MA History and Culture of Fashion
PAST AS PRESENT: THE REVIVAL OF LUXURY HERITAGE BRANDS IN THE HYPER/LIQUID WORLD Between 2006 and 2010, a series of luxury heritage brands were simultaneously revived by autonomous entities after years of idle dormancy. The trend, characterized primarily by Cacharel, Carven, Halston, The House of Worth, Irfé and Vionnet, could initially be dismissed as a mere coincidence. Upon closer inspection, however, the phenomenon is a peculiar and unprecedented development in fashion. Taking into consideration the type of brands being revived, including their history, reputation and following, plus the overall timing of their parallel resuscitation suggests something far more complicated than a slight twist of fate. To dismantle and expose the significance of this phenomenon, Past As Future: The Revival of Luxury Heritage Brands in the Hyper/Liquid World, looks beyond the boundaries of fashion to demonstrate how growing societal anxieties have influenced the industryâs overall direction. Grounded within hypermodernism and liquid modernity, Past as Future proposes the revival of luxury heritage brands is the result of societyâs eroding confidence in forward-orientated progress. Plagued by perpetual anxiety, uncertainty, temporality and ânowism,â the hyper/liquid world has become pervasive, casting the fashion industry and its participants into a constant state of flux where present-day gratifications are unremitting. As a result, the hyper/liquid state of fashion has forced the industry to collapse upon itself, rendering it incapable of projecting itself forward. With the future acting as a source of anxiety rather than a site of refuge, fashion has returned to its past to create its future. ABOUT MELISSA WUSATY Melissa is a digital content professional working in the technology and fashion sector. Combining her background in fashion publishing and education in digital brand management, Melissa's core expertise rests in creating online brand experience within the disciplines of content, e-commerce and user experience. Working between front/backend development and marketing teams, her aim is to build loyal brand interactions across all digital touch points. After completing her Masters dissertation on the revival of luxury heritage brands at the London College of Fashion, Melissaâs research has been sought out by a variety of brands, such as C.W. Dixey & Son, Irfé Paris and Paganne. Melissa currently lives in London.