Democratizing Fashion: The Effects of the Evolution of Fashion Journalism From Print to Online Media

McNair Scholars Research Journal McNair Scholars Research Journal

Volume 8 Article 4

2015

Democratizing Fashion: The Effects of the Evolution of Fashion Democratizing Fashion: The Effects of the Evolution of Fashion

Journalism From Print to Online Media Journalism From Print to Online Media

Kayla C. Boyd

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Print to Online Media,"

McNair Scholars Research Journal

: Vol. 8 , Article 4.

Available at: https://commons.emich.edu/mcnair/vol8/iss1/4

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DEMOCRATIZING FASHION: THE EFFECTS

OF THE EVOLUTION OF FASHION

JOURNALISM FROM PRINT

TO ONLINE MEDIA

Kayla C. Boyd

Dr. Carol Schlagheck, Mentor

ABSTRACT

Traditionally, women have turned to fashion magazines to

know what is trending, how they should dress, and what beauty

tips they should try. In our current generation, however, print maga-

zines as a whole are becoming less relevant due to blogs, smart-

phone apps, social media, and other digital sources. “The web has

made it possible for ordinary consumers to reach a mass audience”

(McQuarrie, Miller, & Phillips, 2013); thus fashion inuence no

longer comes only from advertisers and models with unrealistic fea-

tures—it now reects the tastes and appearance of ordinary people.

Through a literature review and content analysis, this research dem-

onstrates how the evolution of fashion journalism from print to on-

line media is creating a more diverse marketplace, in which young

women are making uniquely individual fashion choices.

INTRODUCTION

Fashion magazines have dictated what women perceive as

“fashionable” for decades, but as print media become less popular

and less abundant, digital sources have begun to satisfy this gen-

eration’s desire for fashion advice and other topics, ranging from

skincare, make-up, and hair tutorials, to do-it-yourself projects

and celebrity news. This research will focus on the genre of fash-

ion journalism generally, and more specically, how new media

such as blogs, social networking sites, and video blogs (often

referred to as “vlogs”), are affecting young female users in to-

day’s culture.

According to Rocamora (2012), the fashion blogosphere,

including both independent and corporate sites, has rapidly ex-

panded since young American women began using the genre in

2003. “Twitter has 500 million registered users” (Rousseau, 2012),

whereas Facebook has close to “850 million people using it each

month” (Warren, Sulaiman, & Jaafar, 2014). This means that not

only are people using social networking platforms to communicate,

but women are sharing their personal style through blogs at an ever-

increasing rate. Both fashion journalism and journalism as whole

have been forced to adjust and adapt to these new media platforms.

A result of this evolution in journalism is the concept of

“citizen journalists.” As the public becomes less clear about who

actually is a professional journalist and what qualications profes-

sional journalism requires, “[t]he very status of the journalist as

reporter or opinion maker has been put into question, as the bar

to entry for creating a mass media audience has lowered dramati-

cally, which was rst noticed when bloggers of all types rose to

prominence” (Hansen, 2012). So what does this mean in terms of

fashion journalism? Since fashion advice is not based on fact, but

rather on taste and opinion, there is more room for conict over

what constitutes a “credible” source.

According to Hansen (2012), blogs constitute a new plat-

form in which non-professional writers are able to reach a larger

audience, resulting in an attention-getting space that was previ-

ously monopolized by mass media. Fashion magazines, part of

traditional mass media, are no exception to this: “[w]e can all

agree that today’s digital environment has transformed the print-

based, one-way nature of journalism” (Bird, 2009). Through blogs

and networking, news has become a conversation. The traditional

method of purchasing a print magazine or newspaper to gain ac-

cess to information on the topic of the reader’s interest is becom-

ing obsolete for younger generations, who now rely almost solely

on receiving data on a real-time basis: “[i]n their constant, often

daily, updating of sites with new posts, fashion blogs feed into this

tyranny of the new, constructing, more than any other media, fash-

Kayla C. Boyd

ion as transient, passing, already gone” (Rocamora, 2012). People

once communicated by traditional mail; then the telephone and

email developed a quicker and cheaper way, and now text messag-

ing is common practice. The same evolution has occurred within

journalism. Why would readers want to pay for a print magazine

once a month when they can check their smartphone and receive

moment-to-moment “trending” information for free?

