Fashion journalism is an umbrella term used to describe all aspects of published
fashion media. It includes fashion writers, fashion critics or fashion reporters. The most obvious examples of fashion journalism are the fashion features in
magazines and
newspapers, but the term also includes books about fashion, fashion related reports on
television as well as online fashion magazines,
websites and
blogs. Since pieces more often than not deal with "tendencies" and "trends", which are subjective by nature, and due to a sometimes tenuous relation with facts, the term "journalism" is used as a monicker, but does not carry the overall procedural and deontological aspects of professional journalism.
The work of a fashion journalist can be quite varied. Typical work includes writing or editing articles, or helping to formulate and style a fashion shoot. A fashion journalist typically spends a lot of time researching and/or conducting interviews and it is essential that he or she has good contacts with people in the fashion industry, including photographers, designers, and public relations specialists.
Fashion journalists are either employed full time by a publication or are employed on a freelance basis.
The career has grown in importance with the release of films such as
The Devil Wears Prada and
Confessions of a Shopaholic, and television series such as
Ugly Betty.
Fashion journalism and the internet
About half a year subsequent to pioneer fashion resource named Fashion Net's launch at the outset of 1995 came american Fashionmall and French
ELLE.
Fashion Live produced Internet's first live fashion webcast of
Yves Saint Laurent's runway show in 1996.
CNN Style and Hint Magazine arrived in 1998. The following year saw the rise and fall of
Boo.com as the company burned through $135 million in 18 months.
Style.com, the online umbrella for
Vogue and W, started in 2000. Style.com is not a journalistic website but a resource to show the complete collections of selected fashion shows (among the most notorious brands) each season. Following a tiff in 2007, W left Style.com making it the online home for Vogue alone.
In the late 2000, Beauty Flow magazine flourished with exclusive content for editorials, portraits and reports.
Today,
fashion blogs are an increasing force in the fashion industry. Against this trend in August 2006
Westfield Group the world's largest mall and shopping centre owner has unveiled a
Webzine titled What's What identifying popular fashion trends with a view to indirectly promote the products available in their tenants stores. The financial funding for such an undertaking is unique as it does not rely on
subscriptions or
advertising but entirely on
advertorials.
See also
