Understanding Fashion A Qualitative Content Analysis of the audience reactions to the covers of British Vogue April 2021

Piotr Talarek

Media and Communication Studies – Culture, Collaborative Media, and Creative Industries One-year master 15 credits Spring/Summer 2021 Supervisor: Temi Odumosu Word count: 16 102 Abstract

This thesis aims to examine different independent fashion audience reactions to the covers of UK Vogue April 2021, which featured four upcoming models of color: Mona Tougaard, Janaye Furman, Achenrin Madit, and Precious Lee. The study focuses on responses gathered from two fashion sources: The Instagram account Diet Prada, and a fashion forum called The Fashion Spot. In addition, the design has been extended by The Fashion Spot fashion crowd’s reactions to the Vogue Italia July 2008 also known as “The Black Issue”.

The thesis intends to associate the main research problem with the magazine industry and digital world of fashion, media producers and advertisers, the issue of power and female models diversity on the covers of Vogue. The study employs a method of qualitative content analysis. Additionally, Stuart Hall’s encoding and decoding model has been implemented to define the message displayed on the fashion magazine covers and to examine the readers' reactions based on the collected data.

The findings show that even though the UK Vogue April 2021 covers met with positive reactions and approval from independent industry voices, some concerns have appeared. While British Vogue has been praised for its decision to feature four black models on the covers, it has been mentioned that other international editions of Vogue did not decide to follow this idea. Moreover, the lack of more diverse fashion producers, such as fashion photographers or stylists has been pointed out. A comparative analysis of the reaction data studied also showed that the audiences of the two independent fashion platforms tend to differ in terms of reactions to the covers. Furthermore, an additional comparison between the Vogue Italia July 2008 and UK Vogue April 2021 has highlighted the differences between the social and cultural changes as well as the perception of a fashion magazine as a media.

Keywords: Vogue, Edward Enninful, diversity in fashion, independent fashion audience, Diet Prada, The Fashion Spot

1 Table of Contents

Abstract 1 List of Figures and Tables 4 1. Introduction 5 2. Background 10 2.1 Fashion Magazine Industry in 2021 10 2.1.1 What is a fashion magazine? 10 2.1.2 Vogue 11 2.1.3 New challenges 13 2.1.4 Problem of representation 14 2.1.5 Power of advertisers 15 2.2 Vogue UK and Edward Enninful 16 2.3 Independent fashion media platforms 17 3. Literature Review 18 3.1 Independent Fashion Media Platforms 18 3.2 Representation 19 3.3 Vogue 19 3.3.1 Diversity on the pages of the UK Vogue 21 4. Theoretical Framework 22 5. Methodology 24 5.1 Research Design 25 5.1.1 Logic of Inquiry 25 5.1.2 Research Paradigm 26 5.1.2 Research Questions 26 5.2 Method 27 5.2.1 Qualitative Content Analysis 27 5.2.2 Diet Prada 28 5.2.3 The Fashion Spot 28 5.2.4 Data collection 29 5.2.3 Codebook development 31 5.3 Limitations 32 6. Ethics 33 6.1 Role of the researcher 34 7. Key Findings and Analysis 35 7.1 Diet Prada 36 7.2 The Fashion Spot 37

2 7.2.1 UK Vogue April 2021 37 7.2.2 Vogue Italia July 2008 39 7.3 Comparative analysis 40 8. Conclusion 42 8.1 Future research 46 References 47 Appendix 53

3 List of Figures and Tables

Figure 1. The covers of Vogue Italia July 2008 issue

Figure 2. The covers of UK Vogue April 2021 issue

Figure 3. The cover of US Vogue June 1969 issue

Table 1. Results

Table 2. Statistics from the Diet Prada’s audience reactions to the covers of UK Vogue April 2021 issue

Table 3. Statistics from The Fashion Spot’’s audience reactions to the covers of UK Vogue April 2021 issue

Table 4. Statistics from The Fashion Spot’’s audience reactions to the covers of Vogue Italia July 2008 issue

