Fields of Fashion

Bourdieu’s sociology of culture has been central to studies of consumption. However, although it offers rich insights into his sociology of cultural production and consumption, his work in the field of fashion has been little discussed. This article explores some of Bourdieu’s main ideas, namely the notions of field and subfield, the concept of transsubstantiation, that of symbolic production, and the idea of a dialectic of distinction-pretension. It is argued that Bourdieu does not pay enough attention to the materiality of material culture whose meaningfulness he discusses only as symbolic. He also fails to reflect on the significance of mass fashion - whether symbolic or sensual - and the influence it has had on the field of high fashion, hence ignoring the theoretical implications of such influence. In his work, the discrepancies between empirical reality and his conceptual framework are minimized.