Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
diffusion can also occur through a hierarchy of people. In
this case, a designer is the hearth, models are the next tier,
celebrities and editors and writers of major magazines fol-
low, and subscribers to fashion magazines follow in close
order. Finally, anyone walking through a shopping mall can
become a “knower” in the diffusion of a fashion innovation.
We do not see local and popular cultures as being ends
of a continuum; rather, we see both operating on the same
plane, affecting people and places in different ways across
different scales. For example, you may go to a major depart-
ment store, such as Target or Wal-Mart and see Hutterites
or Mennonites dressed in distinctive local clothing in the
midst of the ultimate in popular culture: a major interna-
tional department store. Traditions, such as painting henna
on one's hands or practicing mystical Kabbalah beliefs, are
carried from centuries-old customs of local cultures to the
global popular culture through a popular culture icon or
through the corporations (such as the media industry) that
work to construct popular culture (Fig. 4.3).
Figure 4.2
London, United Kingdom.
Catherine Middleton, Duchess
of Cambridge, enters Westminster Abbey in a wedding gown
reminiscent of Grace Kelly's. Sarah Burton of the House of
Alexander McQueen, located in London, designed the lace
gown. Members of the Royal School of Needlework hand cut
and sewed the intricate lace. The Offi cial Royal Wedding web-
site reported that each sewer washed his or her hands every 30
minutes and replaced the needles every 3 hours to keep the dress
pristine and the work exact.
© Samir Hussein/Wire Image.
Figure 4.3
Rajasthan, India.
Actor Russell Brand and singer Katy Perry
wed in a “traditional” Hindu ceremony at the Sher Bagh Resort
near the Ranthambhore tiger sanctuary in India. Perry was
adorned with a nath, an Indian bridal nose ring, traditionally
worn by Indian brides until the wedding night when her hus-
band removes it.
New York, which act as the
hearth
, the point of origin. The
next tier of places includes fl agship stores for the fashion
house and editorial headquarters of fashion magazines, also
located in global cities. Department store brands interpret
the runway fashions for consumption by a larger audience,
and the suburban mall receives the innovation. Hierarchical
© David Dyson/Retna/Camera Press