4 1. Introduction

People are interested in the way they look and dress. They are constantly exposed to the fashionable aspects in the media such as films, series, shows, and different kinds of magazines. They make several choices regarding the styles, colors, sizes, shapes as well as looks. They create an appearance and a message of how they want to be perceived by others with a tool that can be described as fashion. The term fashion is complex as it can relate to a large number of phenomena. It can express a certain mood or set of trends, general tendency, the way people dress, or temporary behaviors that result in a certain visual appearance. It can also refer to a large and vital economy - the fashion industry that consists of the designers, models, editors, artists, producers, but more important fashion enthusiasts and the consumers. Fashion as an industry relies heavily on the images, visuals, and appearance that not only results in the garments people wear but a large set of produced covers, editorials, fashion shows, adverts, and commercials. Over the decades, the fashion magazines created hundreds of marvelous and remarkable shots permanently engraved in the history of fashion, photography, and pop culture. On their pages, they presented artists, actors, directors, politicians, and activists as well as models captured in the lenses of photography icons. Western fashion publications were and are often ambitious, provocative, and not afraid to tackle uncomfortable topics such as sex, sexuality, gender, inequality, or racism. Among many of such titles, one became a distinctive part of not only the fashion panorama: Vogue.

Looking at the fashion magazines industry, it is obvious that titles like Vogue play a significant role in shaping its reader’s style, setting up the fashion agenda for the current season, and creating a platform for fashion creatives. This can be observed especially in Western European societies with long fashion traditions such as in France, Italy, and the UK. Respectively, Vogue editions in those countries are seen as the most influential ones not only when it comes to creating trends (Koh & Lee, 2013; Rocamora, 2009), but also in controlling one of the "most important industries driving the global economics" (Furukawa et al., 2019, p. 247). Fashion creatives in these nations have the most of the control over the entire industry: from curated content in the form of fashion covers, editorials, live fashion shows, and articles, to advertising relationships and the establishment of representational norms. This industry structure (creative and

5 commercial) is profoundly influenced by a disturbing lack of diversity and inclusivity among them (Parkins, 2018). Magazines in particular have been guarding the declared canon of beauty over the past decades. The slim white faces seen on the covers of these magazines have been dominating the industry’s norms for well over half a century. In recent times, however, we have seen a visible shift in many sectors of the industry of European fashion magazines.

July 2008 was a pivotal moment. Editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani at Italian Vogue decided to challenge the limited selection and representation of female models seen on the covers of the iconic fashion magazine. She orchestrated the issue that is also known as "The Black Issue", which has been described as a milestone in the industry, not only by the professionals but also scholars dealing with the wider problems of diversity and inclusion in fashion (Thompson Summers, 2017; Kuipers et al., 2014). For the first time in the magazine's history, the entire issue was dedicated to black models, from cover to cover. This was not the first time that Franca Sozzani had decided to challenge the industry. In previous years, together with noted fashion photographer Steven Meisel (who shot all the magazine covers between 1988 and 2015), she created stunning visuals that raised concerns regarding the American participation in the Middle-East conflict (September 2007), the industry of plastic surgeries (July 2005) or the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 (August 2010). This time in 2008, however, her decision resulted from more in- depth industry reflections, as she states in the interview with the TIME magazine:

"I was at the shows, and of all the (white) models, there was nobody who struck me: not one name, not one face." (Isrealy, 2008).

Naomi Campbell, Liya Kebede, Sessilee Lopez, and Jourdan Dunn were selected as the cover stars, together with other fashion icons such as Iman and Tyra Banks in the inside editorials (See Fig.1). Contrary to the longstanding myth that models from different backgrounds did not „sell” as well in the mainstream, "The Black Issue" resulted in astonishing commercial success, with additional reprints of the magazine needed (Watson, 2008). Vogue Italia is seen as one of the four most influential editions of Vogue together with the British one, American and French. This is mainly connected with their economical influence on the industry as well as the developed fashion culture in those

6 countries. Sozzani's decision to use only black models was radical for the time, and has since opened new discussions about representation in the industry.

Figure 1. The covers of Vogue Italia July 2008 issue

Over a decade later the situation has improved. Last December, the leading fashion portal and an independent fashion forum called The Fashion Spot published its annual report on model diversity on magazine covers during 2020 (Schimminger, 2020). That year was an exceptional period for racial, cultural, age, and body diversity in this fashion media space. The platform examined 791 covers of almost 50 leading fashion magazines, and included all international editions of Vogue. The results were clear: 48.8% models of color compared to last year's 36.9%. It is a visible difference and sign of challenging the previously established Western canons of beauty that have been ruling over the fashion industry. Titles such as Vogue send a clear message to their audience: opening up for more diversity and inclusivity. This transformation is seen not only on the covers of publications but also in their editorial offices.

