Shopping Routes: Networks of Fashion Consumption in London's West End 1945-1979

An AHRB/ESRC funded Cultures of Consumption Project

London's West End is a key location in national and global cultures of fashion. Its shops have formed a focus for generations of fashion producers and consumers, influencing the ways in which manufacturers around the world display and promote their goods and individuals construct their social identities. This project will investigate the changes that have taken place in this vibrant district during an important moment in its history. It will examine a range of activities that have supported the dynamic creativity of an area that covers Oxford Street, Regent Street, Bond Street and Carnaby Street. These include the retail trade, tourism, the representation of the West End in film, television and print journalism, and the back street energy of the 'rag trade'. The aims of the research are to provide a new account of the history of the West End, a better understanding of the shopping experience, and a model for urban regeneration which acknowledges the important role played by fashion in this process. Individual case-studies are structured around the following themes :

Landscapes of Consumption

Case studies will contribute to debates about the links between architectural style, building function, retail display strategies and consumption practices by examining the development of different kinds of shops in various geographical and economic contexts, both within the West End and further afield.

Networks of Consumption

The project will study the fluid boundaries existing between the geographies of production and consumption, particularly the relationship between fashion manufacturing and wholesaling (the 'rag trade') and sites of retailing and display.

Representations of Consumption

Case studies will examine the construction, content, promotion and reception of official, commercial and subversive images of the West End. By focusing on the treatment of fashion shopping in popular and experimental film, tourist literature and journalism, the project argues for a reading of consumer culture that takes the power of publicity and image-making seriously.

Identities of Consumption

Consumption and personal display within fashion districts such as the West End have contributed to significant social and cultural shifts during the late twentieth century. This has been experienced directly by groups including teenagers, office workers, shop assistants, suburban and regional day-trippers and international tourists. The project concerns itself with identifying the role that fashion shopping has played in relation to the emergence of new class, gender, ethnic and generational identities in this context.

Project Events and Publications

Between 2003 and 2006 the outcomes of the Shopping Routes research will include an exhibition staged in the environment of the West End, an international conference, seminars and workshops and a series of publications aimed at academic and general interest audiences.