Another challenge that professionals in the eld face is

that the vast majority of online news consists of commentary writ-

ten by a declining number of professional print journalists (Bird,

2009). When looking at fashion journalism, these same concerns

apply. According to research done by Pham (2011), people do not

want to wait for print magazines, whose publication is slowed be-

cause editors actually fact-check their stories. In addition, Pham

discusses the concern that many bloggers may not be offering any

unique expertise or perspectives that contribute to meaningful

fashion dialogue (2011).

This research will attempt to inform readers about the vari-

ous effects that new media and citizen journalism have on our gen-

eration of fashion consumers, as well as add to the research involv-

ing fashion media. Although there are many male fashion bloggers

and consumers, this research will focus on female-focused fashion

blogs and sources. Through this literature review, personal inter-

views, and observations, this research will analyze the effects of the

fashion media on young women, the evolution and development of

new media, the structure of the fashion blogosphere, and what the

democratizing of fashion means for this generation.

I. The Fashion Media’s Effects on Young Women

Davis (2007) found that women read an average of three

magazines on a regular basis and spend an average of two hours

a week reading magazines. According to Malachowski and My-

ers (2013), a common explanation for eating disorders amongst

young women is exposure to underweight models depicted and

promoted in the fashion media. Showcasing and endorsing slender

individuals can result in distorted or negative body image percep-

tions among female adolescents and college women (Malachows-

Democratizing Fashion: The Effects of the Evolution of

Fashion Journalism fromPrint to Online Media

ki & Myers, 2013). “While non-White women weigh more than

White women, White women exhibit greater body dissatisfaction,

feel more pressure to conform to thin images in media, and dis-

play greater risk of eating disorders” (Davis, 2007). What is de-

picted in the fashion media directly affects those women who feel

the need to live up to such images. Davis (2007) also states that

non-white women were found to moderate the effects of media-

internalization, body dissatisfaction, and the pressure to conform

to magazine images.

This calls attention to the lack of non-white models in the

fashion media. Research done by Frith, Shaw, and Cheng (2005)

found that the general lack of non-white models in U.S. advertise-

ments (91% of the U.S. models were of European descent), sug-

gests reluctance on the part of U.S. advertisers to depict the full

range of beauty types in their ads. Frith et al. (2005) state that, “[e]

ven after 30 years of criticism by feminist scholars, advertisers in

the U.S. still seem xated on whiteness.”

According to Englis, Solomon, and Ashmore (1994), cul-

tural representations of beauty often result from the stereotypes

held by media “gatekeepers.” Such gatekeepers inuence the se-

lection of beauty types thought to appeal to a mass audience. Eng-

lis, Solomon, and Ashmore (1994) state that:

Although it may have been possible historically to

identify a popular gure who personied beauty

(e.g., Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe), we are now

confronted with multiple ideals of beauty reect-

ing the proliferation of lifestyles, cultures, and

ethnic groups that comprise American culture.

Reecting this cultural diversity, media vehicles

have become increasingly fragmented.

Audiences turn to magazines for tips, examples, and even

prototypes of beauty, which they may then use as benchmarks for

evaluating themselves. “Fashion magazines are a potent means of

socializing young consumers about beauty and fashion and for ad-

vertising beauty-and fashion-related products” (Englis, Solomon,

& Ashmore, 1994).

Kayla C. Boyd

II. The Evolution of the Media

According to Palfrey and Gasser (2008), when it comes to

the transfer of information, this is the most rapid period of techno-

logical transformation ever seen. The World Wide Web debuted in

1991; search engines, portals, and e-commerce sites appeared in

the late 1990s, and by the turn of the millennium, the rst social

networks and blogs appeared online (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008).

