The objective of this issue is not to legitimise a notion - Soft Power - that remains approximate and is constantly shifting in the field of American diplomacy and foreign policy. The question is rather to emphasise its symptomatic character.

Special issue of IFM's Research Review Mode de recherche (in English): a selection of some of the most emblematic and representative articles taken from different issues.

All evidence seems to suggest that craftsmanship and the handmade, both inextricably linked, are the preserve of the pre-industrial age and have now been elevated to heritage status or regarded as relics of the history of technique.

With the emergence of the digital age and the Internet, the usual attachment of innovation to research institutions and companies, a model that has prevailed since the beginning of the 20th century, has over recent years, been supplemented by a social and “bottom up”
form of innovation.

This issue of Mode de recherche on the subject of luxury follows on from the international conference organized by the IFM in April 2011 (Fashion between Heritage and Innovation), in addition to the recent publication Le luxe. Essais sur la fabrique de l’ostentation.

The theory of the brand, just like the notion of brand « identity » is an important part of the teaching and training at the IFM.