Is Effecting Change in Fashion?: Tracing the Affordances Used by Magazines to Engage with Socio-Political Issues on Instagram

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Is Effecting Change in Fashion?: Tracing the Affordances Used by Magazines to Engage with Socio-Political Issues on Instagram

Master’s Thesis by: Anya Maria Doshi

MA Media Studies — New Media and Digital Culture June 2019

Supervisor: dr. Tim Highfield

University of Amsterdam (UvA) — t.j.highfield@uva.nl

Reader: dhr. Daniël de Zeeuw

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Abstract

Social media technologies are instrumental in their ability to mediate socio-political engagement manifested in platform-based discussion and debate. The fashion publishing industry is no stranger to this discourse and has been subject to issues of societal and political significance long before the proliferation of these platforms and their social networks. Instagram, the photo and video sharing social media platform, provides new systems of communication whereby these fashion magazines can redefine their voice and image concerning advocacy and representation respectively. The objective of this research, therefore, is to investigate the ways in which the affordances of Instagram shape the engagement of fashion magazines in socio-political issues. By conducting an analysis of the primary Instagram accounts of mainstream magazines Vogue, Marie Claire, and Harper’s Bazaar, this thesis contributes to affordance research in new media studies, and the shift from mass media to social media logic, which significantly concerns these publications. Through a theoretical framework based on the affordances prescribed by danah boyd of persistence, visibility, spreadability, and searchability, this research concludes that Instagram visually and textually affords an active and participatory voice of mainstream magazines in socio-political discourse—one that is subject to algorithmic development and risk, yet instrumental in effecting change.

Keywords

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Acknowledgements

I hereby wish to express my gratitude to my family who have been an invaluable source of love, support and motivation for all my endeavours. I was fortunate enough to go through the process of writing a thesis alongside my sister; an experience which was made meaningful and one I will never forget.

I also would like to thank Daniël de Zeeuw, for taking the time to read my thesis.

Lastly, I have been fortunate enough to write this thesis under the supervision of Dr. Tim Highfield, who has guided me with both trust and encouragement. I am eternally grateful to him for being an advisor and mentor at every step of this project.

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Fashion magazines have been subject to a metamorphosis that has been influenced by dual technological advancements in both the fashion and publishing industries respectively— magazines have ceased print publications to become exclusively digital, runways have developed into a “see now buy now” model, and most importantly, the industry has been affected by an ongoing democratization which has affected both its producers and consumers (Leslie; Caldeira; Colliander and Dahlén; Khan; Park). Withstanding such developments, magazines hold an equally authoritative role in shaping the cultural landscape surrounding them and consequently determining topics of public agenda. An example of such changes was manifested in November 2017 when American mass media company Condé Nast announced that it would be shutting down the print edition of Teen Vogue magazine which would instead be a digital-only publication. Teen Vogue is an example of such a magazine that was known for publishing incisive political coverage, particularly in the wake of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. Editor-in-Chief Elaine Welteroth, Digital Editorial Director Phillip Picardi, and the Creative Director Marie Suter collectively pivoted the magazine’s editorial strategy “aggressively into covering politics, feminism, identity, and activism” (Gilbert).

Villette and Hardill echo Bourdieu in identifying fashion as a “unique and highly creative generator of culture” (461). In terms of the contemporary field of fashion media, it can be argued that as a culture, fashion is more dynamic in nature rather than “merely boiling down to an art-commerce opposition and the different values that underpin it” (Lynge-Jorlén 14). This is supported by Hesmondhalgh who defines the nature of the fashion press as “complex, ambivalent and contested” and goes on to assign fashion as a “borderline case” which he describes as a “fascinating ‘hybrid’ of a cultural industry”, and “a consumer goods industry” (Hesmondhalgh 2002 17; 20). As a result, this multi-faceted role of fashion within culture has manifested in publications addressing wider popular culture as opposed to solely focusing on featured garments (Lynge-Jorlén 17). Along these lines, fashion media has long addressed issues commonly associated with the fashion industry which carry economic, social, and political significance.

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The introduction of social media which has empowered an online presence for fashion magazines, along with the growing shift towards more digitally-oriented publications has added another dimension to this complexity—significantly impacting both the organisation and content of this infrastructure. While the digital and print versions coexist, they offer “not only different content but also render different types of reading” (Lynge-Jorlén 10). Social media plays a role in this difference, especially influencing the social commentary and political consciousness of these magazines. Kopnina describes fashion magazines as “cultural objects that reflect the cultural zeitgeist both visually and textually”, and their virtual communities as both “imagined” and “physical” (369, 377). Instagram, “the social network of choice for the visually oriented fashion industry”, according to Petrarca, provides both poles of the virtual community proposed by Kopnina, thereby facilitating a critical analysis of contemporary fashion magazines in both their activity and impact (Petrarca). While research within fashion theory and new media studies has previously addressed the societal and political implications of magazines, there is a significant lack of concentration on the same phenomenon mediated across social media platforms such as Instagram. Focusing on the nature of both the presence and activity of prominent fashion magazines and their broader societal and political implications will allow a critical understanding of the potential offered by the affordances of social media platforms. Moreover, Instagram exhibits a constructive site for research into the affordances of platforms⁠—specifically the amalgamation of visual and textual media which supports the mobilisation of networked publics. In doing so, this study aims to inform research on both the shift from mass media to social media logic and the function of affordances in the creation of content and propagation of information.

This research therefore explores the ways in which the affordances of social media shape the engagement of fashion magazines in socio-political issues on Instagram. This engagement—or the lack thereof—will be looked at through the lens of advocacy for both social and political issues. In order to do so, this thesis will study the Instagram accounts of publications Vogue, Marie Claire, and Harper’s Bazaar as mediated through their presence on the platform. This research is therefore grounded in Instagram as a platform for politicization and will utilize affordance theory for this purpose. Accordingly, this thesis sets out to investigate the following questions: How do the affordances of Instagram shape the engagement of fashion magazines with socio-political issues through social media platforms? More specifically, in what ways are the affordances of Instagram employed in order to drive magazines’ advocacy for these issues?

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Mainstream fashion magazines which have existed long before social media, have been made to adapt to inevitable developments—finding a balance between retaining their identity while dramatically altering their image. This has resulted in a transformative shift in dialogue whereby mainstream publications who inherently identify as fashion magazines, are actively branching into a different discourse as a result of new media; either supporting or challenging existing social and political issues through the affordances offered by social media platforms. The result of this evolution is worthy of investigation and will be discussed in the following sections in terms of both the socio-political systems addressed by fashion magazines, and the significant role played by new media in the fashion press.