According to Pham (2011), techno-enthusiasts view the

widespread access of new technologies as having a democratizing

effect, while techno-skeptics perceive the availability of knowl-

edge and communication through these technologies as a danger

to the overall quality of public communication. This can be com-

pared to the idea of “citizen journalism,” where instead of news

coming from a trained reporter, it can come from almost anyone

with Internet access: “[t]he only credential needed for creating a

blog is access to the net” (Hansen, 2012).

Hansen (2012) states that the established media were slow

to catch on to the blog format, while others, like academics, low-

level journalists, and college students, engaged in blogging. The

opportunity to upload one’s writing to a potentially international

audience revealed the desire to write and be read by hundreds of

thousands of users: “[t]he traditional (pre-internet) journalistic in-

stitutions, after initially either ignoring or deprecating the blogo-

sphere, then began trying to incorporate Internet platforms into

their standard operating procedures” (Hansen, 2012). Now, the

vast majority of journalistic institutions have web-based publica-

tion platforms, either exclusively or as a supplement to their print

formats. This makes it possible for media outlets that were origi-

nally print-based to produce content within interactive, multi-me-

diated, and hyperstructured presentation forms (Hansen, 2012).

The new media phenomenon has had some negative ef-

fects on professional journalists. According to Bird (2009), the

rise of the citizen-journalist is accompanied by a decline in jobs

for trained journalists, with massive layoffs striking newspapers

and TV news organizations. Fashion or other lifestyle topics were

sometimes considered less newsworthy by traditional journal-

ism; however, these topics are becoming more and more popu-

Democratizing Fashion: The Effects of the Evolution of

Fashion Journalism fromPrint to Online Media

lar amongst consumers. Folker writes, “[i]ncreasingly, it seems,

newspapers, magazines, radio, television and the internet are pre-

occupied with what is generally referred to as ‘soft news,’ rath-

er than the hard, political news which many commentators and

scholars would like to see journalists producing” (Folker, 2012).

Not only are consumers becoming more interested in softer

news stories, but it is also more attractive for advertisers. This is

especially true in fashion media, where the content of the story or

photograph serves as advertising for the brand, commodity, or de-

signer. Folker (2012) states that the rise of a consumer culture in the

West, in addition to increased amounts of individual leisure time,

have led to a demand for information about how to best spend one’s

free time. This has allowed news media to attract new markets for

audiences and advertisers. Lifestyle journalism benets from ad-

vertisers’ support and eases nancial burdens on news outlets, thus

rendering this type of journalism more protable and more easily

supportable from a management perspective (Folker, 2012).

According to McQuarrie et al. (2013), the blog posts, re-

views, and user-generated content of interest are primarily con-

cerned with consumption objects: fashion, food, and home decor.

Consumer bloggers attract an audience that could only be gained

by professionals in the past: “[t]hey achieve this audience by

means of publicly consuming: choosing, evaluating, and engaging

with clothing (in our focal example), and posting accounts of this

consumption that garner a large audience of strangers” (McQuar-

rie et al., 2013).

Relating the concept of citizen journalism to fashion

journalism can be complicated by the idea that fashion and style

are not based upon factual information, but rather on trends and

tastes. Although democratizing the news may be threatening to

what people currently consider “real” journalism, democratizing

fashion could be very benecial to its consumers.

III. The Structure of the Fashion Blogosphere

Social networks and blogs have become a regular way for

people to receive information and express themselves by tweeting,

posting, or Instagramming their daily activities. A blog functions

like a diary that multiple users may access. The overall theme and

Kayla C. Boyd

aesthetic of an individual’s blog is entirely self-determined, and

“there is no strict or universally standardized denition for the

varieties of fashion-themed blogs” (Pham, 2011). As of July 2007,

more than two million bloggers were listed by Blogger.com as

members of “an industry of fashion” (2007).

