Alexander McQueen Luxury Fashion Exhibition/Gallery Pamplona, ES Apr 2019

Author: Leticia Elizalde Academic advisor: Javier Antón ABSTRACT This thesis deals with the future of retail design and visual merchandising within the fashion realm. The future of shops is already here. The way in which the customers relate to the fashion industry is constantly evolving. Due to the development of new technologies, the ways of consumption are shifting, and the function of retail spaces and storefronts is starting to become obsolete. (Habría que apoyar esto con una cita... How can physical stores compete with the increasingly online commerce? There is already a trend of making the purchase online so, future stores will not be selling points as we know them now. If I can buy online, why should we go to the store? With this new mentality, physical shops must offer some added value and give customers a reason to go there. In stores, brands are able to offer the client a more complete brand experience. The goal is to live a more pleasant shopping experience rather than going somewhere just to buy. Society is changing and the fashion industry should not fall behind. FROM OBJECT TO SUBJECT The rising generations are the future. What are their concerns about society? Is in those interests where the brands establish their relationships with people. Brands have social responsibility so they should be committed to current and future people concerns. That social engagement attracts people because they feel identified with that brand. According to a global survey of young people conducted by Masdar, half of generation Z opted to spend more money on products of a company that behaves in a sustainable way rather than following unsustainable practices. Companies should be attuned to three implications for this generation: consumption as access rather than possession, consumption as an expression of individual identity, and consumption as a matter of ethical concern. Businesses must rethink how they deliver value to the consumer, rebalance scale and mass production against personalization, and—more than ever—practice what they preach when they address marketing issues and work ethics. Continuing with last year Research Projects, we add the idea of subject and object. In fashion world we can compare brand, as object, and user as subject. Visual merchandising and service design is the combination of both. The brand should attract the customer by offering something interesting to him/her through a proper exhibition design that highlight all brand ideas. In that relationship between user and brand is where interaction, identity and process should be revealed to the user to find connection with the brand.