Recent years have brought a change in the business of the Vogue magazine, especially the British one. After a twenty-five-year reign at the lead of the highly influential British fashion title, Alexandra Shulman decided to resign from her position of Editor-in-Chief (Evans, 2020). On April 10, 2017, Ghanaian-born British stylist Edward Enninful took this position as not only the first man in the history of UK Vogue but, also, the first Black editor in the history of the entire magazine franchise internationally (Evans). Within three years of his appointment, British Vogue has been successful not only commercially, but also continually receives critical acclaim for opening up to new redefinitions of Western beauty standards by presenting models of different skin color, age, cultural background

7 or sizes. Edward Enninful placed British Vogue in the center of the worldwide fashion conversation (Evans), not just in terms of images, but also by hiring diverse content creators and promoting environmental and social justice issues. It is worth noticing that he has accomplished this despite external difficulties such as Brexit and the global pandemic of COVID-19, which especially affected the fashion industry around the world.

Figure 2. The covers of UK Vogue April 2021 issue

Mona Tougaard, Janaye Furman, Achenrin Madit, and Precious Lee are successful, international fashion models and cover stars of the British Vogue April 2021 issue (see Fig.2). Four extraordinary women have been caught in the lenses of the legendary fashion photographer: Steven Meisel. Every cover is composed of the portrait of each of the models. The lines are clear and sharp. The graphic shape of the models' hairstyles seems to visually dominate the images together with their expressions that range from the full and radiant smile (Madit) to the very delicate and poised smirks of other models. All four models look directly at the viewer, through and beyond the camera. The white

8 background contrasts with the bold and colorful mastheads as well as smaller accents such as part of the models' garments, jewelry, and hair. As Enninful states in this issue Editor’s letter, the covers represent happiness, joy, and positivity; factors that were crucial from the very beginning of the process:

"I could not be more thrilled with the final casting of our cover stars: Janaye Furman, Precious Lee, Achenrin Madit, and Mona Tougaard – a quartet of extraordinary Black models currently enjoying great success in the industry. It goes without saying that they all understood that when it came to projecting positivity, Black joy – in the wake of so much recent reckoning – would hold particular significance." (Enninful, 2021)

These covers do spark positivity and bring new hope to the impacted industry. We are yet to be provided with the sales results, but taking into account Enninful's previous commercial victory in the publication, we can be sure that once again his idea has translated into profits. Meanwhile, more exciting and interesting and what constitutes the main research problem of this thesis, is the reception of the covers by the independent fashion audience. Along with extensive digitalization, the fashion business has also developed a vibrant online community, and is now followed by users of online forums, and popular accounts on social media channels, not to mention the constantly growing power of digital influencers. All news from the world of fashion, campaigns, model castings, backstage photos, or covers of influential fashion magazines are widely commented on.

Two online sources have been chosen: The Fashion Spot forum and Diet Prada account on Instagram. As a result, a total of 120 reactions were collected and divided both chronologically in The Fashion Spot thread (what was the initial reaction of the fashion crowd?), and based on popularity on the Diet Prada Forum (which reactions have been the most responded to?). Moreover, it has been decided to conduct a small sample analysis of reactions to the previously mentioned “The Black Issue” of Vogue Italia, in order to draw a comparison between the fashion forum audience’s reactions in 2008 and 2021. A total of 20 reactions have been collected from The Fashion Spot forum in the chronological manner.

9 For this thesis, I have chosen to zoom in on the conversations taking place within this emerging online community, and conduct a qualitative content analysis in order to answer the following research questions:

RQ1: How did an independent online fashion audience respond to the UK April 2021 Vogue covers?

RQ2: What are the differences in The Fashion Spot audience’s reactions to the Vogue Italia July 2008 ("The Black Issue") and the UK Vogue April 2021 covers?

2. Background

In this section, I will present the background of the research problem by explaining the fashion magazine industry in 2021, international editions of the Vogue magazine such as the Italian one, as well as the relation between Edward Enninful and the British Vogue, and the development of independent fashion digital media platforms. I also introduce the concept of power to uncover the relations between the fashion media producers, as well as the themes of globalization and Westernization to describe the challenges of the projected beauty canons. Furthermore, in the final part of this chapter I will discuss the challenges of the fashion scene as well as struggles of the industry in relation to the diversity and representation topics.