1.1. Contextualizing Fashion Magazines in Socio-Political Discourse

A 2015 article for The Atlantic, titled, ‘Why Fashion Magazines Matter’, proposes that we live in the golden age of this medium (Basu). This claim is supported with the argument that fashion has become a “modern political force” which “exerts itself through the images and text in the pages of today's fashion magazine” (Basu). In order to understand the contemporary landscape of fashion magazines, it is necessary to reflect upon its historical context which remains just as influential today. The fashion industry is inherently concerned with its surrounding society which has been manifested in dialectics of producer vs. consumer, spectator vs. critic, and trend-setter vs. trend-follower, among others. This section will review the potential for socio-political participation that stems from these opposing structures which can be traced back to the latter half of the twentieth century. Several French scholars set out to analyse the cultural economy, of which most notably, were Pierre Bourdieu and Yvette Delsaut. The scholars jointly conducted a sociological analysis on the production of high fashion or haute couture in 1975. In ‘Le Couturier et sa Griffe’, a work devoted to post-war French couture, Bourdieu “interpreted clothing as a means for the expression of social differentiation, particularly class distinctions”, and uncovered revelations in hierarchal structures involving the couturiers or designers, their associates, and other cultural intermediaries (Villette and Hardill 463). The impact of high fashion on power and status has been described by McDowell as an indulgent distraction from the majority and as a “weapon wielded against the poor” (qtd. in Kopnina 370). In terms of hierarchy, Craik has contended that fashion has also been used as a Western tool to impose power and distinction upon non-Europeans since colonial times (qtd. in Kopnina 370). Conversely, while Parisienne haute couture influenced societal stratification, it additionally brought with it a new perspective in gender roles and consequent opportunities. In contrast to the twentieth century male-dominated world of fine art, haute couture enabled

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women to be both the designers and the businesswomen (Villette and Hardill 467). In this way, high fashion accordingly made its mark on the political and social demarcations of society, and this was prominently mirrored in fashion magazines.

While studying the role of culture in international fashion magazines, Kopnina quotes Kawamura who says that it is “the content of fashion that is constantly shifting, not the institutions” (qtd. in Kopnina 364). This statement demonstrates that the fashion industry possesses durable establishments that have adapted over time to remain an integral component of society. Furthermore, innovations within fashion parallel sociological and cultural developments according to Kopnina, who also finds that the corresponding symbols, meanings, and values are most efficiently represented through visual media “by the means of fashion shows, fashion magazines, and design” (Kopnina 366). This can be dated back to eighteenth century France, where ‘fashion plates’ or illustrations, would be submitted by designers to the new genre of publication of the time—the woman’s magazine (Stewart 113, 114). By the nineteenth century, this would expand towards Europe and the United States, with the demand for these magazines multiplying (Stewart 114). Among these, were periodicals for middle-class women and dressmakers, which contained “more pedestrian, detailed drawings” and the accompanying text offered “practical information about fabrics, notions, and sewing, so dressmakers could replicate elements of couture designs” (Stewart 114). The magazines dealt with more than simply fashionable attire, and would provide practical information on sewing and fabrics, and would even discuss interior design (Stewart 114). This began what can be termed as a “democratization” of the fashion world at the time and between 1890 and 1914, the women’s and fashion magazines quadrupled to two dozen and began to incorporate topics of “household tasks and maternal duties” (Stewart 114).

According to literary theorist and semiotician Roland Barthes, “it is the language of the magazine which gives the clothing created by haute couture the structure of a signifier and the power to signify” (73). Fashion magazines therefore used language as a tool to branch out of traditional fashion plates towards topics of interest which catered to the societal needs and responsibilities of the time. While few magazines were founded during World War I, “eighteen new women’s or fashion magazines appeared in the 1920s and endured for at least a decade between the world wars” (Stewart 115). By this time, the social and political implications of magazines was undeniable—exemplified by the first known cover girl of Vogue Magazine.

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In 1933, Toto Koopman, a biracial and bisexual model of Javanese and Dutch descent appeared on the cover of the September issue of Vogue. Koopman was a controversial figure to say the least, as she went on to become a spy for the Italian Resistance during World War II and was thereafter captured by Nazis and held prisoner in the Ravensbrück concentration camp (Diu). The cover depicts Koopman in an alluring atmosphere, offsetting the red background with her crimson lips and distant gaze (see fig.1). The decisions made in the cover’s portrayal of Koopman was far from accidental and was deliberately designed around the political and social context of the time. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, cinematography was romanticized in order to provide a fantasy and escape for the masses; a tactic emulated by fashion imagery (Diu). This cover depicts the powerful role of fashion publications to convey meaning through visual representation and design. The cultural impact of fashion media can be found in their creation which affect systems of labour, the themes addressed through text which shape cultural knowledge, and the visual imagery which construct symbols and meaning. For these reasons, scholars have likened fashion magazines to a cultural “zeitgeist” and “eye”, a quality which equally resonates with contemporary fashion magazines (Kopnina 369; Van de Peer 332).

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The mass cultural industry within which popular or mainstream fashion magazines are created and disseminated can be traced back to the inaugural issue of Harper’s Bazaar in 1867, a few years after the end of the American Civil War (Rooks et al. 1). On the cover of the issue, the magazine described itself as “a repository of fashion, pleasure, and instruction” (Mooallem). The magazine was founded by Harper & Brothers, a publishing firm based in New York run by siblings James, John, Joseph Wesley, and Fletcher Harper (Mooallem). Fletcher Harper was responsible for acquiring the magazine’s first editor, for which he selected Mary Louise Booth, one of the first writers for the New York Times, and an activist for women's-rights and suffrage movements who had also been recognized by President Abraham Lincoln for her work which supported an antislavery tract for abolition (Mooallem). Under Booth’s

Figure 1: Cover of September 1933 issue of Vogue magazine from: Oloizia, Jeff; “The 10 Most Groundbreaking Covers in the History of Vogue”; The New York Times Style Magazine; tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com, 21 Aug. 2014,

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creative direction, the magazine challenged existing doctrines with its progressive ideology which made it among the first mainstream publications to endorse the women's suffrage effort and it began to periodically run articles on the significance of opportunities for women within work and education (Mooallem). In the June issue of 1869, this culminated in the magazine publishing a statement on the right to vote, built upon “the groundwork of truth and justice" and "the awakening of the public conscience” (qtd. in Mooallem). This was among the first instances for magazines to express political alignment explicitly in its content and not long after, this was to be followed by developments in its form.

