Are fashion exhibitions a branding technique?

It has been ten years since artist duo Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset launched Prada Marfa, a faux Prada store in the middle of the Texan desert, creating a work of art that questions how luxury brands would look out of context from their urban store confines. It has evoked countless discussions, articles and media exposure, and ten years on is still being talked about.

Since then, there have been innumerable fashion exhibitions, on both small and large scales, local and international, free and ticketed, and most often well-timed to coincide with a calendar that offers maximum exposure to said exhibition and brand.

In London alone there are currently two major brands - Chanel and Louis Vuitton - exhibiting to the wider public with Mademoiselle Privé at the Saatchi Gallery, and Louis Vuitton Series 3. These follow Hermès Wanderland – which was also at the Saatchi – and Pradasphere at Harrods. These are hot on the heels of two major retrospectives; the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition at the Barbican and Alexander McQueen's inimitable show Savage Beauty at the V&A.

The catwalks are closed to the public, but exhibitions are for everyone

When its comes to fashion's seasonal catwalks, only a privileged few are invited to see Chanel and Louis Vuitton's presentations, but, as Dazed and Confused noted, everybody – from Anna Wintour to the Primark shopper – is invited to their exhibitions in London. Purchasing a bag that costs 2,500 pounds is financially unattainable for many people, but taking home paraphernalia from the gallery’s gift shop is not – and yet provides a small way in which people can feel they have access the brand. Similarly, entering the marble-floored confines of Chanel’s New Bond Street store is an intimidating experience for most people, but going to a public exhibition is not. Here you’re permitted to marvel the craftsmanship of the house’s ateliers, without having to be nervous of snooty staff or acting under the pretense of making a purchase.

So what is it that brand's are getting out of these exhibitions, if it doesn't result in direct sales? Fashion companies are marketing themselves through the carefully curated lens of a fashion exhibition and thus opening themselves up to a new, vast audience while maintaining their aura of exclusivity by presenting their products as high art, sometimes even hidden behind cases of glass. It is this balance of the attainable and unattainable that will keep the audience interested.

Similarly, social media and sharing remains a vital aspect of luxury brand's marketing strategies, hence the images of fashion week are viral from the moment a catwalk presentation begins. Just as fashion shows provide a way for images of a brand's new collection to be transmitted all around the world, the exhibitions tap into a mainstream audience and their social media accounts, where hashtags and sharing become just as widely spread.

There are currently over 20,000 tagged images of the Louis Vuitton Series 3 exhibition in circulation, and with a three-hour queue to gain access, the exhibition appears to be nothing short of success.