Becoming a personal style blogger: Changing configurations and spatialities of aesthetic labour in the fashion industry

Brydges, Taylor; Sjöholm, Jenny (2018). Becoming a personal style blogger: Changing configurations and spatialities of aesthetic labour in the fashion industry. International journal of cultural studies, 22(1), pp. 119-139. Sage 10.1177/1367877917752404

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The increasing pervasiveness of social media and digital technology has had a particular impact on the geographies and nature of work in the fashion industry. A new segment of entrepreneurs – fashion bloggers – are utilizing these digital technologies, such as blogs and social media, to transform their personal lives and style into online businesses. This article draws on an in-depth case study analysis of an American personal style fashion blog; tracing its nine-year evolution from an ‘outfit-of-the-day’ personal style blog, to one that encompasses her entire personal life, including diets, fitness, home décor and pregnancy. By focusing on one blog, we provide an in-depth exploration from its roots as a hobby for personal expression to a means of full-time employment in the fashion industry. Through this examination, emphasis is given to the process of becoming a blogger and the intensification of the ways in which the self is presented and commodified over time. We argue that personal style fashion bloggers provide an illustrative case study, not only for expanding our understanding of aesthetic labour in the digital age, but also highlighting the spaces and temporalities of work that these new formations and engagements of work give rise to. These processes highlight the changing configurations and spatialities of aesthetic labour online.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Human Geography > Unit Economic Geography
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Human Geography
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography

UniBE Contributor:

Brydges, Taylor

Subjects:

300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 330 Economics
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 360 Social problems & social services

ISSN:

1367-8779

Publisher:

Sage

Language:

English

Submitter:

Lorenz Niklaus Joss

Date Deposited:

03 May 2018 09:13

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:11

Publisher DOI:

10.1177/1367877917752404

Uncontrolled Keywords:

aesthetic labour, digital labour, geography, women’s entrepreneurship

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.112626

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/112626

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