An Essay Based on Discussing How Modern Fashion Trends are Largely Disseminated and Communicated via the Collaborative Effort of Prosumers and Bloggers
With the continuous development of technology today, it is evident that the ability to access
such a wide range of online social media platforms, has influenced fashion to becoming the centre of our everyday lives. Consumers are now using social media as a promotional tool to show
and inform others of what they like and do on a daily basis. The social media platform “Instagram” has become immensely popular for this, amongst the youth of today’s generation. People all over the world are now using this platform as a portfolio representation of themselves, to
capture their individual persona and lifestyle. This has become highly significant towards the communication of the current fashion trends and products. Consumers are now forming the role
of becoming ambassadors for various brands, through posting content that focuses on their per-
sonal fashion style and purchasing experiences. This on-going activity is commonly defined to-
day as the actions of a prosumer. “In 1980, futurologist Alvin Toffler coined the term “prosumers” as common consumers who actively and personally help improve or design goods and services
of the marketplace, transforming it and their roles as consumers”, (Marketingmag, 2015). The
role of a prosumer has now become a major influence towards helping to increase consumer engagement with various brands and helping brands become more recognised amongst its target market. “Consumers are no longer passive, but rather active ‘prosumers’, professional consumers who not only interact with, but can also advocate for or against brands”, (Marketingmag,2015).
The popularity of an individual’s online presence has become significant towards them becoming a major influential prosumer. The interaction of the “like” button via the app “Instagram”, is a feature that plays an important part in this. The more “likes” an individual receives for the content they post, the more recognised they become to other online users. This con-
tinuous interaction can help increase an individual’s following and therefore is influential towards establishing a strong online presence. Therefore, this shows how a prosumer can help
to increase consumer engagement within fashion, through attaining a trend leading reputation
from the content they choose to post. The essence of being a prosumer is the idea of producing one’s own goods and services to stand out from the crowd. It is this aspect that individuals
desire, to help gain popularity and to attain a high status. “The desire for individuality and the crowding variety of customer demands mark the presumption idea (Toffler, 1981).
Prosumers also have the power to increase consumer purchasing decisions, as more people want to buy in to something that is presented to them, from someone who is popular and favorited by oth-
ers. The prosumer influences consumers in to in wanting the things that they see rather than perhaps need, to feel on trend and socially accepted. Therefore, people in society today are more willing to make purchases, if it also means attaining a trendy status for owning something that is looked upon as being cool.
“Social needs – examples of this are the need for acceptance by
our families or by our own social group. Social needs can exert a powerful influence on fashion purchase...” (Bohdanowicz et al., 1994:16). “Esteem needs – this implies the need for recognition from others. Prestige or the wish to enhance our reputation is a motivating force across the whole
fashion spectrum, from street fashion to haute couture” (Bohdanowicz et al., 1994:16). Further-
more, the idea of the consumer as a productive co-creator stems from the desire for freedom and
the need for recognition. Brands now rely on the role of the prosumer, to gain a closer insight in to how to accommodate to its target consumers, to help increase brand loyalty. Zwick et al.
(2008) relate presumption to Foucauldian and near-Marxian theory, concluding that presumption means companies are now granting new freedom to consumers”, cited in (Ritzer et al., 2010:18).
Leading on from this, referring back to the influential platform “Instagram”, its recent development of integrating the “story” feature, now allows all online users to share stories with each
other. With this in mind, brands are now finding ways of integrating short clips of advertising
in to the stories of the public. This provides the opportunity for brands to do this in a way that is targeted towards the stories of influential prosumers, to help with increasing consumer engagement and brand awareness. “Instagram will start to slip in ephemeral ads between stories from friends, turning the popular feature into a moneymaker for Facebook”, (The business of fash-
ion, 2017). The “story” feature is also set to be influential towards helping to define a brands personality, by featuring content that will provide a glimpse in to its brand ethos, lifestyle and products. Since Instagram has now imitated the main feature of Snapchat, marketers already like it better because it is a bigger platform that is much more focused for excelling the com-
munication of fashion. “Instagram’s reach and ecosystem make it a prime tool for brands to share
Stories and collect market feedback, but it should be done at first by carefully listening to your
fans. Instagram is a platform with a higher quality content and even though Stories are ephemeral, they should bring value to the user in a non-intrusive and non-spammy way”, (Delmotte 2016).
Leading on from this the influence of the prosumer is like that of today’s inspiring fashion bloggers. Although bloggers were not taken seriously in the mid- 2000s, their role has become an essential part of the fashion industry. “A blog presents a world as the blogger
sees and understands it, concretizes the blogger’s experiences and feelings over time, and provides an extended narrative of identity”, (Belk et al., 2013: 53). Bloggers are now ma-
jorly influential towards the promotion of fashion and style inspiration, through the presentation of highly curated and unique visual content. It is this individual quality that
bloggers are now using to help redefine a brands image, helping to increase consumer engagement and the success of brands. A blogger’s personal fashion style can also help to drive
new trends and ideas, which is highly influential towards inspiring brands and future trends.