Rocamora (2011) states that fashion-related blogs could

be split into two main categories: “independent blogs,” and “cor-

porate blogs.” According to Pham (2011):

Blogs might be personal, informal, public, ref-

erential, and participatory (through link track-

backs and reader commentary), or they might be

commercial devices of promotion and marketing

operating as information clearinghouses that are

restricted to registered users, or they might en-

compass some combination of these qualities.

Independent blogs are usually run by one individual and

tend to focus on street fashion, celebrities, or a particular type of

commodity, while corporate blogs are the voice of a magazine,

brand, or store (Rocamora, 2011). Since their appearance, fashion

blogs have become important in the eld of fashion, especially

personal fashion blogs, in which bloggers post pictures of them-

selves documenting their style (Rocamora, 2011).

The blogosphere is a “hypertextual” platform; Rocamora

(2012) writes that “[h]ypertextuality has come to commonly refer

to the electronic linking of a wide range of written texts and images,

brought together in a constantly shifting conguration of networks”

(Rocamora, 2012). By using hyperlinks and hash tags, one fashion

blog can lead to another, or to a social networking site, an online

shop, or any site the blogger wishes to share with the reader. A mag-

azine is constrained by its materiality and the limits of its pages, but

with fashion blogs a broad range of texts related to a post can be

made accessible by the “here and now” of the Internet (Rocamora,

2012). This constant craving for more sources of information can

be satised by the availability of increasing amounts of content, and

it only makes sense that electronic media would be appealing in a

fast-paced environment such as the fashion industry.

Democratizing Fashion: The Effects of the Evolution of

Fashion Journalism fromPrint to Online Media

Although the fashion blogosphere is thought of as “de-

mocratizing the fashion industry” (Pham, 2011), it still contains

hierarchical features. According to Chittenden (2010), as part of

this online community, bloggers form links with other bloggers

and acquire followers who subscribe to and comment on their

blogs. The word “follower” is meant to signal a certain kind of

relationship: “[o]n other social network sites, the term ‘friend’

denotes someone the individual has linked with, and whom they

may know ofine or only via mediated contact. The term ‘follow-

er’ suggests a hierarchy, almost a religiosity, in the relationship”

(Chittenden, 2010). This structure breaks down, due to the fact

that many bloggers are themselves followers of other bloggers.

However, some bloggers are still considered more “famous” than

others (Chittenden, 2010).

“Blogs support a uid notion of identity, as bloggers ex-

periment with various looks, play with representations of them-

selves, and use various afnities with followers to build social

capital” (Chittenden, 2010). Blogs have become an important

medium through which teens and young adults, especially young

girls, learn about themselves and their relationship to others. Chit-

tenden (2010) suggests that when teens are reserved or have poor

social capital in their ofine relationships, the mediation of the

blog creates a distanced space where they can build self-con-

dence by exploring their identity with like-minded others. If a

blog focuses on fashion and beauty and uses those key words in

its content or hyperlinks, then it attracts other fashion and beauty

bloggers, creating an online community that may not have been

possible in the past.

Although fashion bloggers may appear as amateurs when

compared to Vogue and other prominent fashion magazines, they

offer uidity to their consumers. However, fashion magazines are

not by any means obsolete in the fashion industry. Consider the

many aspects of fashion magazines that are conveyed in success-

ful blogs. One of the biggest examples of this is photography. Mc-

Quarrie et al. (2013) write that, “[a]esthetically pleasing clothes

cannot look their best unless effectively photographed.” They add

that as soon as the blogger begins to be photographed modeling

Kayla C. Boyd

clothes, he/she must deal with the visual and aesthetic vocabular-

ies already established by the fashion system, in which both blog-

gers and their followers are culturally situated (2013).

