[Examine and evaluate the issues raised by Fashion Bloggers]

by

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would take this opportunity to thank my research supervisor, family and friends for their support and guidance without which this research would not have been possible.

DECLARATION

I, [type your full first names and surname here], declare that the contents of this dissertation/thesis represent my own unaided work, and that the dissertation/thesis has not previously been submitted for academic examination towards any qualification. Furthermore, it represents my own opinions and not necessarily those of the University.

Signed __________________ Date _________________

ABSTRACT

This research examines personal style blogging in China and UK to understand the strategies women interested in personal style employ online to participate in fashion culture. In 2009 and 2010 I interviewed thirty-five personal style bloggers during two separate one-month periods about their experiences as bloggers, fashion community-members, and consumers. Bourdieu's theories of taste and social spaces, as well as Swidler's theory of strategic interaction were used to analyze the data. We found that personal style bloggers in China and UK engage three strategies to navigate the social field of fashion online: opposition, conditional involvement, and buy-in. Personal style bloggers self-consciously position themselves vis-a-vis the fashion industry to respond to the pressures of consumerism and self-commoditisation, and illustrate that the Internet facilitates production as well as consumption of women's fashion.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

DECLARATIONIII

ABSTRACTIV

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION6

Importance of the research7

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW8

Blogs and Blogging8

The Blog as a Social Platform11

Blogging Topics13

Taste15

Social Spaces and Internet Media17

Cultural Strategies for Navigating Consumerism19

Web Technologies of the Self: The Arising of the “Blogger” Identity22

Technologies of the Self26

Arguments on Blogging28

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY34

Study Design34

Interview Philosophy35

CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION AND FINDINGS37

Environment of Online Fashion39

Strategy #1: Opposition40

Strategy #2: Conditional Involvement45

Strategy #3: Buy-In55

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION61

REFERENCES64

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

In this paper we explore how personal style bloggers in China and UK have developed strategies for navigating the consumerist pressures put forth by the U.S. fashion industry. I first observed personal style blogging in Summer 2009 when we found the website of two women who were blogging weekly about what they wore.

The blog posts each had a few pictures, a source list for the items worn, and some descriptive text about the clothes. These women were outsiders to the fashion industry engaging in public dialogue about their passion. During the next two years of participant observation I found hundreds of women keeping personal style blogs. I saw that they used their blogs to navigate the field of fashion, with its ever changing trends and its consumer demands. These (mostly women1) bloggers had fashion-centric identities, but only a small number worked with the fashion industry. Many of the women bloggers resisted being defined as mindless shoppers, driven to consume the latest trends. Instead they actively engaged solutions that enabled them to be both fashion producers and conscious consumers.

We interviewed 35 personal style bloggers in 2009 and 2010 in both China and UK to better understand the interactions between style blogging and consumerism. Sociological research has shown that fashion can be used as a tool for maintaining personal identity and displaying ...