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Abstract
This study situates fashion history in the context of art market research to explore the assetization of luxury clothing. Art markets and the luxury fashion industry developed in tandem and yet there have been no cultural economic studies on fashion as a form of art. This study takes a data driven approach to assessing the monetary value of clothing sold at auction at Christie’s primarily in the twenty first century. The results of this study confirm with a high degree of statistical significance that fashion auctions at Christie’s, Inc. auction house have become increasingly lucrative since the twentieth century. Moreover, the results of this study show that there is a statistically significant financial incentive to purchase and hold onto certain luxury clothing items from the canons of fashion history. This study provides a baseline on which to explore increasingly atomized configurations of value with respect to material culture from fashion history.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
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Additional information
Notes on contributors
Katherine Greder
Katherine Greder is an Assistant Professor of Design Studies in the Department of Media Arts, Design and Technology at North Carolina State University. Her research focuses on the circular economy and assetization as a mechanism for exploring the alignment of financial incentives for decarbonization in the global fashion system. Kate holds a PhD from the Department of Human Centered Design at Cornell University. [email protected]
Stephen Parry
Stephen Parry is a statistician at Cornell’s Statistical Consulting Unit. Stephen collaborates on a wide range of research projects and has published in a diverse range of fields including, but not limited to, agriculture, veterinary medicine, sociology, design, psychology, and linguistics. He was awarded an Ig Nobel in Transportation in 2021 and co-authored a manuscript on Best Practices on Collecting Gender and Sex Data in 2022. Stephen has a M.S. in Statistics from Syracuse University. [email protected]
Van Dyk Lewis
Van Dyk Lewis is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Centered Design at Cornell University. Van Dyk’s research touches on design criticism, fashion theory, alternative fashion futures, and critical luxury studies. Van Dyk holds a PhD in Cultural Studies from the University of Birmingham in England. [email protected]