The Complex Diffusion of Ready-to-wear Fashion in Paris through Networks

Broadly speaking, the structural sociology of creativity and innovation looks
at how network positions generate novel and useful ideas and products.
Recent theories highlight how semi-peripheral actors are more creative and
innovative because they connect the legitimacy of the core to the freshness
of the periphery. From a dynamic point of view, these theories also
accounts for how radical innovations reshuffle network positions and
hierarchies, leading notably to a displacement of the core by the periphery.
However, they ignore cases in which radical innovation, even when it
originates in the periphery, is embraced and used by the core as an
opportunity to reinforce its position. In this paper, we address this question
by uncovering the complex diffusion process of ready-to-wear in French
fashion between 1945 and 1973, focusing on the dynamics of networks,
institutions, and cognitive frames underlying this process. Ready-to-wear
(prêt-à-porter in French) displaced haute couture as the most significant
activity in the industry. It diffused through the core of the existing network
and left swaths of the industry untouched. Building from an inductive
historical analysis, we decompose the complex diffusion process into four
stages. We provide a situated understanding of networks, taking into
consideration their interplay with institutions and cognitive frames and
relating them to the diffusion, institutionalization and legitimation process.