2.1 Fashion Magazine Industry in 2021

2.1.1 What is a fashion magazine?

The fashion industry is one of the most complex ones. The term fashion can be understood in many ways and it is used to describe not only the business but also a group of trends or personal choice of clothing. Fashion in a business dictionary can be divided by their different audiences:

1) Fast fashion for mass clients with a representative of brands such as Zara or H&M 2) Ready-to-wear with brands such as Gucci or Prada

10 3) Haute couture and Alta Moda world for only selected clients of fashion houses such as Chanel or Dior.

These separated worlds do influence each other. The clients of H&M had a chance to buy a specially designed collection by Karl Lagerfeld, the iconic designer of Chanel, while Parisian haute couture runways have seen silhouettes inspired by street-style elements such as t-shirt, hoodies, or baseball caps. However, the most interesting diffusion might be happening in the world of a print fashion magazine. Fashion photographers who work for both fast fashion brands and most elitist fashion houses, models who present a collection of acclaimed fashion designers and are street style social media icons as well as a handful of influential stylists, artists, and fashion creatives collaborate to create a visual, an editorial and an image that will have an impact on its readers.

Fashion magazines are "cultural products and commodities" (Moeran, 2006, p. 727). It has been described that "they circulate in a cultural economy and collective meanings, providing recipes, patterns, narratives and models of and/or for the reader (...) As commodities, they are products of the print industry and crucial sites for the advertising and sale of commodities /those related to fashion, cosmetics, fragrances" (Moeran, 2004, p. 260). Fashion magazines are excellent platforms for the creative voices of the industry. Their production reflects the natural change of the fashion calendar; the year is divided into seasons; the collections are presented linearly; each season has its trends and attitudes. Moreover, the fashion producers, models, hair stylists, journalists, designers, and photographers, just to name a few, are presenting their work on the pages of the magazines not only to please the audience but also to approach the advertisers and receive a potential commission work (Moeran, 2004, p. 272). As it has been discussed before, the fashion forces, including the advertisers' capital and power, over the last decades have been centered in Europe. Paris, Milan, and finally London are seen as the worldwide fashion capitals. It indicates that the fashion titles in those countries, including especially the local Vogue editions, play a crucial role in defining the worldwide fashion panorama.

2.1.2 Vogue

Vogue magazine is considered the most important title in the fashion industry (Evans). Owned by the Conde Nast Group it is present globally in more than 26 editions

11 (geographically focussed publications). The latest, 28th edition is planned to be published in late Summer 2021 in Scandinavia (Borrelli-Persson, 2020). This cannot be compared with the power of publications such as Elle or Harper's Bazaar that have a higher number of editions. What is interesting in the case of Vogue is its cultural impact. The magazine, especially the American edition has been at the center of many discussions, not only fashion-related ones. Their „September issue” from 2007, marketed as the biggest one (in number of pages and advertisers), was also the center of the supporting documentary film. Anna Wintour, the magazine's editor in chief, is a controversial persona, seen equally as a savior and problem of the industry. It is speculated that the famous Hollywood movie: "The Devils Wears Prada" was probably based on Wintour's ex-assistant memoirs. Wintour has faced many allegations, especially those related to creating a fashion environment with limited diversity (Frias, 2020). This was especially a concern in late 2020 after the US magazine's public statements on representation, following the Black Lives Matter protests. These were seen as empty words, since they did not reflect the magazine's stagnant position (Frias).

It is worth mentioning that not only the American Vogue is facing such problems, but also its French edition. The editorial with the Dutch model Lara Stone from the October 2009 issue shows how Vogue Paris (French edition) cannot interact with the topic of representing different cultures and races. In this photoshoot, instead of a casting a darker- skinned model, the decision was made to use dark paint to cover Stone. This was met with great controversy, especially from anti-racism organizations such as French SOS Racism, whose director, Dominique Sopo condemned the publication (Davies, 2009). The diversity issues are a global problem of the magazine, for example even in the inaugural edition of Vogue Arabia. First of all the marginalization of the diverse region to just one magazine can be easily interpreted as a lack of multi-dimensional approach and can be seen as a postcolonial approach to non-European nations (Kopnina, 2007). What is interesting in this case, is that it has decided on using the American-Dutch model with Palestinian origins, Gigi Hadid, as the cover model. Despite the model's large social media visibility, it has been stated that - once again - fashion magazines try to Westernize the local fashion industries by presenting them a certain canon of beauty: white, blonde models. If we look at the other editions, the situation is even more problematic and complex. The Japanese editions rarely use Japanese models on their covers in favor of European and American faces. The Brazilian edition of the magazine does not

