Institutions as intangible assets in the evolution of Italian fashion, 1950–2000

This paper aims to examine the role of institutions in the emergence and configuring of Italian fashion system in the second half of XX century, as an immaterial factor that affects its development pathway. Research on fashion from classical sociology to fashion studies configured fashion as a highly institutionalized and centralized system, by identifying the French fashion as the paradigmatic example . In the footsteps of these studies, a growing interest has emerged in different research fields in the Italian fashion institutions in the last decade. This research highlights the chaotic institutional framework characterizing the Italian fashion since its inception in the 1950s, as well as the different nature and function of Italian institutions in comparison with the leading role and sizeable activities of the French Chambre Syndicale institution. Notwithstanding the significant contribution of these studies, there are still some gaps to fill: first of all, in improving and extending the analysis until the end of the century, and then in defining the role and character of the main Italian fashion institutions over time. The paper analyzes the development and the role of Italian fashion institutions by adopting the institutional logic theoretical perspective. This approach, which emerged in the 1990s within the theoretical framework of neo-institutionalism, aimed to highlight the role played by the institutions, such as trade associations, in providing legitimacy and stability for a sector. The institutional logic concept focuses on the normative structure of values and rules “that provides the organizing principles and practice guidelines for field/sector participants”. In our paper such an approach represents the interpretive key to examine the developing, and achievement of Italian fashion, one of the most relevant Made in Italy’s sectors. The research through a heterogeneous mix of primary and secondary sources – archival records from National Chamber of Italian Fashion and Archive of Italian Fashion of Giovanni Battista Giorgini’s, the decrees from Italian official journal (Gazzetta Ufficiale), and specialized press articles from Women’s Wear Daily newspaper – reconstructs and examines the role, and features of institutions such as the Body of Italian Fashion of Turin, and the National Chamber of Italian Fashion of Rome, by defining their institutional logics from the 1950s until the end of the century. Therefore, the comparison with the highly institutionalized and centralized French fashion system allows to grasp the distinctiveness of the Italian case, contributing to consolidate the research on the close tie between institutional models, and organizational structures, and more generally on the role of institutions with regard to the configuration, legitimation, and development of a sector.