Louise Kiesling

The PhD ‘Design Transience’ is a cross disciplinary body of research, that investigates ‘Fashion’ as a concept of the pursuit of newness and as a process of institutionalisation to investigate the cyclical changes that drive development and consumption in the automotive industry.

In the past 50 years the cyclical changes of vehicle colour and style have accelerated to the point where some observers have stated that it has become more like a fashion industry.

‘The fashion form became sovereign. In every realm alongside the growing individualisation of tastes, we find diversity substituted for uniformity; nuances and small variations replace likeness. All sectors have been conquered by the fashion processes of variety and secondary distinction’ Gilles Lipovetsky stated in his book The Empire of Fashion (Lipovetsky, 1994) The diversity in model ranges, where new niches are created on a rapid basis, leads to questions relating to the structure and organisation of development and design processes in the automotive industry. According to the ‘2015 Car Innovation’ report of Oliver Wyman, innovation management in car manufacturing requires the enhancement of the innovation culture and organisation and the improvement of R&D effectiveness and efficiency. Additionally these questions extend to sustainability not only in an environmental sense but also in an economic and aesthetic sense to create a solid foundation for the advancement of mobility.