| This study explores the alliance between high fashion and French national self-representation from 1945 until 1960. Haute couture, the most elite sector of the fashion industry, survived the postwar era because it exercised symbolic power for France, and its advocates created situations to use that power to benefit themselves and the industry. The dissertation begins with an industrial case study of state involvement in the high fashion industry. Interest in using fashion for the reconstruction of national self-image brought billions of francs in state financial assistance, which officials justified through the longstanding association between Frenchness and fashion. Although haute couture became uncompetitive as the garment industry shifted to high-quality ready-to-wear production, business leaders exploited the couture tradition with new business strategies. They continued to design clothing for women of the elite, but refocused attention on the label and its possibilities for generating revenue. Attention to the label enabled haute couture to weather the shift to a society of mass consumption.; The New York-Paris fashion connection became critical to the French after World War II, but exchanges regarding French and American fashion habits in the 1940s and 1950s display substantial cultural anxiety and national chauvinism. From the French direction, these discussions confirm the permanence of Parisian supremacy, yet criticize Americanization and emerging foreign competition. Cultural conflict seemed to have more to do with publicity than with actual competition, however, and in practice French fashion maintained close and beneficial ties to America.; From business history the study moves to the interior world of haute couture. Gender and social class distinctions were both highlighted and created in the fashion house through relations among private clients, couture house employees, mannequins (fashion models), designers, and journalists. Those who were dressed in or worked in a design house demonstrated a common interest in self-transformation through their exposure to high fashion. The tastemakers (designers and journalists) broke conventional gender molds while they affirmed artistic conventions about masculine genius. These representations, in such a visible industry, proved to be central to the cultural influence, commercial value, and international selling power of haute couture. |
