Abstract

This paper builds on traditional and recent marketing research concerning the constituents of brand authenticity, particularly investigating consumers’ experience in the context of fashion industry. Specifically, we attempt to unpack the dimensions underlying the concept of brand authenticity by, first, correlating the role of heritage and ‘mythopoesis’ – the creation of a myth through repetitive narrative –  and, second, by applying our proposed theoretical framework to four Italian luxury fashion brands, namely Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo, Lous Vuitton, and Stefano Ricci. Thanks to the positioning of such fashion brands according to different levels of heritage and authenticity, it emerges how mythopoesis allow brand marketers to transfer brand heritage from past to both present and future. In this way, the risk of brand fixation in the celebration of the past may be overcome. Managerial implications are finally discussed, showing how marketers may foster or hinder brand authenticity, and how such an aspect affects consumer experience and attitude toward the brand.

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