Heritage, Tourism and Fashion

The course will be taught by Maria Gravari-Barbas, Sophie Kurkdjian and Clara Vecchio and will be held at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris, France).

Maria Gravari-Barbas:

Based on research and literature on “Fashion cities”, the course examines globally the place and status of Paris as a contemporary “World Fashion Capital”.  Though the course takes into consideration historical considerations, it focuses on the place fashion plays today in the Parisian tourism landscape. What is the Parisian “fashion tourism offer”? What is its geography?  How does it interconnect with the global tourism offer of the French capital? Who participates/contributes in this offer?  And who are the targeted publics?

The course will analyze the interrelation between cultural tourism, heritage tourism, creative tourism and shopping tourism. It will show that fashion is a transversal phenomenon offered ‘touristically’ by the fashion sector itself (the fashion weeks being a tourism phenomenon) as well as by the heritage, the cultural and the creativity sector (galleries, museums,  associations…).

Clara Vecchio

Starting from the concepts of Heritage, Tourism, and Fashion we would like to focus on the importance of the heritage of Fine Arts in haute couture, show the importance of art crafts in luxury houses and enlighten the economic, cultural and identity asset of French crafts which contributes to the international image and attractiveness of the nation. The craftsmen’s of haute couture are the heirs of an ancestral savoir-faire that cultivate, maintain, nourish and above all bring about change in their workshops. These are gestures borrowed from history and reworked with the present. We would like to present the diversity of the craftsmen of haute couture who cultivate their art and their secrets. They know traditional techniques and they are a precious and indispensable treasure. Thus, crafts appear essential in the luxury sector, which focuses on the quality of the object and has the aura of a certain "French art de vivre".

Sophie Kurkdjian

Starting from the definitions and the principal features of heritage, tourism, and fashion, students will take in exam the opportunities that can be developed from the relationship between these fields of research. During the course, students will analyse the role and the tools of tourism and fashion heritage through case studies and practices in order to understand their development and relevance in shaping new cultural and tourism products and destinations. At the end of this course students will have a specific knowledge on the connection between tourism, creativity, and culture and will be able to recognize and understand related policies and strategies in order to connect, enhance and foster these sectors.