The Future of Fashion Journalism

When Harper’s Bazaar’s Editor-in-Chief Carmel Snow dubbed Christian Dior’s collection the “New Look” in 1947, the importance of fashion journalism could not be more clear. While Dior is responsible for assembling the show’s talent, it was Snow who pointed out why we should pay attention to the beautiful haute couture Dior was creating. Fashion needs the press and the press needs fashion; the two are endlessly intertwined with each other. However, post-World War II Paris completely differs from today’s world in 2020. Fashion journalism has changed in ways that no one expected. The rise of social media has led to publications catering more to their digital-driven audience en masse. With a click of a button (and a subscription), every publication is available at anyone’s fingertips from anywhere in the world.

While seemingly a niche part of the larger entity that encapsulates journalism, fashion journalism covers the fashion industry which is worth trillions of dollars. As Julie Bradford, the author of the first fashion journalism textbook published in 2015, puts it, “It has always seemed to me that fashion journalists got a bad press, both from colleagues in other parts of the industry and from the academics who write about them.” While often associated as a shallow form of writing, fashion journalism has quite a lot of depth—more than most are willing to admit.

In our current technology-driven world, how fashion journalists exist and move within the field is vastly different than five, 10, and 20 years ago. One of the first rules taught in every traditional journalism class is to report the story, but don’t become part of it. However, in today’s society, the online presence of some of the most brilliant writers in the industry has grown in ways many could not have previously imagined; people flock to articles written by their favorite writers.

Take Robin Givhan for example. She is The Washington Post’s fashion critic, newly promoted to being a senior critic at large. Givhan has written books on The Battle of Versailles Fashion Show and former First Lady Michelle Obama’s style; she is the only person to win a Pulitzer Prize for fashion criticism. Givhan currently has over 20,000 followers on Instagram and has hosted several live streams and panels to interview others or discuss her work. Fashion industry leaders Marc Jacobs, Edward Enninful, Kerby Jean Raymond, Christopher John Rogers, Kim Jones, and Law Roach all remain loyal fans and followers of her digital and print work, which she posts to her Instagram feed regularly.

So what exactly will be the future of fashion journalism? What’s certain is that no one can concretely predict the future. But if anyone has the answer, it’s the current emerging writers and editors, industry leaders, and fashion journalism professors who have seen the recent changes and adapted alongside the times.

Roger Tredre, a course leader for the MA Fashion Communication program at Central Saint Martins (CSM), has seen firsthand how fashion journalism has changed throughout the years. After gaining an interest in fashion when the Antwerp Six emerged on the scene, Tredre has seen the industry evolve over 30 years. Tredre was appointed the first editor-in-chief from 1999-2006 at WGSN.

The dying out of publications has been cited by many as the end of an era. “Print [publications] will never die, but it is proving harder to make money from it,” says Tredre. “In the time of COVID-19, the physical product is being appreciated more than ever. But digital is a far bigger market.”

Convergent fashion journalism, which “blends broadcast, print, photography, and web coverage across platforms,” has gained attention in recent years. The need for journalists to do everything has grown more as the world changes.

“The skills of convergent journalism give new journalists more options,” Tredre expresses. “But at the end of the day, the fundamental ability to tell a story is the same across many of these platforms.”

Candidly speaking on what makes a good piece of fashion journalism today, Tredre continues.

“Honest views expressed with wit and elegance are always the best to read,” he says. “Too many fashion journalists are effectively ‘bought’ and gush like fans.”

Givhan similarly remarked to Highsnobiety that “it’s hugely important for journalists to remember that they’re not part of the fashion industry. They’re part of the journalism community, and they’re working on behalf of their reader, not on behalf of the designers that they cover.”

Julie Bradford, the author of Fashion Journalism and senior lecturer at Northumbria School of Design, has been in journalism all over the world. Formerly, Bradford was a journalist with AFP in Paris and the Middle East. She created Sunderland University’s BA program in Fashion Journalism and now teaches the next generation of fashion journalists.

“Fashion journalism needed to be shaken up a bit instead of being glossy and impersonal,” Bradford observes. “Even Anna Wintour admitted that they thought they did things best at Condé Nast and every else is inferior. But now they’re realizing that the world has changed.”

Like many, Bradford sees that people are no longer seeking out print publications in the same capacity; the physical copies have become more of “a beautiful physical artifact” than a source of information.

As for social media’s impact on fashion journalism, Bradford acknowledges that the internet has made space for everyone to have an opinion and give direct access to the information.

“On our feeds, there’s a mix of publications, friends, family, people you admire—journalism has to respond to that,” Bradford asserts. “It has to be more personal. Fashion journalism was always authoritative and impersonal. And that doesn’t work well on social media.”

Bradford's opinion on fashion influencers stems from a critical lens, neither completely positive or negative. While many are quick to bemoan the problem with fashion influencers, she can see the overall changes they have made.

“Influencers make fashion more relatable,” Bradford articulates. “You might see clothing on a model on the catwalk or in an advert. But it’s a different thing to see fashion walking around in different real places; they’ve opened fashion up in a big way. That’s not to say there is not some rubbish content out there because there is.”

Elena Eberhard, the fashion journalism and social media coordinator at the Academy of Art University, has worked in publications since the late ‘90s. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Eberhard saw a rise in Russian editions of fashion publications. She has had a two-decade career in fashion journalism and publications, working as an editor for Modem Europe and contributing to the Russian versions of L’Officiel and Jalouse.

