Communicating Fashion Brands: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives

This book demonstrates how fashion brands communicate, why the practice is significant within wider society and how it can be perceived as culturally meaningful.

Enabling readers to connect the tools and techniques of communication with their theoretical underpinnings and historical antecedents, the book shows how these methods can be applied in practice. The authors utilise social, consumer and cultural theory, and frameworks rooted in psychology, sociology and economics, as mechanisms to analyse and deconstruct current communication strategies used by fashion brands. The book presents insights and strategies for communicating authentic values, conveying a clearly defined aesthetic and visual language and generating shareable content that resonates with audiences. With insights into strategies used by brands including Burberry, Gucci, Dior, COS, Rapha, Warby Parker and Maryam Nassir Zadeh, each chapter outlines ways of maintaining relevant and consistent brand narratives in the 21st century. From how to sustain a dialogue with a brand's community, to the use of brand collaboration, co-creative storytelling and fashion spaces, the book aims to develop reflective communication practitioners who have a deep understanding of the cultural landscape, brand strategy and industry innovation.

Written for scholars and practitioners, this book is a valuable blend of theory and practice across the fields of fashion, communication and branding.

Emily Huggard is Assistant Professor of Fashion Communication at Parsons School of Design in New York. Her research explores how brands create a space of proximity for the consumer using physical, digital and social realms, and the use of installation art as a brand experience tool in the epoch of post-consumerism and post-digital.

Jon Cope leads the MA in Public Relations at Westminster University, London. His current research focuses on the use of visual materials in promotional communication. Jon co-authored and photographed the book Fashion Promotion in Practice, published in 2016. He holds an MA in Critical Global Politics from Exeter University.