Fashion Journalism Practices

Timeframe: 2015-present

The fashion media industry is in a state of huge flux. More than half of all media consumption is now digital, fashion brands are publishing their own content, and individuals are commanding bigger audiences and budgets than some legacy magazine titles. The whole way that fashion coverage is produced, financed and consumed is shifting, with profound implications for journalism and for fashion.

This research uses semi-structured, qualitative interviews with editors, journalists, stylists, filmmakers, PR executives, broadcasters and independent content creators to map some of those shifts. Instead of differentiating between journalism and so-called “content”, as media professionals try to do, the project considers them together to investigate their common priorities and to better reflect what audiences see and care about. It also interrogates the ideal-typical values that journalists invest in their practices in order to distinguish their work from other forms of content and asks how sustainable they are.

The project resulted in the publication of Fashion Journalism (2nd edition) by Routledge in 2020, and is continuing with research into branded content, influencers, and how fashion is mediated for young audiences.