Digital everyday outfits: rethinking fashion communication through
Manuela Farinosi, Sara Zanatta
The development and soaring adoption of weblogs and social networking sites are deeply changing the way in which fashion is produced, communicated and consumed. Web 2.0 platforms have led to the appearance of what we can define a ‘grassroots fashion-sphere and social media are increasingly becoming an integral part of the fashion industry (Bruzzi &
Gibson, 2000; Kawamura, 2005). The phenomenon of fashion blogs, even noteworthy, has received little scholarly attention so far (Berry, 2010; Khamis & Munt, 2010; Palmgren, 2010); moreover the existing researches have mainly focused on the blogs themselves and overlooked the different online platforms - such as Facebook pages, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Fashiolista and Chicisimo - used by bloggers to spread their outfits and styles. In this contribution we examine the online media practices of four Italian fashion bloggers and their modes of self-representation on the Internet. To address this question we adopt a qualitative approach: the most followed Italian bloggers on Facebook have been selected and analyzed for two weeks both at the discursive and visual level (Goffman, 1979; Ziller, 1990; Ball & Smith, 1992). Our discussion draws upon three main lines of research. Firstly, an overview of the phenomenon (definition and main aspects) will be provided. Then, the online media practices of the bloggers will be explored in order to understand how they use the different platforms and interact with their followers. Lastly, the way in which identities are staged in pictures of today’s outfit and in the related written post will be considered, taking account of the kinds of products (make up, drinks, books, and so forth) which also contribute to the construction of those identities.