Paris and Champagne, or ‘Fashion’ and ‘Champagne’: Parallels, Connections, Comparisons

This chapter is focused on Champagne the region and champagne the wine on the one hand, and Paris and fashion on the other. In many ways, these industries have run parallel through hundreds of years of French history, and been central in constructing ‘Frenchness’. They are connected in many ways – in myths and ideas, as luxury production and consumption, and under prestigious brands. Yet, there are also significant differences in their construction, defence, and mythologies. The initial construction of Paris and Champagne involved the symbolic construction of location and the use of central myths. The institutionalisation of both systems involved forms of collaboration and defence. Importantly, the establishment of Champagne was bound up with struggle for legal recognition. The clientele of both Paris fashion and champagne wine were international early one, and various processes of internationalisation have exported both the products, and some of the production processes associated with them, around the world. As part of this, democratisation processes have been central for the global, ongoing success of champagne and Paris fashion, yet democratisation has led to the emergence of new hierarchies. Analysing these processes from a historical-sociological point of view, I consider what fashion scholarship may learn from champagne, as well as from comparisons between fashion and champagne.