IV. The Democratization of Fashion

According to Pham (2011), the blogosphere is

much more racially and ethnically diverse than print fashion mag-

azines, and Pew Research has found that bloggers are less likely to

be white than the general Internet population (Pham, 2011). Citi-

zen journalists of any race, ethnicity, gender, or body type have

access to an online platform, which contrasts with the images

shown in the majority of fashion magazines. Since so few people

are successful in the mainstream fashion industry, the Internet has

provided a means for anyone with a blog, an Instagram account,

or a Facebook page to share his or her own style, photograph, or

designs to an international audience. Fashion and style bloggers,

no matter what their style or approach may be, share in the enjoy-

ment of producing, consuming, and exchanging both the material

and immaterial goods of fashion and beauty (Pham, 2011). Pham

writes, “[d]espite the relatively small number of fashion-themed

blogs in the blogosphere, their impact on the fashion media com-

plex and the larger fashion world is undeniable” (Pham, 2011).

Fashion companies are increasingly turning to bloggers

for advertising, promotion, and trend forecasting. Pham (2011)

asserts that bloggers provide fashion houses and their design-

ers with inexpensive and global public relations and marketing.

It has become common for “famous” fashion bloggers and other

social media icons to be invited by high-end fashion brands to

their events and shows. In addition to attending runway shows and

events, fashion bloggers often receive samples of fashion or beau-

ty products that a brand wants the blogger to advertise, and it is the

blogger’s choice to post comments about the product on their blog

or website. There are full websites dedicated to bloggers request-

ing and receiving samples from brands, such as etailPR’s Blogger

Network and The Blogger Programme. According to McQuarrie

et al. (2013), economic rewards for fashion bloggers include gifts

of branded fashion clothing and other merchandise, paid ad place-

Democratizing Fashion: The Effects of the Evolution of

Fashion Journalism fromPrint to Online Media

ments on the blog, and paid sponsorship of blog contests. Other

paid assignments can include modeling branded clothing, design-

ing clothes and accessories, and guest articles in actual magazines.

New media fashion gurus have not only become leaders

in the fashion industry, but also business moguls and role models

for their peers, Chiara Ferragni, known for her fashion blog The

Blonde Salad, has used the fame gained from her blog to publish

a book, develop a shoe line, become a Guess model and spokes-

woman and appear as a guest judge on Project Runway Season 13.

Publishing books has become a current trend for other bloggers,

such as Emily Shuman from the blog Cupcakes and Cashmere.

YouTube fashion and beauty vloggers Bethany Mota, Zoe Sugg,

and Michelle Phan have gained millions of viewers over the last

few years, resulting in several projects contributing to their online

fame. Mota has a clothing line at fashion retailer Aeropostale and

appeared as a contestant in Season 19 of Dancing With The Stars.

Phan has published a book entitled Make Up: Your Life Guide to

Beauty, Style, and Success—Online and Off (2014), and has her

own makeup line, “Em Cosmetics,” which is owned by L’Oreal.

Zoe Sugg, also known by her YouTube name, “Zoella,” published

the novel Girl Online (2014). Sugg writes in the About Me sec-

tion of her blog “zoella.co.uk”: “I chose to write about the things

I liked, the things I’d purchased and other opinions on products

in general. Before long, I had a small following of people that

enjoyed reading what I’d written, and this was amazing in itself,

as really, I’d never expected anyone to enjoy anything I’d written

in my own little space on the Internet.” These bloggers represent

only a few examples of how young women have unintentionally

transformed the industry of fashion and fashion media.

METHODOLOGY

In order to better understand the changing eld of fashion

journalism, this research project analyzed a sample of 40 personal

style female blogs and compared them with four of the best-known

fashion magazines in the United States. Table 1. provides a list of

the blogs used in this research. Table 2. lists the magazines, their

publishers, and the particular issues analyzed in this project.

Kayla C. Boyd

BLOG URL AUTHOR

Sweet Magnolia Chic http://sweetmagnoliachic.com/ Marcy B.