In the beginning of the twentieth century, fashion magazines began to incorporate studio photography taken by art photographers which saw a shift from “soft-focus lenses and the vague pictorial conventions of fashion plates” towards “the modernist preference for sharp focus and clean geometric lines” (Stewart 117). Edward Steichen and George Hoyningen-Huene are examples of two such photographers who opted for surrealist elements and stylistic compositions which ultimately caught the attention of Lucien Vogel, the publisher of La gazette du bon ton and the Paris edition of Vogue (Stewart 118). Vogel decided to make use of these photographs which “vacillated between the fashion magazine’s need ‘‘to report the dress’’ and its penchant for artistic risk” (see fig. 2) (Stewart 118). Not long after, high end fashion magazines began to incorporate evocative language as to report “couturiers’ renewed struggles” directed against counterfeiting and instructed its consumers not to buy such copies (Stewart 127). In this way, fashion magazines began to evolve in not only their form through documentary photography but also in their narrative which evoked progressive societal and politically charged statements for the time.

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As a result of technological advancements, fashion media developed in its form— generating the mass production of fashion magazines and incorporating fashion photography as a new tool for fashion imagery. This gave new value to the signs and symbols that are often said to be “‘undercoded’, in a sense that fashion leaves lots of room for interpretation and contextual analysis” (Kopnina 370). This shift towards fashion photography was emphasized as both photographers and editors within the industry “began to accelerate the influences of documentary—realist—photography into fashion spreads and fashion photography” (Cheddie 341). Advancements in new media technologies contributed towards this tangible influence on magazines which will be explored in the section below.

Figure 2: “L'Art de la Mode” or the “Art of Dress” article, Art et Décoration, by Edward Steichen in April 1911 from: Cassidy Zachary; “The Art of Imitation: Edward Steichen’s Modern Fashion Photographs of 1911”; The Art of Dress; https://theartofdress.org/2015/07/16/the-art-of-imitation-edward-steichens-modern-fashion-photographs-of-1911/

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1.2. Situating Fashion Magazines in the Landscape of New Media

In his 2006 article, ‘More Than Just a Fashion Magazine’, anthropology and sociology scholar Brian Moeran proposes two primary aspects regarding the production of fashion magazines that are of sociological significance. The first being, that they are both cultural products and commodities, and second, that they are characterized by what he terms as a ‘multiple audience’ property (Moeran 727). As cultural products, magazines may be said “to circulate in a cultural economy of collective meanings” providing “how-to recipes, illustrated stories, narratives and experiential and behavioural models” within the realms of fashion and beauty through which the reader’s ideal self is reflected and simultaneously, herself may reflect and act (Moeran 727). On the other end of the spectrum, magazines function as commodities, more specifically as “products of the publishing and print industries and important sites for the advertising and sale of commodities” (Moeran 727). This dichotomy reflects the nature of magazines to both influence culture and simultaneously be influenced as a result of hierarchal structures that are “deeply involved in capitalist production and consumption at national, regional and global levels” (Moeran 727; Beetham 1-5).

In terms of the reception and influence of a magazine, there is a ‘multiple audience’ property by which both readers and advertisers are targeted. This gives rise to a situation in which “the ‘purely’ cultural can only with difficulty be disengaged from the surrounding sales pitch for fashion, cosmetics and related commodities” (Moeran 727). Cultural content and advertising income are consequently a double-edged sword by which a magazine’s success may be measured; the deciding factor however, being the latter, which enables publishers to maintain their business and ultimately make a profit (Moeran 728; McKay 190). Moeran additionally maintains that the omnipresence of advertising in a fashion magazine, regardless of its form has resulted in significant academic criticism regarding the relationship between advertising and editorial matter (Moeran 234). This dynamic is particularly complex when mediated through newer technologies which function through a multi-faceted interface of both editorial and commercial advertising matter. Nevertheless, the space occupied by magazines within mass culture and production have been the factor by which it has long played “a key role in the everyday lives of readers across class, race, and gender and are a fertile space for the expression of social and political philosophies” (Rooks et al. 2). The capacity for magazines who primarily function in spaces of the fashion and beauty industries to act as cultural reflectors of societal and political expression is rooted in its ability to represent and reach audiences across segmentations of society.

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According to fashion theorists Bartlett, Cole and Rocamora, today, their field of study is deep in the midst of social and technological changes where its “present, as well as its past, offer a unique opportunity to explore the complex, multi-layered nature of the processes that bind design, technology, society and identity together” (Djurdja, et al. 1). The emergence of blogs in the mid-2000s brought with it a “worldwide viral phenomenon” establishing successful online bloggers as what fashion scholar Titton termed “new favourites of the fashion world” and fashion journalist Berlinger described as “real people in their real clothing living their real lives” (qtd. in Perthuis 524). This new and accelerated era consisted of a sharp turn away from the predominantly commercial function of fashion photography and idealized iconography towards more inclusive and democratized social meanings (Perthuis 524). These embedded meanings include a “a range of age, ethnicity and body types” and were a defining feature of online blogs and fashion culture (Perthuis 524). In fact, Titton describes fashion as having been affected by the “Internet of Web 2.0” more than “almost any other field of cultural production” (qtd. in Perthuis 525). In a study on personal fashion blogs, Rocamora describes this fashion blogosphere as “a key space for the production and circulation of fashion discourse” (qtd. in Perthuis 525). Consequently, it was no surprise that these influences permeated into the production and reception of fashion magazines.

Fashion media has navigated the landscape of print and networked digital media across a “vast ecology of forms and formats, reflecting the digital turn” (Skjulstad 3). This has come to consist of fashion mediation wherein well-established formats are set aside in favour of “cross-media multiplatform genres” (Skjulstad 3). In the world of the fashion press, this can be observed in key players transitioning from more traditional editorship for print magazines towards digital media platforms. For instance, the Editor of Harper’s Bazaar in the UK, Lucy Yeomans, left her position to join the digital editorial, Net-a-Porter, as Editor-in-Chief—of the shoppable e-magazine which functions through an online platform and app, enabling readers to instantly scan and purchase featured items (Rocamora 10). Another example is fashion writer Nicola Copping who was hired by Marks and Spencer in 2014 as a ‘Digital Editor’ to create “magazine-style content” for their website and is currently appointed as the Editor-in-Chief of Selfridges.com (Rocamora 10).

Most recently, social media influencers with no previous background in journalism or fashion writing are being hired as columnists for magazines. These influencers who work with fashion and beauty themes through photo and video content on Instagram and YouTube often

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collaborate with well-known brands in the industry, however mainstream journalism presents a new wing of the industry in which they are receiving invitations to participate. In November of 2018, Glamour in the UK announced its new monthly columnist, Diipa Khosla, writing: “Born and raised in India, Diipa moved to the Netherlands to study International Law but has since become a full-time influencer who champions female empowerment so naturally, we snapped her up as one of our new columnists” (Khosla). Online platforms in the industry have emerged with similar objectives who specialize in content creation through new media strategy and combine traditional magazine content with fast fashion technology. An example of this is Semaine—which describes itself as an “online magazine-meets-concept store” and an “immersive, elegantly designed lifestyle platform promoting a single tastemaker each week of the year while delivering a shoppable insight into their own personal aesthetic” (Semaine).