12 acknowledge the complex and racially diverse population of its country by using only a certain type of models, Western-inspired ones. This problem is of course much more complex and can be easily introduced as a separate research paradigm with key factors such as audience, market, advertisers, and cultural notions. It is worth mentioning that 2021 can be seen as another questionable activity in the magazine's turbulent history. In April 2021, it was decided to merge local editions under the supervision of selected wider regional editors. For example, in the new scenario editions such as Japanese, Indian, Korean and Singaporean would be supervised under a general „Asia” designation by the Taiwanese Editor-in-Chief, Leslie Sun (Fernandez, 2021). This umbrella process would be extended to sharing the same content as well as articles. The decision has met with resistence, and as of May 2021, both the Japanese and Indian editors decided to part ways with the title (Fernandez). The situation of British Vogue, as well as the position of Edward Enninful, are yet to be confirmed. Despite that, these are not the only challenges of the fashion magazines industry as well as the Vogue family.

2.1.3 New challenges

Despite the obvious critical achievement, and even more significant in the current situation commercial success, Vogue UK, like other British fashion magazines and Vogue editions, has to deal with an important challenge: the print media decrease, and hence the power of the magazine. The general tendency of both readership and engagement of the fashion print media is descending (Rocamora, 2017). Already before the global COVID- 19 pandemic, it was a problem absorbing the industry, but after further lockdowns and restrictions, this has become a visible and major difficulty for a lot of titles. The physical magazines are losing their authority mainly to the digital platforms (Cheng, 2021). An additional reason for this state can be seen in the magazine's incapability of reaching a more diverse readership, based on the country's demographics. The elite and exclusive fashion world has been largely confronted and its stagnant nature can be a reason for a problem.

As it has been mentioned before, Franca Sozzani was the first editor in chief of Vogue magazine to challenge the industry's processes as well as controversies such as plastic surgeries, obsession with beauty, or social media channels. She did not limit herself and often took societal or political topics like war or drug addiction. It has been described that

13 "Vogue Italia is widely known for being edgy and controversial" (Thompson Summers, 2017, p. 82). Despite the fact that Sozzani's ideas were controversial, the impact of the magazine on the entire industry cannot be valued. The legacy of the editor who passed away in 2016 is still present. However, the state of especially Italian fashion in particular is disappointing. Recent scandals involving fashion houses such as Prada or Dolce&Gabbana have shown that the problem of diversity and representation is yet to be acknowledged by them. Selling "fashion" merchandise that can be visually related to the "Blackface imagery" or shoes branded as "Slave sandals'' not only does not show any sensibility of the history but are an example of visible racism and lack of cultural knowledge in the industry (Stansfield, 2016). Especially with the rise of social media channels, such cases are quickly discussed. Paper magazines however are not able to keep up the track.

The fashion digitalization process has revealed one of the biggest disadvantages of paper fashion magazines. Ironically those who created a fast system cannot follow. Compared to instant reactions from social media and Internet users, to know the magazines' opinion, the reader has to wait between one week to six months, depending on the magazine's print frequency. It is important to mention that titles like Vogue do have their own social media channels and websites, where they have learned how to properly function in the industry. Meanwhile, the challenge has deepened and the emergence of fashion bloggers and later on influencers has created an additional dimension to the homogenous industry. Top bloggers such as Chiara Ferragni or Elin Kling do not only "influence" their followers. They create their own brands or magazines, they partner with the key players in the fashion industry, but more importantly, they are closer to their audience than the distanced fashion magazine. It means that they know their needs and they can respond to them to a certain extension. The threat to fashion magazines is observable, as the power of influencers is growing to the point that it is a crucial element of the current industry.

2.1.4 Problem of representation

The established image of a female presented on British Vogue covers has been the same for decades: white, slim, and most preferably blonde (Evans). Westernization of fashion branding, marginalization of ethnically or racially diverse individuals, and lack of understanding of problems due to homogeneity of media power structures, has resulted

14 in a limited representation and inclusivity of the industry. This problem has been observed by many scholars (Kondo, 2014; Tulloch, 2010). It is especially interesting in the case of the British fashion scene, considering that its panorama consists of many individuals from multicultural societies and different parts of the world (Loscialpo, 2019; Maynard 1994). Also, the cosmopolitan moods of the city of London might allow us to think that they will reflect in the inclusiveness of the local fashion industry. However, as it has been recognized by many scholars (Frith et al., 2005; Griffin et al., 1994), fashion content has been produced in American and European offices, by creatives that "have often received their training in U.S. and British universities or have interned in Western advertising agencies” (Frith et al., 2005, p. 59). It has resulted in the homogeneity of fashion representation.