Fashion For Lunch http://fashionforlunch.net/ Fashion For Lunch

A Daydream Love http://adaydreamlove.com/ Rechael Roe

Say Hello to Gorgeous https://sayhellotogorgeous.

wordpress.com/

Vanessa

Make Me Up Marie http://makemeupmarie.com/ Marie

Styled By Lauren https://4everfashion.

wordpress.com/

Lauren

Confetti and Curves https://confettiandcurves.

wordpress.com/

Karen

With All My Aection http://withallmyaection.com/ Arielle Tan

Sistas From Cali http://sistasfromcali.com/ Jacki and Leslie

Chic of Everything https://chicofeverything.

wordpress.com/

Casady

Call Me Katie http://callmekatie.com/ Katie Poole

A Model of Life https://amodeloife.

wordpress.com/

Jerrica Patton

Style Dash Ish https://styledashish.

wordpress.com/

Kalieha

Pink Rues and

Polka Dots

https://

pinkruesandpolkadots.

wordpress.com/

Medley

Ruby Madison LLC https://rubymadisonllc.

wordpress.com/

Ruby Madison

My Witchy Closet https://mywitchycloset.

wordpress.com/

Camille

Wanderlustts http://wanderlustts.me/ Lisa Mao

Chroma Me Silly http://chromamesilly.com/ Tiny Thalia

Democratizing Fashion: The Effects of the Evolution of

Fashion Journalism fromPrint to Online Media

Table 1. List of blogs used in research sample.

Do You Even Style http://doyouevenstyle.com/ Sheridan Hessing

Laura Ephemera http://lauraephemera.com/ Laura Ephemera

Chez Bri http://chezbri.com/ Brianna

EK’s Daily Dress https://eksdailydress.

wordpress.com/

Eloise Kendrick

The Sparkle Days http://thesparkledays.com/ Fiona Pswarayi

Morgan Brittany

Marie

http://www.

morganbrittanymarie.com/

Morgan Brittany-

Marie

Casually Chic https://candaceskaggs.

wordpress.com/

Candace Skaggs

Alice in Liu-Liu-Land https://aliceinliuliuland.

wordpress.com/

Alice

Not Central Fashion http://notcentralfashion.com/ Sophia

Delightfully Kristi

http://www.delightfullykristi.com/

Kristi Peterson

The Oldest Fad

https://oldestfad.wordpress.com/

Lydia Devereaux

A Red Lip And A Nude

Shoe

http://aredlipandanudeshoe.

com/

Rosie Rockets

Ello Kelsey http://ellokelsey.com/ Kelsey Noelle

Chiomastic https://chiomastic.wordpress.

com/

Chioma

Fashion Meets God http://fashionmeetsgod.com/ Jireh DeJose

What Sass Says http://whatsasssays.com/ Sarah Bristo

TopKnots and

PolkaDots

http://topknotsandpolkadots.

com/

Chloe Warren

Vera Dulce https://veradulce.wordpress.com/

Michelle and Natsumi

Charnelle Geraldine http://charnellegeraldine.com/ Charnelle Geraldine

Chicly Cute http://chiclycute.com/ Chiclycute

Unveiled Glamour http://unveiledglamour.com/ Emily Wells

College Girl Dai http://collegegirldai.com/ Daizchane Baker

Kayla C. Boyd

BLOG URL AUTHOR

Table 1. List of blogs used in research sample.

MAGAZINE PUBLISHER ISSUE

Seventeen Hearst December/January, 2015

Elle Hearst January, 2015

Cosmopolitan Hearst January, 2015

Vogue Condé Nast January, 2015

In order to determine the sample of personal style blogs,

a method similar to Chittenden’s (2010) was used. The selection

process was random and not determined by a third party, and the

researcher does not personally know any of the bloggers. The

bloggers were of no specic geographic location, and their num-

ber of subscribers or followers also varied. All blogs were selected

through the hosting site Wordpress.

Not all bloggers disclose their real name or their full name

online; therefore, the authors of the blogs in Table 1. are listed

under the name provided on their blog and/or social media site.

