THE CULTURAL ECONOMY OF INDEPENDENT FASHION Alexandra Tuite Bachelor of Arts (UQ) Master of Arts (UQ) Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Creative Industries Faculty School of Design Queensland University of Technology 2019 Keywords Independent fashion, Australian fashion, Brisbane, Queensland, independent cultural production, indie, creative networks, cultural networks, cultural production, cultural intermediation, globalisation, e-commerce, aesthetic labour, consumer networks, Instagram, social media, materiality, plus size, DIY, craft. i Abstract “Independent fashion” is a widely-used term, but as a concept it has not been defined with any clarity or consistency. The term is applied to many types of businesses operating at different market levels and with varying degrees of emphasis on business structure, aesthetic qualities and broader cultural and social engagement. There are many scholarly studies considering the processes and practices of independent fashion businesses. However, these studies take for granted the notion of “independence” in fashion, looking past it in order to consider other aspects and issues. This risks under-examining the nuanced attitudes informing the production of fashion as a cultural object, and causes confusion regarding the way in which participants in the sector understand their relationship to the products they produce, sell and consume. This project seeks to address this problem by describing and analysing the way in which independent fashion as a concept is understood, demonstrated and judged by those who identify as participants in the independent fashion sector. This study is not about the economic aspects of operating an independent fashion business, but rather the ways in which practitioners in the sector understand themselves to be cultural entrepreneurs, with independence as a central, unifying cultural value. In order to consider these attitudes towards and understandings of independent fashion as a concept, places and spaces are examined through which the concept of independent fashion is enacted both through personal practice and social interaction. Contemporary studies are contextualised with historical examples to consider changes to the concept of independent fashion may change over time and ii how historical examples inform emerging and contemporary understandings of the concept. This is a qualitative research project that uses methods including in-depth case studies, semi-structured interviews with independent fashion sector participants, online observation of social media accounts over a 12 month period, archival research and content analysis of written and online materials including business websites, social media posts and exhibition catalogues. As the study is intended to understand independent fashion within the context of research on contemporary creative industries and entrepreneurial labour, all case studies are small businesses. The format of this thesis is “PhD by published papers” and the project is comprised of six articles grouped into three chapters. Through these six articles a contribution to knowledge is made that the concept of independent fashion is consistently understood to exist in opposition to a perceived mainstream, but that its characteristics are fluid and change over time to reflect broader social, cultural and economic shifts. The processes and practices through which independent fashion sector participants demonstrate and judge independence are remarkably similar across time and in varying places and spaces (including in physical and digital environments), however the attitudes underpinning them vary. Additionally, it is found that the sector’s alignment with the creative industries and with labour practices associated with cultural work positions it at the forefront of contemporary social and political discourse about the future of work, including a gendered perspective on creative industries employment and entrepreneurial labour. iii Table of contents Keywords ................................................................................................................................... i Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... ii Table of contents ...................................................................................................................... iv List of published and submitted papers .................................................................................... vi List of figures .......................................................................................................................... vii List of tables .......................................................................................................................... viii List of abbreviations ................................................................................................................. ix Statement of original authorship ............................................................................................... x Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. xi Chapter 1: Introduction ...................................................................................... 1 1.1 Independent fashion: a problematic concept .................................................................. 1 1.2 Research problem ........................................................................................................... 4 1.3 Research question ........................................................................................................... 5 1.4 Background to the study ................................................................................................. 5 1.5 Structure of this research project .................................................................................. 19 Chapter 2: Literature review ............................................................................ 20 Chapter 3: Methodology .................................................................................... 48 3.1 Theoretical framework .................................................................................................. 48 3.2 Methodology ................................................................................................................. 54 Chapter 4: Negotiating the creative and the commercial ............................... 65 4.1 Preamble ....................................................................................................................... 65 4.2 What is independent fashion? An Australian perspective ............................................ 67 4.3 Crafting symbolic value: art, craft and independent fashion ........................................ 94 Chapter 5: Speaking locally and communicating globally ........................... 125 5.1 Preamble ..................................................................................................................... 125 5.2 Reconciling the local and the global in the Brisbane independent fashion sector ...... 127 5.3 Communicating material characteristics in a digital age: three case studies in independent fashion .............................................................................................................. 154 Chapter 6: Amplifying personal meaning through networked communities 176 6.1 Preamble ..................................................................................................................... 176 6.2 Jenny Kee and Flamingo Park: Independent fashion retailers as creative practitioners 178 6.3 Gendered entrepreneurialism and the labour of online consumption in the independent fashion sector ........................................................................................................................ 200 iv Chapter 7: Conclusion ..................................................................................... 223 7.1 Research findings ....................................................................................................... 223 7.2 Application of findings to theory ............................................................................... 229 7.3 Summary of contributions of this project ................................................................... 231 7.4 Limitations of this project .......................................................................................... 232 7.5 Areas for future research ............................................................................................ 233 7.6 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................... 236 References ............................................................................................................... 239 v List of published and submitted papers Published Tuite, A. (2018) “Jenny Kee and Flamingo Park: Independent fashion retailers as creative practitioners.” Fashion, Style & Popular Culture. 5 (2):167- 81. Accepted, in press Tuite, A. (forthcoming 2019) “What is independent fashion?” Fashion Practice. Tuite, A. (forthcoming 2019) “Communicating material characteristics in a digital age: three case studies in independent fashion.” Studies in Communication Sciences. Submitted, under review Tuite, A. “Reconciling the local and the global in Brisbane’s independent fashion sector”.