In June 2017, Vogue.com partnered with “global technology platform for luxury” Farfetch.com, releasing the following statement: “The partnership will offer readers the unique ability to browse and shop Condé Nast’s inspirational editorial content on a global scale, further commercialising the editorial platform” (Farfetch; Rocamora 5). The mission for Farfetch.com is to connect “creators, curators and consumers” which is made possible through the technology of e-commerce along with the partnership from prominent magazines such as Vogue and was soon followed by others including Harper’s Bazaar and Grazia (Rocamora 5). These examples support the phenomenon by which the concept of a magazine is actively being redefined as a result of digital culture. Rocamora asserts these developments, specifically within the field of fashion, stating that “the distinction between commercial and editorial content is becoming increasingly tenuous” (5). This reflects the dynamic nature of the virtual fashion press which is undergoing a consistent influx of content creators; with a new set of demands and objectives to cater to the audiences of these online platforms.

As a result of shoppable e-magazines such as Net-a-Porter, magazines who are considered to be the paragon of fashion media such as Vogue and GQ, have introduced platforms of their own which combine the commercial and editorial, namely, Style.com/Vogue and Style.com/GQ (Rocamora 5). With these platforms, users are invited to “shop the shoot” of items “as seen in” the fashion spreads through clicking on hyperlinks (Rocamora 5). Rocamora in her text ‘Mediatization and Digital Media in the Field of Fashion’ discusses the concept of ‘remediation’, first introduced by theorists Bolter and Grusin in 1999. The term which refers to the ways in which digital media refashion other, older media is proposed to be

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“the representation of one medium in another” and “a defining characteristic of the new digital media” (Rocamora 7). A classic example of remediation within the fashion press is the remediation of fashion plates by fashion photography, and the consequent remediation of fashion photography by fashion film (Rocamora 8).

The onset of blogging brought several instances of remediation where the repurposing and recontextualizing of fashion media propelled the practice to the degree which allowed it to compete with traditional forms of fashion media. Today, as a result of social media, remediation is a standard practice whereby magazines themselves practice this refashioning of older media through newer modes of networked communication. Skjulstad’s work on internet culture through the changing aesthetic of fashion mediation argues that in economies of image-overproduction “connectivity is key in a format of connections”; the power and values lying in the connections themselves rather than single images or objects (Skjulstad 12). Furthermore, while research has focused on mediatization from a macro-level perspective, Skjulstad observes the lack of “actual case studies of visual textual articulations such as fashion films, fashion photography or Instagram feeds” (6).

For the study at hand, this research gap is delved into through magazines who have established themselves long before social media, yet currently function as influential figures in their social media presence—particularly on Instagram. The accounts of the fashion magazines on Instagram will be used as objects for analysis to determine the affordances used by these magazines in order to engage with social and political issues on social media platforms and the ways in which these affordances are employed. This next section will lay the foundation for this research in the form of a theoretical framework.

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2. Theoretical Framework

The purpose of this chapter is to inform and operationalize theory on the shift from mass media logic to social media logic and on platform affordances. Moreover, the objective of this framework is to build a groundwork which will allow for a deep dive into the social media activity of fashion magazine accounts which engage in advocacy of socio-political issues. In doing so, it will address the following three elements of this research objective: the shift from mass to social media logic, the affordances of Instagram, and lastly, Instagram and its politicization. Concerning the shift from mass to social media logic and affordances, the respective works of Van Dijck and Poell (2013) and danah boyd (2014), will primarily be scrutinized in order to provide a critical view of magazines and their presence on social media. Following this, Instagram will be introduced and contextualized as a platform that is used as a soapbox for consequential socio-political issues through selected examples concerning fashion publications.

2.1. The Shift from Mass to Social Media Logic

According to Jefferson Hack, the founding editorial director of Dazed Media, the social media approach for magazines Dazed & Confused and Dazed Digital is rooted in “creating multi-platform content that can go beyond print” (qtd. in Kansara). Nevertheless, Hack rejects an oppositional relationship between print and digital which he explained in an interview with Business of Fashion in 2010 and claimed that he dismisses, “the much-heralded death of

physical magazines in favour of a model that stresses deeper integration between media forms” (Kansara). This integration according to Hack, is due to the fact that while the web, “is about the moment”, the magazine, “is much more about the collective memory” (qtd. in Kansara). “The magazine becomes a souvenir of what’s happening in the moment”, he continues (qtd. in Kansara). According to Hack, this is the very reason why magazines will not disappear, rather, “they’ll almost become more important in some ways”, and he contends that the future for magazines both online and offline is “niche and independent” (qtd. in Kansara). These words display a foresight on behalf of Hack which implies both a change in the media landscape, and within that, the merging of two different media logics. Since this interview, magazines have displayed extensive transformations which can be traced to the introduction of social media platforms, while concurrently grappling with older, more traditional media forms.

In her discussion on the media logic of remediation, Rocamora argues that scholars should move away from a singular concept of media logic towards a plural one that

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encompasses digital media within its focus (10). She claims that mass media and digital media “may share certain logics, such as entertainment, but others are tightly linked to digital media affordances such as connectivity and immediacy” (Rocamora 10). According to van Dijck and Poell, social media platforms have deeply impacted the mechanics of everyday life, whereby their growth forces everyone to “adapt to a new reality, where the mass distribution of information, news, and entertainment seems no longer the privilege of the institutional few” (van Dijck and Poell 3). This phenomenon holds true when applied towards the fashion press wherein the dissipation of content has changed as a result of the new media ecosystem. Van Dijck and Poell propose the concept of social media logic to explain this shift, as a result of the far from neutral nature of social media platforms which are actively affecting both “the conditions and rules of social interaction” (3). This term is explained with respect to mass media logic, owing to the latter’s significant role in spreading the powerful discourse of the media beyond its assigned institutional boundaries (Van Dijck and Poell 3). The tendencies of mass media logic, namely, presenting the world as a continuous flow of information, and presenting themselves as seemingly neutral, independent, and representative, can be observed in the magazine industry both prior to and post the introduction of social media (van Dijck and Poell 4). Fashion scholar, Van de Peer, goes as far to argue that “the fashion media too engaged, and undoubtedly still do, in a self-fashioning rooted in the temporal disavowal of their (consuming) readership” (331). By this, Van de Peer is framing the inherent nature of the fashion media as “arbiters, pathfinders, and lecturers of fashionable taste”, which alludes to the mass media logic tendencies, particularly those of neutrality and independence, proposed by van Dijck and Poell (331).

