What we wear, how we wear it, as well as when and where we wear it develops a narrative around the identification and representation of ourselves. The imagery created facilitates a silent conversation between us and the outside world. Fashion and style are the tools that we use in the creation of the conversation, telling our choices, thoughts, and aspirations; who we are and who we desire to be. In this conversation with the outside world, we are both influencer and influenced in a perpetual cycle of change that fashion has come to represent. In “The Object and Art of Luxury Consumption” and the excerpt from “Subculture: The Meaning of Style” fashion is discussed from alternate perspectives as a means of influencer and influenced, personal identification and representation, and consumer consumption. “The Object and Art of Luxury Consumption” emphasizes the role of haute couture, luxury lifestyle, and luxury as art in a top-down system which contrasts with the bottom-up system of punk and counterculture fashion, as discussed in “Subculture: The Meaning of Style”. Ultimately, whether top-down or bottom-up fashion, both approaches may lead to mass consumption which, although contrary to their original roots, is important because of the eventual influence on the wider culture, ideas around fashion, and the impact on other industries.

• The Object and Art of Luxury Consumption
  1. (Pg. 108-109) From another perspective… they can enjoy or desire.
  2. (Pg. 109) The contemplation of luxuries… provide them for others.
  3. (Pg. 113) The expansion of the luxury market… and the bespoke luxury market.
  4. (Pg. 117) W. J. T. Mitchell (1996, 2005) asks the question ‘What do pictures want?’… economic and cultural senses.
  5. (Pg. 119) In their study of luxury bands,… but also to the mass market.
• Subculture: The Meaning of Style
  1. (Pg. 102-103) The subcultures with which… forbidden meaning.
  2. (Pg. 107) Objects borrowed from… were valued intrinsically.
  3. (Pg. 111) If these ‘success stories’… sympathetic retail outlets.
• The Field of Fashion (from TTF)
  1. (Pg. 245-246) This consecration…
  2. (Pg. 245) The ideals of authenticity…