021 FW Haute Couture, they curate their brand story very precisely and effectively in a way that can deliver their brand story well to people. Also, through looking into Alexander McQueen’s brand campaign and fashion films that they have done, they clearly show the four main key themes. Among those, I believe Alexander McQueen’s brand campaign is exceptionally nicely curated to show their luxury narratives. Looking deeper into the campaign “Storm Chasing”,
Storm Chasing, 2022 S/S, Alexander McQueen Official Website
it is the film that is created to show the collection storm chasing, and the models in the film are chosen by their individuality, which is shown in the film as unique but unified (Burton, 2022). The individuality and charisma that the models have shown Alexander McQueen’s personality very well because Alexander McQueen produces a lot of maxi dresses and very feminine styles but they have skulls and charismatic auroras around them, which in my opinion, represents the strong women, and the person itself, not just showing off the beauty through fashion. How they curate their films and exhibitions, can be also seen as expressing their identities. Just hanging the collection or making the models walk with it on the stage is not enough to show who they are, what they have, what identity people can express by wearing that clothes, and what they can say to the world. So it is now important how well they can curate their story and heritage, and for this reason, I see that the role of the creative director is getting more and more important.
There are some brands that keep their brand archive very well so that they can keep and maintain their heritage well. If we look into the brand Marimekko as an example, they have their brand archive on their website very well in the section called “Maripedia”. They have their patterns and archives from the 50s when they just started their business, and show the people how they are maintaining their heritage as well as their identity since then.
Marimekko Official Website
People can see the designer who made the pattern, how it is variated nowadays, and what is the name and the motive of that design is. People can find out what meaning do their product has and how it was first made and developed. This can give people the feeling that their product is made with meaning and care, not stamped out of the factory. Also, when time passes, they will have the brand history with them, because they are all still existing with the brand until that time. When Marimekko does its exhibitions they curate them very well based on this archive. Also, they combine them a lot with new technologies to make the patterns move or transform them into modern ways. To see the brand patterns that are made in the most original way combined with the new technology and evolving, show their brand value for sustainability and timeless design, evolving through time.
Fashion curation is important to luxury brands because customers do not want products just produced for fashion. They want stories and history that the products are special and well made, with much value. Although luxury brands are noticed for strong symbols, they also exist for a personality trait, and brand identity (Heine, 2010). Looking back to our brand Alexander McQueen, they did their brand exhibition in a boutique in London with the theme of roses. This exhibition is curated very well focusing on their brand identity and value. Also, the pieces in the exhibition were created as if they were artworks, making people feel like this brand is very well curated and high quality with an aesthetic sensibility. It makes Alexander McQueen very luxurious, gorgeous, and high-quality looking.
It is important for curators to take majorities of items that are not magnificently recognized by the runway or museums, they have to translate these individual pieces that can be significant to the exhibition level (Buick, 2012). It is important because fashion brands need to curate themselves very well not only the show-stopper pieces but also the general pieces, they also should have the power in it. It is because only in this way can they create the brand heritage and history through it by making the general pieces worn by people and making them as artworks. Fashion exhibitions should highlight the narrative about the capacity for creating, producing, and circulating fashion cultures so that they can link with people (García,2018).
Mythopoesis generates and reinterprets myths from the past with the present context, making the narrative of the past heritage and the present projecting it towards the future (Boccardi, 2016). It is an important point of fashion curation because the curation should be made in a way that the brand identity and the style are linked from the past to the present because that is how the brand can show its identity. The identity is not made in one day but made in years and years as the brand grows up. It becomes the brand heritage and living history, and it should improve and go further as time goes on, which means that the brands should curate them in a way that they can maintain their history. Sometimes we see some brands changing totally trashing the past history of them when the creative director changes, but we can see that the customers that loved the brand will leave because of this because they do not respect their history themselves.
Now, the customers are smarter than ever, they just do not follow what the industry tells them, what the brands tell them. They want brands to come closer to them, share their stories how their products were made, and what stories they have. And that is, why the brand should curate itself very well so that it can appeal to and give people the experience, give value to themselves, and evolve for the future. If the brands do not think about who they are themselves, and follow some general trends, they will get lost with, who they are, because it is mostly important to show people who they are, as individuality and personal stories are important as ever.
References
•Kawamura Y. (2022), “Fashion-ology”, Translated by E.Yim et al, Seoul, Korea: Sahoipyoungnon Academy.
•Djurdia B, Cole S, Rocamora A. (2013), “Fashion media past and present”, London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts.
•Buick N. (2012), “FRAMING FASHION CURATION: A theoretical, historical and practical perspective”, Creative Industries Faculty QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY.
•Boccardi A, Ciappei C, Zollo L, Carmen Laudano M(2016), “The role of heritage and authenticity in the value creation of fashion brand” Florence, Italy: University of Florence
•Heine K (2010), “The Personality of Luxury Fashion Brands”, Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, 1:3, 154-163, DOI: 10.1080/20932685.2010.10593067
•Neira García, L. (2018) “Fashion: Cultural Heritage and the Made in”, ZoneModa Journal, 8(1), pp. 63–75. doi: 10.6092/issn.2611-0563/8222.
Appendix
Industry Glossary
• Fashion Curator
Curator: One of ‘taking charge’ of objects and institutions, and working within prescribed spaces (Buick, 2012).
Fashion curator: A person that takes charge of the fashion brand’s heritage and collections to brand history, presenting them to people to effectively deliver the brand story and value.
• Brand Heritage
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, heritage can be defined as “features belonging to the culture of a particular society, such as traditions, languages, or buildings, which come from the past and are still important” (Merchant and Rose, 2013, p. 2620)
Brand Heritage: Features belong to the brand culture, story, and history that they have that were in the past and still ongoing, or playing an important role in the current brand position.
• Brand-Driven Exhibition
The exhibition that is curated by the brand to show their brand heritage to people, expressing themselves and focusing on their own stories, which is curated by the creative directors and brand curator.
• Luxury Fashion
Consumers engage in symbolic consumption and decide on a product mainly due to the congruity between their personality and the symbolic personality of the product or brand (Heine, 2010).
Luxury fashion is, the brands that engage with their customers, creatives the brand personality and story that they can give specialty to consumers, based on their high quality and well-featured design.
• Fashion Communication
Fashion communication is how fashion brands communicate with customers about themselves and their values through the method of fashion curation, fashion presentation, fashion shows, fashion films, and media.