In their text ‘Understanding Social Media Logic’, van Dijck and Poell contend that “media logic has remained under-theorized in communication and media studies” which makes the focus of this subject particularly poignant considering the technological advancements in media landscape. Additionally, Altheide proposes media logic as a “general framework for understanding the nature, impact and relevance of media and information technologies for social life, as well as its use and appropriateness for investigating political communication” (1). This suggests that along with the societal implications of media information technologies, the political is equally prevalent and worthy of investigation—making both areas objects of interest for the research at hand. However, in order to understand these developments when dealing with the context of fashion media, it is necessary to outline the significance of mass

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media logic surrounding mainstream fashion magazines and their role within media culture and history.

The defining characteristic of mass media logic is arguably its ability to cement its power beyond institutional status and towards the organization of public space and this power is “diffused and exercised through discursive strategies and performative” (van Dijck and Poell 3). Altheide and Snow (1979) define this logic as “a set of principles or common sense rationality cultivated in and by media institutions that penetrates every public domain and dominates its organizing structures” (qtd. in van Dijck and Poell 3). As previously discussed, fashion magazines like other mass media production in the ‘creative industries’ such as film, television, and radio, act as both cultural products and commodities (Moeran 727). This means that they are subject to organizational structures that are governed by both cultural and economic influence. The competing forces comprise of several actors including those within the fashion world, namely, editors, stylists, and photographers, as well as the readers and advertisers who hold equal stakes in the success of the magazine. Ultimately, rather than merely designating fashion, magazines present “the people and institutions that constitute the fashion world, at both local and global levels” (Moeran 735). Consequently, the mass media logic of fashion magazines is engrained within these levels which allow these magazines to function as equally influential cultural products and commodities.

Van Dijck and Poell prescribe the tendencies of mass media logic, and in doing so, point out the nature of mass media to present itself as “neutral platforms that fairly represent different public voices and opinions” (4). The researchers immediately point out however, that in practice these platforms “operate as filters” through which some people may receive considerably more exposure than others (4). This can be observed within fashion magazines who in efforts for stabilization “seek to establish connections between the various different constituents of the fashion industry” (Moeran 735). These connections are represented through the features published by these magazines who often situate themselves within the “neighbouring social worlds of the film, music, publishing, art and entertainment industries” (Moeran 735). As a result, the “neutrality” of fashion magazines is compromised which Moeran explains “make the suppliers of fashion socially relevant to readers, who are the industry’s consumers” (735). This statement weaves the complex structures of mainstream fashion magazines together which has consequently resulted in them actively branching out beyond the world of fashion into subjects of ‘culture’, ‘living’ and ‘celebrity’.

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Among these new areas of interest, ‘opinion pieces’ which discussed political and societal issues began to proliferate on behalf of magazines which abided by another mass media tendency of “amplifying "representative" public voices” (van Dijck and Poell 4). Through the processes of “structural stabilization” and “social relevance creation and naming”, magazines additionally “provide readers with an entry into the consumption of the products supplied by the fashion industry” (Moeran 736). Within mass media logic, this can be attributed to the commercialization of culture which according to van Dijck and Poell, sparked a shift in the early 1980s wherein media logic adapted to new market realities in order to “mend the repercussions of advertising practices in which facts and opinion were progressively mixed” (736). Consequently, boundaries between ‘news and advertisements’ and ‘fact and opinion’ began to increasingly erode and not long after, the emergence of newer technologies in the following decade further erupted the organizational structures which were once governed by mass media logic.

Altheide argues that the principle basis for media logic is that both events and actions reflect the technologies, format, and information of the media that govern communication, and this holds true for not only television and mass media, but newer technologies which adapt and modify these principles (Altheide 1). In the 1990s, “the emergence of computer mediated interaction through the Web, the ubiquity of mobile computing, and the growth of social media platforms” were among the developments that collectively reshaped media logic (van Dijck and Poell 5). According to van Dijck and Poell, this was possible as various “technological and cultural trends in computing converged in the meteoric rise of social media platforms” and the emergence of the consequently new media landscape transformed the existing media logic (van Dijck and Poell 5). Kaplan and Haenlein define social media as “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content (61). With this in mind, van Dijck and Poell propose social media logic, which they differentiate from the “established” mass media logic and explore the ways in which the two amalgamate together while simultaneously contributing to existing mechanisms (5). The researchers consequently contend that social media logic “refers to the processes, principles, and practices through which these platforms process information, news, and communication, and more generally, how they channel social traffic (van Dijck and Poell 5). According to fashion scholar Skjulstad, fashion mediation is in a state of flux wherein well-established formats are set aside in favour of new “digital cross-media multiplatform genres” (Skjulstad 3). This describes the social cross-media logic which can be

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observed in the fashion industry, particularly for fashion magazines which sometimes blend tendencies of mass media logic with social media logic in their strategies to adapt to the new media landscape.

Media theorist Gaines argues that media create “certain illusions that have powerful effects on audiences because production techniques and media distribution play with time and space in order to entertain, inform, and persuade audiences” (77). According to Anna Wintour, the Editor-in-Chief of Vogue, in terms of both print and new media, we are living in a democratic age wherein she insists that “we still look at everything” through the lens of Vogue (qtd. in Steigrad). For Wintour, Vogue is successful even today in both influencing and persuading its audiences, which is a result of what Gaines attributes to adapting production and distribution techniques. She contends, “In the fact that Vogue is someone that can help guide enormous audiences through this fascinating world, I would like to think we are as influential and actually are now reaching so many more people than we ever dreamt of back in the Fifties or the Sixties” (qtd. in Steigrad). This amalgamation of media logics was displayed in Vogue’s 125th anniversary September issue cover which featured Jennifer Lawrence, in an original portrait painted by acclaimed artist John Currin. This was one of the four covers commissioned by Vogue for this issue, each depicting Lawrence in a differently conceptualized cover and photographed by three other photographers in addition to Currin (see fig. 3). For Wintour, the cover painted by Currin is emblematic of her reaction towards the present state of print media; in that the cover had to be both “memorable” and “be something you can’t find so easily online” (qtd. in Steigrad).

