Cultural Intermediaries as 'Merchants of Mystique': A Narrative Exploration of Consecration

This working paper proposes a narrative exploration of cultural mediation within the aesthetic field of high fashion. As a context for study, high fashion has received significant attention within CCT due to its emotive,... [ view full abstract ]

This working paper proposes a narrative exploration of cultural mediation within the aesthetic field of high fashion. As a context for study, high fashion has received significant attention within CCT due to its emotive, non-rational and symbolic aspects that correspond to contemporary postmodern consumption. This working paper proposes a further contextualisation for high fashion as a field within which aesthetic consumption experiences are consecrated as ‘magical’ by cultural intermediaries.

While arbiters of taste embody significant cultural value, their capacity to impact bodies’ dispositions and frame consumption experiences remains somewhat mystified. Current conceptualisations in CCT have been limited to describing this unique group as ‘sorcerers’, who possess a magical capacity to bewitch consumers and leave them spellbound. The ‘magic’ cultural intermediaries create enshrouds the field and consecrates high fashion as an aesthetically rare, spiritually pure, and transcendent consumption experience.

Adopting a narrative approach, I conceptualise the stories told by my participants as representative of the intense emotions felt during the moment of consecration. Through analysing the narratives of these consecratory moments, I seek to further articulate that which occurs behind this veil of ‘magic’.