Paris and Luxury Fashion Branding During the COVID-19 Pandemic

<p dir="ltr">This MRP explores the relationship between fashion, art, architecture, and the media in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, examining how Parisian sites of exhibition were commodified by French luxury fashion brands and used as venues for exhibitions, editorial photoshoots, and runway spaces throughout 2021 and 2022. Engaging with the work of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, this investigation begins with an overview of the material construction of Paris throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries before focusing on how brands engaged with important Parisian cultural institutions through the analysis of three case studies: Yves Saint Laurent’s, Saint Laurent Aux Musée, a retrospective exhibition staged within the permanent collections of seven museums across Paris museums in the first half of 2022; Louis Vuitton’s summer 2022 Capucines handbag campaign, filmed and photographed at the Musée de l’Orangerie; and Dior’s Haute Couture Autumn/Winter 2021/2022 collection, presented in the gardens of the Musée Rodin.</p>