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Conversely, Teen Vogue magazine, who ceased its print edition in 2017 to continue as a digital-only publication, chose to make a powerful statement in 2018 by releasing solely digital covers with its quarterly issues. The magazine’s March 2018 digital issue was dedicated to young activists who are “the new voices of US gun reform”, with the cover story written by Emma González, a young activist and survivor of the Parkland, Florida school shooting which had taken place a month prior, on February 14th_{, 2018.}_{(McLaughlin). The digital cover,}

released via Instagram and Teen Vogue’s website, consists of a 20 second video which begins with five children laying on the floor of what appears to be a school hallway with the Teen Vogue magazine logo on the top of the cover. This is followed by the children standing up and walking towards the camera, in front of which they pause in a formation and raise their hands up. The text “You’re Killing Us” appears in front of the screen after which the digital cover is seemingly complete (see fig. 4). The ‘digital cover’ has since then been embraced by other fashion magazine publications including Harper’s Bazaar, Nylon, and American Vogue. Joyann King, the website director and editor for Harper’s Bazaar supports these covers which can comprise of animated photos, loops, gifs, and videos by stating that it “really allows us to

Figure 3: Vogue’s 125th anniversary September 2017 issue covers (left: portrait by John Currin, right: Photograph by Inez and Vinoodh). from: “Jennifer Lawrence’s Vogue September Issue: American Beauty”; Vogue; https://www.vogue.com/magazine; 9 Aug. 2017, https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/jennifer-lawrence-vogue-september-issue-2017-photos

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deliver high-profile, high-fashion and celebrity content more than just in print” (qtd. in Hays). In these ways, fashion magazines today are faced with a double-edged sword whereby they may either channel their resources into sustaining their print editions or embracing their digital equivalents. Their response, however, seems to display an amalgam of these two directions whereby both the mass media and social media logic tendencies are creatively preserved. This amalgamation is supported by van Dijck and Poell who attribute such phenomenon to an “intricate web of online and offline settings connected by a dynamic constellation of technological, economical, and socio-cultural mechanisms” (van Dijck and Poell). In the organization of these mechanisms acting in both their online and offline contexts, it is evident that “social media” and “mass media” are hardly autonomous forces in the activity of mainstream magazines. This can be attributed to the affordances of the platform, employed by fashion media in techniques which shape the subjects with which they engage in and these affordances will be traced in the following section.

Figure 4: March 2018 Digital Cover by Teen Vogue from: Teen Vogue; Instagram, 23 Mar. 2018. Screenshot. Web.

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2.2. Mapping the Affordances of Instagram

This section discusses the intricacies of affordances, and their function, which forms an integral part of the theoretical foundation for this research. Fashion magazines are branching out towards social media as a primary platform to share their content which in turn, determines what they choose to cover and drives the nature of expression. As seen in the example given above of Teen Vogue’s March 2018 digital cover, Instagram provides fashion magazine accounts with the tools they need to share their original visual content, along with the opportunity to directly engage in commentary with the readers of their magazines. The process by which they curate and monitor their social media is generated as a result of the platform’s affordances—which determines the relationship between a user and a platform, and the consequent outcome of this interaction.

The concept of affordances first emerged in the field of ecological psychology by James Gibson in 1966 who initially used the term in the context of a specific relationship between an animal and its environment and the possible action possibilities (Bucher and Helmond 4). In 1979, Gibson expanded his definition: “The affordances of the environment are what it offers the animal, what it provides or furnishes, either for good or ill”, continuing that these affordances, “have to be measured relative to the animal” (Gibson 127). Nearly a decade later, Donald Norman (1988) proposed a different definition which he adapted to the field of design studies and emphasized on perception as a result of his background in cognitive science (Davis and Chouinard 241). Norman defined affordances as “the perceived and actual properties of the thing, primarily those fundamental properties that determine just how the thing could possibly be used” (Norman 9). Consequently, he introduced the concepts of ‘real affordances’ and ‘perceived affordances’: Real affordances “are the functions attached to a given object— what, potentially, that object affords”, while perceived affordances are the “features that are clear to the user” (Davis and Chouinard 242). As opposed to Gibson’s relational approach, Norman’s definition of ‘perceived affordances’ takes into consideration the role of the designer in indicating how the user is meant to engage with the object (Norman 8). While Gibson’s work set the scene for the theorization of affordances, Norman’s interpretation became widely adopted in the field of design (Maier et al., 2009; McGrenere and Ho, 2000; You and Chen, 2007) (Bucher and Helmond 6).

Nevertheless, both works received critique over the years—for Gibson, directed at him “granting artifacts too much efficacy” (Chemero, 2003; Stoffregen, 2003), and for Norman, at

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his extreme focus on perception that “artifacts only afford what subjects perceive them to afford” (e.g., A. Cooper et al., 1995/2014; Parchoma, 2014; Reed, 1996; Torenvliet, 2003; Turvey, 1992). (qtd. in Davis and Chouinard 242). More recently, there has been an adoption of the term affordances by social scientists and humanities scholars, particularly in the field of media and communication theory (Hutchby, 2001, 2003; McVeigh-Schultz and Baym, 2015; Medianou and Miller, 2013; Nagy and Neff, 2015) (Costa 3650). According to Costa, this has been “to describe the relationship between the properties of technologies and the structure of social relations, and to point out the technological qualities that are subsumed by users’ practices” (Costa 3650). Furthermore, these studies have been directed towards overcoming the duality between objects and subjects and understand affordances as “a part of language, the imaginary, and practices of social media users” (Costa 3650). This suggests that while scholars have built upon the work established by Gibson and Norman, they have also chosen to move past the focus on the object-subject relationship to one that is more concerned with the use of social media and the implications of these practices on its users.

Recent accounts of affordance theory have similarly made room for further accountability of what may be constituted as affordances (Evans et al., 2017) and how artefacts afford in gradations known as mechanisms and the conditions in which they take shape (Davis and Chouinard, 2016). The conceptual definition of affordances according to Evans et al., “broadly described as possibilities for action—is the “multifaceted relational structure” (Faraj & Azad, 2012, p. 254) between an object/technology and the user that enables or constrains potential behavioral outcomes in a particular context” (Evans et al. 36). In their article, the researchers list ‘Threshold Criteria for Substantiating Purported Affordances’ which provide a “method for researchers to conceptualize and apply affordances in their research” (Evans et al. 36). Following this, the researchers apply the criteria to a range of concepts or topics that meet the threshold criteria including anonymity, persistence, and visibility, and similarly list those that fail to meet the threshold criteria namely, privacy and collaboration (Evans et al. 41-44). According to the researchers this set of criteria can be used to “foster greater validity in determining and assessing affordances” and the focus rather than lying in outcomes of technology use, is embedded instead in “how differential possibilities for action are present that might influence these outcomes” (Evans et al. 47).

