Newcastle

Professor Alan McKinlay’s project for the Enterprise of Culture focuses on British fashion designers of the 1960s with reference to how they transformed the cultural capital of their designs into economic capital. The research considers successful designers, and those who were not successful. The distinctive theoretical contribution will be to understand the underpinnings of this transformation. The historical contribution will be to unravel the relationships among designers, department stores, and brand values.

To launch his project, McKinlay has focused his research in the secondary sources on brand development, on post-World War II fashion and design history, and on the theories of Pierre Bourdieu. Preliminary research has identified key sources at the University of Glasgow, the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick, the V&A, and the American retailer J.C. Penny.

Research was disseminated at workshops at the Newcastle University Business School and at the Copenhagen Business School.