“With digital media on the rise, we all observe sparks of influential media all over the globe,” Eberhard remarks. “I wouldn’t call it decentralization, but definitely a diversification [since] so many different voices can be heard in the digital space.”

While counting New York and London as the fashion journalism capitals with the advantage of English being the universal language of the press, Eberhard sees the shift to online as being a standout point for other markets to shine creatively.

Fashion publications have been called out for their promotion of idealized and unattainable body types and their exclusion of many people. 2020 has prompted companies to take a look internally. Eberhard sees the recent events as a necessary turning point.

“Many underrepresented communities gained visibility recently,” she states. “Diversity and inclusivity will hopefully become the norm, celebrating creative individuals, cultures, and style expressions across all races, ages, genders, and physical abilities.”

Hannah Rogers, a fashion writer at The Times, has interned and worked for numerous publications and magazines including British Vogue, Marie Claire, and InStyle. She graduated with her MA in Fashion Journalism at CSM in 2016 and has worked at The Times since then.

Rogers uses social media platforms as another way to sort out the biggest trends happening; fashion influencers have also become a huge source of inspiration.

“Especially right now, when we haven’t been able to get out into the world, Instagram has been a key source of stories,” she says. “Some fashion journalists are also now influencers and vice versa. I use influencers to write—and poke fun at—trends; the wild things they wear are great for content.”

Print is no longer something Rogers sees pertinent to her journalism work. “I would rather have my pieces published on an app or online than just in print,” Rogers admits. “As a writer, you want your words to be where the eyes are, and over half of our subscribers are now digital.”

As for her personal interest in traditional publications, Rogers is conflicted. While she rarely picks up a copy of her own, she sees some relevance for them.

“The celebrity interviews are boring—there’s hardly ever news,” Rogers voices. “Any big celebrity shoots are all over Instagram. ELLE and Cosmopolitan have the most longevity because they are far more in touch with young readers.”

Darnell-Jamal Lisby, a fashion historian and independent curator, is known for his work in curating the Cooper Hewitt, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Museum at FIT. Lisby has been published in i-D, Cultured, Fashion and Race Database, and Teen Vogue. He also is the host of the “Fashion Victims Podcast,” alongside popular YouTuber Luke Meagher.

“When I write for a fashion publication, it is my own unhinged space,” Lisby says. “I don’t have to worry about anybody controlling the narrative; I control the narrative. I teach people what I think they should know.”

While Lisby does not consider himself a fashion journalist, he utilizes writing for publications as an extension of his historical and curatorial fashion work.

Acknowledging the presence of COVID-19, Lisby sees that the traditional rules of fashion journalism are vastly changing. “I would be remiss if I said just one city like New York or Paris. Fashion is global, there is no one headquarter or capital,” Lisby pronounces. “Between Twitter and Instagram, social media is the capital of fashion journalism. If it doesn’t exist there, it really doesn’t exist at all.”

As a fashion curator, Lisby knows the power of visuality and art as a form of conveying a message. The cultural impact of showcasing people who matter and speak to their audience in a meaningful way is the only way he sees magazines not going out of print.

“British Vogue at Edward Enninful has created art pieces with its covers and editorial,” he states. “What Enninful has done is a great case study. Him getting Meghan Markle to do a cover of people she finds inspiring; American Vogue has never even taken it to that place.”

Louis Pisano, a journalist and fashion commentator, currently has over 115,000 loyal Instagram followers. An American currently living in Paris, Pisano has also worked in PR in Milan. His journalism work has been featured in Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, and Cosmopolitan. Pisano has a legion of fans who worship his witty and brutally honest hot takes on fashion and pop culture. He recently hinted on social media that he is in the works with a Levi's design collaboration set to drop on Valentine’s Day 2021.

At the beginning of Pisano’s career in 2012, many editors he was pitching to tended to overly inquire about his formal training. He found that a majority of people who gave him work were in their 20s. However, this has certainly changed since then.

“Publications now like to work with personality writers,” Pisano observes. “It’s not so much about accolades or awards. I think it’s more about ‘do the readers connect with this particular journalist.’”

Pisano’s writing style is incredibly important to him. He writes in a way he wishes people had written like at the beginning of his career.

“I can write in the technical terms of fashion. But that’s not how I want to talk about it. When you speak that way, it reinforces the stereotype that fashion people are snobs, that they’re pretentious,” Pisano muses. “In the end, it’s just clothes. So why not break it down for people to understand?”

With a major social media platform, Pisano knows the rules major publications are following. Publications are writing articles that follow search engine optimization guidelines to get people to their websites.

“All these clickbait articles are talking about what the Kardashian-Jenner clan or Bella Hadid are wearing,” he explains. “They operate on ‘what we can write that will get traction on social media.’”

Tredre, Bradford, Rogers, Lisby, Pisano, and Eberhard unanimously agree that fashion journalism will never die out, so long as we continue to wear clothes and express our creativity through attire. Fashion journalism, while an ever-evolving professional field, will continue for generations to come. This particular field is extremely dynamic; these changes are currently being impacted through technology, politics, globalization, fashion production, and designer’s pushing the bounds of creativity.

As for what the future of fashion journalism is? No one can fully say, and no one agrees on implying that there is one correct answer. And maybe that’s the point. Fashion journalism can grow and move in a variety of different ways. But one thing is for certain: fashion journalists must be open to the change and or be stuck in a world that doesn’t find relevance for them. We, as the next generation, are the future of fashion journalism, and we ultimately have the most prominent hand in deciding what lies ahead.