Davis and Chouinard begin their research by proposing the following three main critiques to debates within affordance literature: “definitional confusion, a false binary in which

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artifacts either afford or do not, and lastly, failure to account for diverse subjects and circumstances” (Davis and Chouinard 241). From this, the researchers develop a conceptual assumption that affordances vary by degree and propose a model of how affordances work which comprises of interrelated mechanisms (Davis and Chouinard 242). Through these mechanisms artifacts request, demand, allow, encourage, discourage, and refuse. While requests and demands refer to bids that are placed on the subject by the artifact, encouragement, discouragement, and refusal refer to how “the artifact responds to a subject’s desired actions”, and lastly allow comprises both bids placed upon the subject and the artifact (Davis and Chouinard 242). These mechanisms are meant to function as reference points along a gradated continuum which function as “analytic pegs that transpose structure onto subject-artifact relationships” (Davis and Chouinard 242). Ultimately, the subject-artifact relationship remains essential in understanding how affordances function, and especially so in studying a particular environment and its context.

In her 2015 article titled ‘Social Media: A Phenomenon to be Analyzed’, danah boyd claims that social media is a phenomenon which refers to “a set of tools, practices, and ideologies that emerged after the dot-com crash by a network of technologists primarily located in the Bay Area”, which set the context rooted in the “social, technical, and business dynamics of what would become Web 2.0 (boyd 1, ‘Social Media…Analyzed’). Since then, what was once a Silicon Valley rooted technology, has spiralled into a global phenomenon which affects everyday lives and reflects the values and norms of the users who embrace these tools (boyd 1, ‘Social Media…Analyzed). In an attempt to make sense of the practices that unfold as a result of social networking sites (SNSs), boyd situates SNSs as a genre of “Networked Publics” (boyd 39, ‘Social Network…Implications’). Networked publics can be defined as “publics that are restructured by networked technologies” and are firstly, the space constructed through these technologies, and secondly, “the imagined collective” emerging from the intersection of “people, technology, and practice” (boyd 8, ‘Social Media…Analyzed’). According to boyd, the affordances of such networked publics do not dictate the behaviour of its participants, but rather, “configure the environment in a way that shapes participants’ engagement” and this suggests the importance of both the architecture of the environment and that of networked publics which is shaped by their affordances (boyd 39, ‘Social Network…Implications’). Here, boyd supports both Gibson and Norman in claiming that both the “design and architecture of environments enable certain types of interaction to occur” and she argues that the properties or

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characteristics of these mediated environments that are shaped by social media can be understood as affordances (boyd 10,11, ‘Social Media…Analyzed’).

In her 2014 work, ‘It's Complicated : the Social Lives of Networked Teens’, boyd devised four affordances which she argued create new opportunities and challenges for networked publics. These affordances are: persistence, “the durability of online expressions and content”, visibility, “the potential audience who can bear witness”, spreadability, “the ease with which content can be shared”, and searchability, “the ability to find content” (boyd 11, ‘It’s Complicated…teens’). These four affordances shape the mediated environments that are created by social media and “their relation to one another because of networked publics creates new opportunities and challenges” (boyd 11, ‘It’s Complicated…teens’).

The concept of affordances in emphasizing the architecture of an environment has been questioned by researcher Costa in her 2018 work, ‘Affordances-in-practice: An Ethnographic Critique of Social Media Logic and Context Collapse’. In this, Costa suggests that “the affordances of visibility, persistence, and searchability are specific to a given social and cultural context” (Costa 3649). She contests boyd’s affordance of visibility, particularly the claim that in networked publics, “interactions are often public by default, private through effort” (boyd 12). For Costa’s study, visibility in terms of going public is “often more laborious than being private” as a result of “continuous monitoring” of a public page and a “carefully crafted performance of self” (Costa 3649). While it is true that achieving visibility may potentially be a laborious process that is “carefully crafted” in the words of Costa, this affordance plays a major role for Instagram accounts of fashion magazines and is even argued by boyd as the factor which allows platforms to be “widely accessible” (Costa 3649; boyd 12, ‘Social Media…Analyzed’). The reason for this according to boyd, is that “most systems are designed such that sharing with broader or more public audiences is the default” and it is for this very reason that fashion magazines value social media accounts in order to reach their already existing public and with the help of the system offered by Instagram for instance, they can expand their visibility even farther through networked publics (boyd 12, ‘Social Media…Analyzed’).

For persistence, Costa argues that this affordance does not always apply as a result of the “temporary and ephemeral” nature of social media wherein users may open and close accounts thereby resulting in the permanent loss of data (3649). While this temporality and ephemerality of social media holds true to ordinary users who can delete and restart accounts,

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it fails to apply to verified accounts of well-known establishments such as those of fashion magazines. The accounts of these magazines are consequently objects of interest for the media and they have a marginally larger following than regular accounts. This prevents the permanent loss of their data, as the content they post is stored through other users’ reposting, saving, or screenshotting of their content, with the magazine accounts having little to no control over this phenomenon. Therefore, in the case of fashion magazines’ accounts on social media, the affordance of persistence is almost inevitable. Furthermore, while certain social media platforms such as 4chan and Snapchat inherently function on ephemerality, Instagram which is a primarily visual platform is far from ephemeral. In fact, very often content which has expired on social media such as 4chan and Snapchat often resurface on Instagram in the form of screenshots which are posted to the platform. Even the feature of ‘Instagram Stories’ which is temporary and lasts for 24 hours is still only ephemeral at face value and can be saved where the user may decide to permanently share to their ‘Story Highlights’. The Instagram Help Center describes this feature as users being able to “add stories to appear on your profile as highlights, even after they disappear” (Instagram, ‘How…Story Highlights).

This relates to the affordance of spreadability by which boyd claims “content can often be easily downloaded or duplicated and then forwarded along” (boyd 12, ‘Social Media…Analyzed’). Social media platforms are fundamentally designed to help people spread information in the form of both images and texts where systems “provide simple buttons to “forward,” “repost,” or “share” content to articulated or curated lists” (boyd 12, ‘Social Media…Analyzed’). The ease with which this is possible however, is described by boyd as “unrivalled” which can be powerful and problematic—making it possible for the affordance of spreadability to be “leveraged to rally people for a political cause or to spread rumors” (boyd 12, ‘Social Media…Analyzed’). For this study in observing the engagement of fashion magazines’ Instagram accounts in socio-political issues, it is vital to understand the way in which spreadability as an affordance shapes the types of activity, its content and the consequent impact on an audience.

