The Critical Reception, or Lack Thereof, of Fashion Writing
Sierra Zaccagnino
COM348: Beauty and Diversity in Fashion Media
Prof. Emmanuelle Dirix
May 10, 2024
This paper will evaluate how fashion writing in fashion media publications is critically received and if it is critically received at all. Through the analysis of several case studies and perspectives from scholars on the topic this essay will examine the existence of fashion writing and attitudes toward its female authorship, the lack of a serious critic community surrounding the fashion industry in light of other arts, and what types of diversity are present or lacking in both the authorship and form to contextualize the mixed reception of fashion writing as a field.
The essay will start with an outline of fashion journalism's historical origins as to why we have a written form for a visual culture, and its seemingly unserious attitude towards female authors in a female targeted space. Next, this will be followed by a comparison analysis of fashion journalism’s regard compared to other arts industries such as cinema and art itself– as although fashion is an artform it receives much different critical treatment. Lastly, fashion media’s lack of diversity in authorship will be discussed with examples from American Vogue and British Vogue.
There is an obvious question with fashion writing: why have an established written system around such a visual design concept? To follow, it could be argued why have a written dialogue for anything that is visual or conceptual in nature, such as art, cinema, or music. Being conceptual, however, these creative deliverables without any further knowledge of their meaning leaves them up for interpretation. Roland Barthes proposes why systems like fashion writing are in place: “Hence in every society various techniques are developed intended to fix the floating chain of signifieds in such a way as to counter the terror of uncertain signs” (Barthes, 1977, pp. 39). By telling people exactly what they are looking at, there is no confusion among the present signs and a written system around the subject removes the ambiguity or potential of misinterpretation– with note that not all written systems are perfect at this. Fashion writers, especially when writing for a specific publication, want to create a desire in the consumer through their writing, as they are oftentimes writing not only from a journalistic standpoint but also from a potential consumer purchase standpoint. Having a written system gives control to those creating and disseminating fashions to the public, giving these fashion authorities a sense of agency to some degree in how their designs or brands are perceived.
Additionally, while fashion journalism may have a low cultural status– which will be discussed in further detail in sections to follow– one of its goals is to elevate the cultural status of the articles it highlights and differentiate clothing pieces from one another. As Barthes puts it, “image-clothing” and “real clothing” are not the same thing; in fact, when comparing the two, Barthes claims “in principle, these garments refer to the same reality, yet they do not have the same structure” (Barthes, 1967/1990, pp. 3). The linguistic element of written fashion can provide important details that are not visually evident to the consumer, such as who makes it, how much it costs, etc. Moreover, these written elements convey something about an article’s cultural status to a consumer that the tangible object alone may not, as to the right person a luxury brand or an expensive item may seem more desirable. While these may provide vital information for a consumer, the serious critic may have little interest in these facts without greater cultural connection.
Next, we have to look at how women are at the forefront of this field and what it means for fashion writing’s reception, as already the written system struggles with establishing itself as a necessary pairing with fashion. When looking at female authors at home in the interwar years when economic changes were happening throughout Europe and the world, it was clear they became victims of blame for commodity culture as they were the only ones who would have been able to consume. This has wider implications for how it would be seen when they as the alleged consumers of commodities are the ones writing about it:
In general, however, women’s long-standing, negative association with commodity culture made it much harder for female writers to employ fashion as a means to signal non-conformity, originality and difference as the trademarks of a mode of writing that hoped to challenge rather than confirm existing views about gender hierarchies. (Vike Martina Plock, 2017, pp. 15)
By writing about fashion in an attempt to contribute something and be seen more seriously or nonconventional, women cornered themselves into an emerging field that was labeled as unintellectual. While there were male writers, fashion writing was distinctly seen as something feminine and therefore trivial, as the writing audience was primarily themselves: “Historically, women’s magazines and the subjects therein belong to a private realm of femininity, a world that is full of opinion and views, yet a world that only ever talks to itself” (König, 2006). Moreover, in a world that talks to itself, it garners little critical opinion from outsiders who find it irrelevant–although within fashion writing there can be a world of complexities explored. In fact, even the existence of female fashion writers seemed discredited by popular publications such as the Penguin Book of 20th Century Fashion Writing, for example. In this entire collection there was only one female fashion writer included, with the rest being predominantly from men as well as individuals who were novelists rather than true fashion writers (Watt, 1999). From the outside perspective, women were consistently denied the true credit of being the ones carrying the fashion journalism field and not respected at all.