2.1.5 Power of advertisers

The advertising power in the fashion industry is generally neglected. The common relation is stated as the following: "(...) magazine publishers sell their readerships to (potential) advertisers, while editors sell advertised products to their readers.” (Moeran, 2004, p. 728). Meantime, the existing relationship is much more complex, but to properly explain it, it is needed to introduce the term of power. The definition of power is provided by Somekh and Levin and is as the following: “Power is an important concept in qualitative research and what exactly constitutes power has been the source of considerable debate. Power is seen to be a factor in all organizations and human groups and is the means by which some have greater autonomy than others and are able h to control others” (Somekh and Levin, 2004, p. 347). According to this definition, we can expand the word of power by introducing an additional term: control.

As it has been already declared, fashion publications are heavily controlled by their advertisers. Commonly, this has also been a case in terms of print media of the other industries (Hodkinson, 2016, p. 173). What is unusual in the case of fashion magazines is that the impact of the advertisers influences almost all the decisions related to the final product: an issue of a fashion magazine. From advertorials: a mixture of an editorial sponsored by one brand to the „one-look policy” structure, where the fashion stylists are obligated to choose only certain outfits from certain collections with the limited option of possible styling and finally to the choice of the fashion cover stars (Ahmed, 2018). To

15 confirm this connection, it is beneficial to look, for example, at the cover stars from the April 2021 Vogue UK issue being studied in this thesis. All of the models are either established or upcoming names in the industry. They already have special associations with a particular fashion brand. Just to begin with: Precious Lee was one of the first plus- size models on the runway of Italian fashion house Versace, and stars in their Spring/Summer 2021 campaign. Janaye Furman has been extensively and exclusively working with the iconic fashion brand Louis Vuitton, not to mention Mona’s cooperation with the giants such as Chanel or Prada. All of the mentioned brands are crucial advertisers of the British Vogue magazine. Moreover, while taking a look at the editorial that accompanies the covers, all the above-mentioned brands do appear as the models wear their creations. The choice of the specific models, as well as outfits they wear, can be easily related and branded as growing power and control of the fashion advertisers over the content produced by the fashion titles.

2.2 Vogue UK and Edward Enninful

Edward Enninful plays a very important role in the Western fashion industry. Enninful has been known in the business since the '90s. Ghanaian-born British stylist and editor, from the beginning of his career, he worked with prestigious titles such as i-D, W, and international editions of Vogue (Evans). It was thanks to his cooperation with the magazine that the iconic 2008 "Black Issue" was created. During his Vogue Italia years the stylist established his own long-term collaborations with photographer Steven Meisel, make-up artist Pat McGrath, and hairstylist Guido Palau. Enninful used these connections in British Vogue.

During his almost three years tenure, Edward Enninful has put a diverse range of models, actresses, and artists on the front pages of Vogue UK. The May cover in 2018 has shown models of different races, cultural backgrounds, and bodies. That same year the title has graced a worldwide music icon, Rihanna, as the first black woman on the cover of the September issue, which is considered the most important one. Recently, in June 2020 Enninful decided to feature legendary British actress, Dame Judi Dench, on the cover. The earlier mentioned association with Meisel, McGrath, and Palau has also resulted in several cover images, including those from December 2018 or the ones that are the subject of this paper: April 2021 ones.

16

Edward Enninful’s Vogue is inclusive and modern, as the editor is challenging the established representation of British Fashion. The new look of the magazine resonates with the recent past of the magazine, before the arrival of Enninful. Despite moderate commercial success, the covers under Shulman’s tenure were seen as stagnant and conservative (Nylander, 2017), not to mention the limited scope of the cover models that consisted mostly of white, upper-class British models. Enninful’s Vogue transformed into a fashion magazine that is not only visually attractive but also aware of the current social and environmental topics. For instance, the September 2019 cover was produced in collaboration with the former Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, and the final cover image consisted of inspirational photos of women actors, singers, role models, and activists. That was not the case under Shulman’s reign.

