It has been ten years since artist duo Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset
launched Prada Marfa, a faux Prada store in the middle of the Texan desert,
creating a work of art that questions how luxury brands would look out of
context from their urban store confines. It has evoked countless
discussions, articles and media exposure, and ten years on is still being
talked about.
Since then, there have been innumerable fashion exhibitions, on both small
and large scales, local and international, free and ticketed, and most
often well-timed to coincide with a calendar that offers maximum exposure
to said exhibition and brand.
In London alone there are currently two major brands – Chanel and Louis
Vuitton – exhibiting to the wider public with Mademoiselle Privé at the
Saatchi Gallery, and Louis Vuitton Series 3. These follow Hermès
Wanderland – which was also at the Saatchi – and Pradasphere at Harrods.
These are hot on the heels of two major retrospectives; the Jean Paul
Gaultier exhibition at the Barbican and Alexander McQueen’s inimitable show
Savage Beauty at the V&A.
When its comes to fashion’s seasonal catwalks, only a privileged few are
invited to see Chanel and Louis Vuitton’s presentations, but, as Dazed and
Confused noted, everybody – from Anna Wintour to the Primark shopper – is
invited to their exhibitions in London. Purchasing a bag that costs 2,500
pounds is financially unattainable for many people, but taking home
paraphernalia from the gallery’s gift shop is not – and yet provides a
small way in which people can feel they have access the brand. Similarly,
entering the marble-floored confines of Chanel’s New Bond Street store is
an intimidating experience for most people, but going to a public
exhibition is not. Here you’re permitted to marvel the craftsmanship of the
house’s ateliers, without having to be nervous of snooty staff or acting
under the pretense of making a purchase.
So what is it that brand’s are getting out of these exhibitions, if it
doesn’t result in direct sales? Fashion companies are marketing themselves
through the carefully curated lens of a fashion exhibition and thus opening
themselves up to a new, vast audience while maintaining their aura of
exclusivity by presenting their products as high art, sometimes even hidden
behind cases of glass. It is this balance of the attainable and
unattainable that will keep the audience interested.
Similarly, social media and sharing remains a vital aspect of luxury
brand’s marketing strategies, hence the images of fashion week are viral
from the moment a catwalk presentation begins. Just as fashion shows
provide a way for images of a brand’s new collection to be transmitted all
around the world, the exhibitions tap into a mainstream audience and their
social media accounts, where hashtags and sharing become just as widely
spread.
There are currently over 20,000 tagged images of the Louis Vuitton Series 3
exhibition in circulation, and with a three-hour queue to gain access, the
exhibition appears to be nothing short of success.