Lack of recognition towards historical female authorship is not where the line of lack of recognition is drawn; fashion writing falls victim to not having as organized a critical community as other arts industries. While scholarly research on fashion media has evolved in recent years, “the subject of fashion criticism and critique in fashion media remains under-researched” (Titton, 2016). Scholars study the media, but not those who question it. Roland Barthes in the mid-to-late 20th century was one of the first to introduce the idea of critiquing women’s fashion magazines (Titton, 2016), but the field has been relatively quiet in modern years which is odd considering the fashion issues that are constantly arising in the media surrounding exploitation, the environment, etc. When looking at an industry with professional critics such as the cinema, however, there is an expansive network and language developed. Critic sites among professionals such as Rotten Tomatoes flourish and are held with high reputability among mass audiences, and social critic sites among average movie-lovers such as Letterboxd also have grown to acquire a strong following. However, no equivalent for fashion critics or lovers exists. The established critic language for the cinema additionally is accessible and easily understood by most, as reviews are intended to be read by other critics and common people alike. For example, take this recent Rotten Tomatoes top-critic review by Dwight Brown on the 2024 Challengers film: “Challengers is a top of the league sports/drama/romance movie. Fans of the genre will enjoy watching the high-energy tennis and the boy-girl-boy love triangle. Hard to figure out who will win in the end. That’s the mark of a really good match” (Challengers - Movie Reviews | Rotten Tomatoes, n.d.). A simple review like this, although by a top-critic, is audience focused. Now take a recent American Vogue summary review by Senior Fashion and Style Writer Christian Allaire of this year’s Met Gala in comparison:
Of course, all of the official 2024 Met Gala co-hosts made the best dressed list. Zendaya turned heads in not one but two striking looks—including her custom Margiela look, and a vintage Givenchy dress from the house's spring 1996 collection. Jennifer Lopez opted for a sparkling Schiaparelli number; while Bad Bunny wore a sculptural Margiela suit and Chris Hemsworth a sleek Tom Ford one. (Allaire, 2024)
Apart from the celebrity name inclusion that draws connection to popular culture, the other terms in this review are centralized around assumptions of pre-existing knowledge of these fashion houses. In fashion writing, the current language that exists often relates to fashion industry terminology and brand concepts that might not be as easily understood by the general public. Moreover, “in fashion there is no established institution of criticism comparable to the art system or the literary system” (Titton, 2016) as fashion is evaluated more on its aesthetics than its grander implications and lacks a thorough vocabulary.
Lastly, it must be evaluated how major fashion publications are lacking in diversity without excuse and without effective pushback. In a 2017 photo of British Vogue staff editors, not a single black person was among those pictured; the release of this photo occurred as Edward Enninful was about to become the next Editor in Chief of British Vogue, British Vogue’s first non-white editor at that (Ellis-Petersen, 2017). Additionally, altogether in a photo of approximately 50 editorial staff members, only five of them were male. While there was social media outrage and Enninful promised to make a meaningful change as it relates to diversity, Enninful’s appointed staff was still overwhelmingly white (Ellis-Petersen, 2017). Enninful’s eventual changes to the magazine were slow but present, at least in front of the camera. His clear efforts to change the look of Vogue to be more inclusive left efforts for Vogue’s inclusivity behind-the-scenes in the background. There is more often an immediate pressure to put diversity in the places where people will see it rather than solving the issue at hand which is that diverse representation is not in decision-making positions of authority. The fashion writer holds some deal of responsibility: “The fashion writer, meanwhile, is granted limited access and provides readers with insights, his (or, more usually, her) authority enhanced by sheer proximity to this fashionable never-never land” (Ellis-Petersen, 2017). As aforementioned, fashion writing attempts to clearly push the desired interpretation, making it vital for a diversity of authorship to be present in order to convey an accurate, full-bodied story. In contrast to the complaints about lacking diversity in Vogue, look at previously mentioned Christian Allaire, who comes from Ojibwe heritage and attempts to bring stories from his indigenous heritage to light in his career (Christian Allaire, n.d.) – although this may not be inherently present or obvious in his standard fashion reviews for American Vogue, he does strive to highlight Native American designers in articles when possible. With the fashion author being the bridge between the garment and the consumer, there is an importance in who is crafting the narrative.
Overall, critical regard of fashion writing seems to be at a cultural low point, although there are scholars slowly raising awareness of this issue. There appears to be a disconnect between critical regard and fashion writing due to fashion writing’s historically female authorship in a world where they seemingly write to themselves, the lack of an equivalent critical outlet and language to evaluate the writing system, and the fact that fashion writing in major publications simply is not holistically diverse enough yet though changes are being made slowly. It must be considered that critical analysis of the fashion media, specifically its writing, could help us better understand the very things that drive critical regard away from it. It is true that “fashion magazines such as Vogue may not be world-changing documents, but they do have a role in everyday cultural life”(Ellis-Petersen, 2017)– does this socio-cultural fact of our lives not deserve critical reception?
Bibliography
Allaire, C. (2024, May 7). See the Best Dressed Celebrities at Met Gala 2024. Vogue; Vogue. https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/best-dressed-stars-met-gala-2024
Barthes, R. (1977). Image, Music, Text (pp. 32–41). Fontana Press.
Barthes, R. (1990). The Fashion System (pp. 3–5). University of California Press. (Original work published 1967)
Challengers - Movie Reviews | Rotten Tomatoes. (n.d.). Www.rottentomatoes.com. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/challengers_2024/reviews
Christian Allaire. (n.d.). Vogue. https://vogue.com/contributor/christian-allaire
Ellis-Petersen, H. (2017). Naomi Campbell criticises lack of diversity at Vogue. The Guardian; The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2017/aug/22/naomi-campbell-criticises-lack-diversity-vogue
König, A. (2006). Glossy Words: An Analysis of Fashion Writing in British Vogue. Fashion Theory, 10(1-2), 205–224. https://doi.org/10.2752/136270406778051085
Titton, M. (2016). Fashion criticism unravelled: A sociological critique of criticism in fashion media. International Journal of Fashion Studies, 3(2), 209–223.
Vike Martina Plock. (2017). Modernism, fashion and interwar women writers (pp. 1–36). Edinburgh University Press.
Watt, J. (1999). The Penguin Book of Twentieth-century Fashion Writing. Viking Adult.