Bloggers generally use list a screen name, a real name, or the

name associated with their blog.

For this content analysis a spreadsheet was developed

to organize and compare different aspects of the personal style

blogs. Recommendations offered by bloggers were followed to

nd other blogs with similar interests in fashion and beauty. All

of the selected blogs were focused on young adult users from the

ages of 17 to their late 20s. This age group was selected because

according to Pham (2011), “[f]emales under the age of twenty-

nine are the most prolic bloggers and maintain their blogs for

longer periods of time.”

All of the blogs focused on women’s fashion or a combi-

nation of lifestyle, beauty, and fashion trends, and all posted “per-

sonal style” photographs, which are photos of the blogger wearing

her own clothes and photographed in a manner that portrays her

actual appearance and fashion sense. The subjects shown in the

fashion blogs display their individual tastes through the textual

content, self-stylized poses, and choice of accessories, making

each the agent of her own representation (Pham, 2011). Blog-

Democratizing Fashion: The Effects of the Evolution of

Fashion Journalism fromPrint to Online Media

Table 2. List of magazines used in research sample.

gers were excluded from the sample if the blog was not originally

written in English, if the blogger did not post any personal style

photos, and/or if she appeared to be, or stated that she was over

the age of 30. The sample included blogs from the United States,

Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. None of the blog-

gers had published fashion-related books, created clothing lines,

or made a living solely from her blog. Male fashion bloggers were

not included in the sample.

In this analysis, each individual blog was assessed for (1)

the ethnicity of the blogger; (2) the body image of the blogger; (3)

the number of visible advertisements; and (4) whether the blogger

appeared to accept advertiser samples of clothing, make-up or ac-

cessories, and public relations requests.

The content analysis of the fashion magazines was cen-

tered on four of the most recognizable titles written in English

and distributed in the United States. All of the magazines have a

focus on fashion and lifestyle, and all appeal to a target market of

young adult women. None of the magazines had a specic focus

on ethnicity or body type. The January 2015 issues of each maga-

zine were used in order to maintain as much consistency in style

as possible.

The analysis assessed the magazines for (1) the ethnic-

ity of the models in the advertisements and fashion content, (2)

the body image of the models in the advertisements and fashion

content, and (3) the number of advertisements in the magazine.

Fashion articles about celebrities were not included, unless the

celebrities were models in an advertisement. Male models were

not counted. A model’s ethnicity was only counted if her face and

at least a portion of her body were visible. Body type was also

not counted if the model’s photograph was only a headshot. If the

same model appeared in a fashion spread or was found in mul-

tiple advertisements in the same magazine, she was counted only

once. If fashion bloggers were featured in the magazines, they

were counted as models.

When evaluating body type, it was difcult to de-

ne an exact size range for what is considered to be a “curvy,” or

“plus sized” model. Anthony Higgins, Director of MSA Models,

Kayla C. Boyd

stated in NYCastings that “[a] plus sized model, in the past, was

a size 10-12, up to a size 18 for fashion. Now, they are calling a

size 8 ‘plus sized’” (Calabrese, 2014). Due to the lack of an exact

denition, the models were evaluated by their appearance; those

who appeared to be a size 8 or larger were counted as “plus sized.”

The bloggers’ photographs were evaluated on the same basis.

RESULTS

In a comparison of body diversity among the models in

Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, and Elle, only Seventeen of-

fered images of models who were “curvy” or “plus-sized,” with

an appearance of wearing a size 8 or larger. In comparison, 17.5%

of the blogs showed images of women who were “curvy” or “plus

sized,” with an appearance of wearing a size 8 or larger.

Comparisons of advertising in the media platforms

showed an average of 30.5 ads per magazine, compared to an av-

erage of 0.6 ads per blog. Out of the sample of bloggers, 22.5%

contained advertisements, and 37.5% expressed a willingness to

engage in brand collaborations.

