Cultural Heritage, Intangible Assets, and Fashion Branding

Fashion belongs to that group of activities that recent literature in economics has classified as “creative industries,” “cultural industries,” or, yet again, “cultural and creative industries”-the definition given by Unesco. It is the link between the production activity of the fashion sector and cultural heritage that is the object of this chapter, which intends to analyze how tangible and intangible cultural heritage entered into the brand identity strategies of the fashion business. The first section reconstructs how, between the middle of the nineteenth century and the mid-twentieth century, couturiers and fashion designers were able to achieve the status of artists. The second part of the chapter illustrates how, strengthened by the recognition obtained by haute couture from the second half of the nineteenth century, the fashion houses were able to use their cultural heritage as an asset in promoting their own image. Finally, the chapter presents the way in which the French and Italian fashion houses used-at times manipulated-their own history to reinforce their brand identity.