Lastly, regarding searchability, Costa claims that the affordance does not take into account “profiles with fake names and anonymous profile pictures” (3649). Again, in the case of the Instagram accounts of fashion magazines, the official accounts are verified which amplifies the affordance of searchability and while fake accounts do exist, their chances of being mistaken for real accounts is drastically reduced. Additionally, Instagram’s hashtag

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feature not only makes the platform searchable, but aids in the process of storing records by which information can be categorized and later discovered. Ultimately, while Costa is right in stating that the four affordances “are specific to a given social and cultural context”, for the purpose of this study on the Instagram accounts of fashion magazines, these affordances are not only applicable but are necessary for this research. Costa argues that in social media studies, “affordance has often been used to refer to properties and features of a technology that are separated from the social context and the work of human users” (3650). She claims that previous accounts of affordances (boyd, 2010; Papacharissi and Yuan (2011); Vitak and Kim, (2014); Trepte, (2015); Postigo, (2014)) fall short in taking into consideration that these features are made possible as a result of the users’ actions (Costa 3651). The result of which is that they “fail to account for the diverse and multiple object–subject relations that can take shape in different social contexts” (Costa 3651).

For the Instagram accounts of fashion magazines, the object-subject relation is vital in understanding the affordances employed in allowing these accounts to engage in socio-political issues and determining the way in which this takes place. One of the main reasons for this, is that unlike regular “human users” as mentioned by Costa, the accounts run by fashion magazines represent several different forces controlling one account which very often has a large social media footprint (3651). Costa says regarding affordances, that they “are never specific to a platform only, but are always specific to the relation between the platform and the situated users” (3651). Consequently, while this research focuses on Instagram, rather than exclusively studying the affordances that make up the environment on Instagram, it closely observes the particularities and dynamic of the relationship between the fashion magazine accounts and the platform within the given context of socio-political debate through advocacy.

For the study at hand, Instagram serves as the environment of analysis for which its affordances can configurate the engagement between fashion magazines with their respective networked publics regarding socio-political issues. Instagram therefore functions as an environment wherein its affordances are made use of by fashion magazines in order to engage in their desired content. In giving an example of the affordance of a window that separates two people, boyd says the “window’s affordances don’t predict how people will communicate, but they do shape the situation nonetheless” (boyd 11, ‘Social Media…Analyzed’). Similarly, while the affordances of Instagram can neither guarantee nor determine certain content or its outcome, they can certainly influence the situation.

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As previously discussed, researchers have observed pitfalls of the affordances prescribed by boyd (2014) when applied to certain social media contexts. For instance, Costa (2018) describes their limitations within the ethnographic research she conducted with Facebook users in Mardin, Turkey. Furthermore, researchers Bucher and Helmond (2017) and Davis and Chouinard (2016) have presented the requirement for an update to affordance theory and the space for its expansion. Consequently, there is a need for the four affordances put forth by boyd to be critically evaluated in light of these recent arguments. This thesis explores the ways in which the affordances of Instagram shape the engagement of fashion magazines with socio-political issues on Instagram and considering boyd’s argument, examines the properties of the environment created by Instagram which influence this engagement. To achieve this, the affordances presented by boyd of persistence, visibility, spreadability, and searchability will serve as an analytical framework by which fashion magazines on Instagram will be closely observed in order to gauge the depth of engagement in socio-political issues. By doing so, these affordances will be updated within the context of Instagram—a dominant, visual social media platform in an ongoing state of development which presents opportunity for both new media and visual culture theory. The relevance of Instagram as a valuable site for analysis and the dynamics surrounding the platform and its politicization are discussed in the following section.

2.3. Instagram and its Politicization

This section looks closely at the mechanics of Instagram, specifically, the tools it offers for forces in fashion media to solidify a dominant online presence and its role as a platform for politicization. The app was developed by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger and was launched on the 5th_{of October 2010 in the iPhone app store (Poulsen 124). Instagram is described by}

Poulsen in his 2018 article as “a photo application available for mobile, desktop and other Internet-based devices that allow users to take, edit and share pictures and videos with their social net-works or the general public” (124). In 2012, Facebook made “the acquisition of a lifetime”, buying Instagram for USD 1 billion, which today, acts as its parent company’s fastest-growing slice of revenue (Greer; Lyons). In 2015, Marwick described Instagram as a “fairly open-ended social media tool” which provides its users with a range of techniques by which to represent themselves (Marwick 138). She also goes on to argue that as a result of the internet being an increasingly visual medium, expressions seem to be shifting from written textual descriptions towards those that are more image-based (Marwick 139). The fashion industry constructs its identity for the public through visual media such as photo and video content and consequently, Instagram provides a platform by which this is possible.

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Furthermore, while fashion media had grounded its online presence over the years through blogs and e-magazines, these spaces were limited in their capacity to cater to the masses. According to Marwick, Instagram represents “a convergence of cultural forces” which consists of “a mania for digital documentation, the proliferation of celebrity and microcelebrity culture, and conspicuous consumption” (Marwick 139). Instagram, therefore, provides a space which accommodates all corners of the industry’s infrastructure ranging from designers to publishers, which other platforms were unable to achieve as efficiently.

According to an analysis from Bloomberg Intelligence in June of 2018, Instagram is reportedly worth USD100 billion as a standalone company (Bhardwaj and Gal). Instagram also announced the same month that it had reached 1 billion monthly active users, a figure which Bloomberg expects to double within the next five years (Bhardwaj and Gal). Unlike print fashion magazines, blogs, and e-magazines, which were accessible to an audience looking specifically for these media, Instagram is egalitarian in its emulation, and arguably even more accessible, owing to its “way for individuals to access the currency of the attention economy” (Marwick 139). As a result, the online sociality provided by Instagram has severed the barriers that once existed in the fashion press and consequently presents challenges to the system which allows to conserve and sustain the social stratification of the fashion industry. This is supported by van Dijck and Poell who argue that “the fast growth of online platforms forces everyone to adapt to a new reality, where the mass distribution of information news, and entertainment seems no longer the privilege of the institutional few” (3).

This expansion from the “institutional few” to “mass distribution” has also impacted the platforms in terms of monetary gains in the form of ‘in-app advertising’ (van Dijck and Poell 3). In 2013, Facebook began testing “organic and non-invasive” ads on Instagram, some of which included fashion companies Burberry and Macy’s (Greer). The purpose of these ads was, in the words of Instagram, “to make any advertisements you see feel as natural to Instagram as the photos and videos many of you already enjoy from your favorite brands” (qtd. in Greer). Skjulstad claims that, within the networked media environment provided by Instagram, “mediations of fashion for print and digital adverts published by fashion brands flourish” (Skjulstad 8). No different to the pages of a magazine which is laden in advertisements, Instagram today “practically prints money” with one paid post out of every four organic posts and few users realizing that 20% of the content they consume is sponsored (Greer). Reflecting on the infrastructural dynamics of fashion magazines, Moeran contests that

Is Effecting Change in Fashion?: Tracing the Affordances Used by Magazines to Engage with Socio-Political Issues on Instagram

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