Influencers, Niche Magazines and Journalistic Practice in Italy: Toward a New Fashion Editorial System

Abstract

This essay considers fashion influencers, niche magazines, and the mainstream editorial system as heterogeneous expressions of the fashion editorial system (FES). It investigates the relationships between the digital turn affecting the FES, journalism, and commercial practices. We argue that information on fashion is produced by a variety of agents and media, both within and outside the boundaries of journalistic practice, and that the digital turn has had significant consequences in contemporary fashion communication. Drawing on empirical research carried out in Italy, we identify three main processes affecting the fashion editorial system: the change in the traditional top-down structure of communication, the challenges social media practices pose to the role of traditional media as intermediaries between producers and consumers, and the ability of the traditional editorial system to respond to the digital turn with innovative practices. The balance between editorial and commercial needs is at the core of each of these processes.

Keywords:

• Fashion editorial system
• fashion magazines
• fashion influencers
• fashion journalism
• digital turn

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This study is based on interviews with individuals who have provided consent for their participation. Within the academic institutions of the authors’ affiliation, there is no formal requirement for ethical approval by an ethics committee for research of this nature. However, all research procedures performed adhered to the ethical standards commonly accepted in social research.

2 Between 2020 and 2021, we conducted a case study on Vogue Italia, the results of which are being processed for further publications.

3 See https://www.vogue.com/article/milan-fashion-week-spring-2017-vogue-editors-chat [Accessed 30 October 2020].

4 See http://www.magisin.org/?p=437 [accessed October 2015].

5 See https://www.vogue.com/article/new-gucci-chairs-designer-cabana-magazine-collaboration [accessed October 2020].

6 https://voguetalents.vogue.it/en/about.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the ModaCult research centre at the Università Cattolica of Milan.

Notes on contributors

Marco Pedroni

Marco Pedroni is an Associate Professor of Sociology of Culture and Communication at the University of Ferrara (Italy), where he also holds the position of Deputy Rector for Student Relations. He is a Coeditor of the International Journal of Fashion Studies (Intellect) and a member of ModaCult Center at the Università Cattolica di Milan. He is the author of Coolhunting (FrancoAngeli, 2010), a coeditor of Media e moda [Media and Fashion, Carocci, 2022) and the editor of From Production to Consumption: The Cultural Industry of Fashion (Interdisciplinary, 2013). His research interests focus on coolhunting, digital influencers and the work of cultural intermediaries in the field of fashion. His works have been published by international journals like Fashion Theory, Poetics, Film, Fashion and Consumption, First Monday and Journal of Public Policy.

Emanuela Mora

Emanuela Mora is a Professor of Sociology of Culture and Communication in the School of Political and Social Sciences at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan (Italy). She is the Director of ModaCult, Center for Fashion and Cultural Production Studies. Her research interests focus mainly on consumption and production practices in the fashion field, with special attention to sustainability issues. She is a Founder and a former Coeditor, with Agnès Rocamora and Paolo Volonté, of the International Journal of Fashion Studies. Among her publications are: Fare Moda. Pratiche di produzione e consumo (Bruno Mondadori, 2009); (with E. Bellotti) Networks of practices in critical consumption, Journal of Consumer Culture (16: 3); with A. Rocamora she edited an issue of the Journal Fashion Theory (19: 2).