The analysis of ethnic diversity showed that white women

dominated the samples both of magazines and blogs; however, the

number of white models in the magazines exceeded the number

of white women bloggers by 17.61%. The exact percentages of

diversity found in both samples are represented in the following

graph (Figure 1.)

Democratizing Fashion: The Effects of the Evolution of

Fashion Journalism fromPrint to Online Media

Figure 1. Diversity by ethnicity in sample of magazines and blogs.

DISCUSSION

The results found in this study were as expected. Personal

style blogs were found to be more diverse, both in representations

of race and body type. The blogs included fewer images of white

women, allowing for more images of minority women. As demon-

strated in Figure 1., the sample of the personal style blogs offered

a larger number of Black, Asian/Indian, and Hispanic women than

the sample of fashion magazines.

The sample also revealed enormous discrepancies in the

number of “curvy,” or plus sized women between the magazines

and blogosphere. The only magazine offering larger models was

Seventeen, whereas 17.5% of blogs included images of “curvy”

women. These results do not even take into consideration the

number of bloggers who had an “average” body type, which was

still visibly larger than that of the models in the fashion maga-

zines. This study did not analyze model height, either.

When comparing the role of advertisers or media gate-

keepers in the two platforms, this research found that the maga-

zines relied much more heavily on advertising revenue than the

blogs. This may also result in a lack of diversity in the magazines,

because the overall content of these magazines reects what ad-

vertisers feel the public wants to see.

CONCLUSIONS

In comparison to magazines, bloggers appear to be less

concerned with what advertisers think their viewers want to see.

Instead, bloggers create content with little regard to the histori-

cal domination of white, slender models in the fashion industry.

Blogs display fashion, beauty, and other lifestyle topics in a way

that makes them relatable to any race, or body shape. Now that

cosmetic brands and industry providers are beginning to embrace

blogs as a means of advertising their products, “regular” women

may feel a greater sense of inclusion in the fashion world.

This research calls to attention an issue that many Ameri-

can women, and women throughout the world, are aware of: the

Kayla C. Boyd

Democratizing Fashion: The Effects of the Evolution of

Fashion Journalism fromPrint to Online Media

fashion industry offers images of an “ideal” woman that are unre-

alistic to the average woman. Fashion magazines lack representa-

tions of diversity in ethnicity and body type. However, personal

style bloggers have created a more diverse industry by giving av-

erage women a platform where they can share their own sense of

fashion and nd style advice from women who resemble them.

This research, along with future research, seeks to have

a positive impact on the way media gatekeepers portray women

in advertisements and other aspects of the fashion industry. As

advertisers recognize the impact of the fashion blogosphere, they

may feature a wider range of women. More diversity in fashion

advertising will support the possibility for young women to have

more positive self-esteem, fewer insecurities, and a more realistic

picture of what a healthy woman should look like.

LIMITATIONS

Limitations in this sample include the common industry

standard of extensive photo editing, which may distort the true

body appearance of both bloggers and models. It was sometimes

difcult to distinguish the exact ethnicity of the models in the

magazines, which may have inuenced the accuracy of the data.

All advertisement and model analyses were averaged across the

sample of magazines in order to gain a general understanding and

to reduce the margin for error. Also, inconsistencies in the number

of pages of the magazines affected the number of advertisements

and the numbers of models examined in the sample. In order to

control for these inconsistencies, magazines with a page range of

120 -160 were used.

Future research will increase the samples of both blogs

and magazines. Blogs on additional platforms, such as Google

Blogger, should also be taken into consideration. Many other fash-

ion magazines should be included as well, such as Marie Claire,

InStyle, and other popular women’s interest titles in the United

States. In addition, it would be benecial to study this from a more

global aspect. Internet users have access to blogs from around the

world. It would make sense to compare magazines from other

countries to determine whether idealized images of women are

more common in the United States than in other countries, or if

other countries with a large inuence on fashion, such as France

or Italy, have similar distinctions between print and online depic-

tions of women.

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Kayla C. Boyd