“Specifically, fashion blogging has introduced new ways of considering identity, representations of beauty and style, and professional and social success. It has also redefined the relationships between brands and consumers and brand advocacy”, (Belk et al., 2013: 53).
Blogging itself has also changed since the influence of various social media platforms, particu-
larly “Instagram”. Blogs used to mainly be focused on providing a written insight in to various trends, but now since social media has become a lot more image based, so has the presentation
of blogs. This has resulted in bloggers using less text based content and instead featuring
more original and inspiring photography, along with effective short copy featuring unique hash tags and “emojional” language. “…As Instagram has gained immense traction over the last couple
years, we’ve seen a shift in the type of content posted to blogs… it isn’t uncommon to spot a blog (from brands and fashion bloggers alike) that emulate the feel of Instagram”, (Wharton, 2015).
Bloggers have also helped create a new perspective on consumers viewing products, through posting content that focuses on capturing a desired lifestyle and attitude. This has resulted
in bloggers building more connections with consumers, in a way that makes the consumer feel
part of their experience. Many brands today want to invest in bloggers who have developed
this reputable online status, through their unique identity and persona. The reason being is
that these attributes can be influential towards a brand establishing a USP, to help stand out from other competitors in the retail market. Therefore, bloggers now ensure that they create content that is focused on sharing similar interests with consumers and meeting their desires. This is so that they remain popular and visible amongst other bloggers, in which consumers
look up to and rely on as a fashion and style advisor. “…consumption narratives contribute
to further construct the blogger’ s identity in the eyes of the audience and to generate empathy and a sense of similarity and connivance because both the author and the readers share
the same tastes. This sense of similarity and connivance permits the growing influence and recommendation power between the blogger and their loyal audience”, (Belk et al., 2013: 66).
In terms of self-personal bloggers, photography has allowed individuals to explore their identity and use it as a medium of self-expressionism. “Personal photography ... has developed
as a medium through which individuals confirm and explore their identity, that sense of selfhood which is an indispensable feature of a modern sensibility”, (Rocamora, 2011: 413). Personal bloggers are now voicing fashion in a way that is much more than meets the eye and in-
stead focus on the concept of storytelling or implying a certain message. Self-bloggers have
now become more recognised for something that women can relate to, rather than solely for their physical appearance. “Personal fashion blogs constitute an ambivalent space, a space
that echoes the position of women in contemporary society”, (Heinich 2003) cited in (Rocamora, 2011: 421). While it reproduces the mirror’s panoptic logic and the related duty that weighs on them to work on their appearance in order not to be denied their female identity,
it is also a possible space of articulation of a female voice on appearance, by and for wom-
en, a space for the expression of other images of the fashionable”, (Rocamora, 2011: 422). Taking this in to account these aspects provide the opportunity for bloggers today to become
major influencers, which does not require living up to the pre-determined image of a blog-
ger. “…Personal fashion blogs have also enabled women tradition- ally excluded from the realm of fashion imageries to enter its visual scape…The physical traits many bloggers display do not con- form to the beauty criteria the fashion press conventionally promotes”, (Rocamora,
2011: 421). Some fashion bloggers today have established their success through the desire to display a different bodily aesthetic, to provide an alternate view on fashioning the body. With this in mind, there has been an increase in “curvaceous bloggers”, who have become well-known
amongst the realm of fashion blogging. Ashley Richardson is an example of a reputable self-proclaimed curvaceous fashion blogger. She has established a reputable status through her Australian curve blog “This is Ashley Rose”. Ashley focuses on providing an insight in to her daily style, by converting runway trends to curves and tailoring fashion to suit women of all sizes. Since starting out her blog in 2012, it has grown to become one of Australian’s premier curve fashion blogs. From
her success, she has also gained exposure from high end fashion magazines including Elle and Instyle.
“Ashley Rose’s blog for curves aims to prove size shouldn’t compromise your style”, (Palmer, 2015). Furthermore, in conclusion to the exploration of how prosumers and bloggers are influential
towards the communication of the current fashion trends of today, it is evident that fashion
would not be where it is now, if it wasn’t for their presence. With the rise of the co-crea-
tion, it is more important than ever for brands to focus on converting consumers to prosumers, if they are to stay relevant and profitable in the future. And so, for bloggers, it is evident
that they will continue to provide a new outlook on fashion, which will focus on empowering the vision of themselves and other women, to embrace and further feminism. “So, it is with personal fashion blogs: more important perhaps than the tech-nological innovation of which they are the outcome is the new outlook on the field of fashion they allow, a fashion that is not centered on a producing elite and ruled by the male gaze only but a fashion open to appropriation and
interpretation, including that of women’s visions of themselves and by themselves”, (Rocamora, 2011: 442).