2.3 Independent fashion media platforms

The industry's center has moved to the digital world. Just like fashion houses adapting their collections to the needs of a virtual viewer, fashion magazines have been forced to expand their activities to survive on the market. Even though the independence of online fashion social media accounts, blogs, websites, and platforms are the subject of disputes and debates in connection to the unclear relations with potential advertisers (Ahmed) the digital world of fashion has a real impact on the entire industry.

There is a considerable large number of fashion forums and social media accounts. In recent years, there also have been a growing number of digital fashion critics that are gaining more audience (Chau, 2019), as the authority of the fashion magazines - as it has been mentioned in the earlier part of the text - is decreasing. All of these platforms are now a crucial element of the widely understood fashion media landscape. The aim of these platforms is not only to celebrate fashion and its outcomes. Quite often The Fashion Spot users and the Diet Prada followers are very critical of the brands or magazines' activities. Furthermore, in the text, it will be described that some of the discussions and concerns might lead to stronger actions such as lawsuits. Meanwhile, what is striking, especially in the case of this particular research design is that we observe an increasing number of posts of threads related not directly to the fashion industry in general, but also to the fashion magazine industry itself. It takes the form of posts commenting on

17 particular covers of fashion magazines, ranking of diversity and inclusion seen on the pages of certain magazines, and the choice of models, to name a few examples.

Despite the mentioned advertising issues, the voice of the fashion users can be regarded as independent. Based on the chosen examples of the Diet Prada and The Fashion Spot forum, the only limitations are related to the access to the platform and the internal moderation of language to avoid potential off-topic discussions. What can be directly observed, especially in the case of the Diet Prada activity is that the accounts gather a large number of users, and every post creates a certain number of comments or reactions. To highlight the power of the independent media platforms, it is interesting to compare the numbers related to the Vogue April 2021 covers. While the official post on UK Vogue’s official Instagram account has gathered 67 069 likes from its followers (Vogue UK), the post on the Diet Prada gathered 88 026 likes (Diet Prada). It is visible that the authority of the independent fashion media platforms can be comparable with the power of paper fashion magazines.

3. Literature Review

Over the past few years, both theoretical and empirical studies have been focusing on fashion magazines and representation, Vogue magazine itself, and especially examining reactions to Vogue Italia’s July 2008 issue. The emerging phenomena of independent fashion media platforms are yet to be examined in detail, and thus there is limited quantitative or qualitative insight into the specifics of user interaction. From this perspective this thesis offers an introductory case study as a contribution to the field, engaging less with politics of representation and more with the question of audience interpretation of and engagement with fashion media messaging.

3.1 Independent Fashion Media Platforms

The phenomena of the independent fashion media platforms and their impact are yet to be examined within the lens of the field of media and communication. The closest and the most recent paper has been written by Vanessa Gerrie (2019). It explores the rise of fashion social media accounts, such as the Diet Prada is related to the „call-out culture”. This term can be defined as a social commentary. In the online fashion environment, users

18 raise questions and critical voices regarding the activities of the brands, magazines, and other fashion producers. The text also takes into consideration the role of cultural criticism in fashion, transparency of the media as well as the growing role of the social media and independent fashion platforms in contrast with the homogeneous fashion industry. The paper however does not provide us with any insight or comments regarding the audience’s reactions, especially to particular posts, and does not explore its relation with the traditional print fashion media, its background, challenges, and influence over the industry.

3.2 Representation

The topic of fashion magazines and representation has been discussed by many scholars (Kaiser et al., 1991; David et al., 2002; Han et al, 2015; Parkins; 2018). Among a large number of research papers grasping the topic, one is particularly interesting, as it concerns the audience’s reaction to the images seen on the covers of the fashion magazines (Crane, 1999). Despite the fact, the initial text has been published more than two decades ago, and the growing time distance does highlight the cultural gap such as the pre-digital society, the text is still relevant. A study conducted by the author and described in the document gives interesting findings. A female audience was presented with fashion magazine covers and asked to answer questions related to representation, race, and identification with an image. The results showed that a major part of the participants' attention was captured by the models themselves, rather than by fashion accessories or outfits, and many of the participants were able to identify models by name (p. 555). Furthermore, the research showed that "facial expressions were a major factor that determined how participants reacted to the models and whether they appeared to identify with them” (p. 556). The final results concluded that, in terms of identification, "women were not intimidated by them (cover models)” and that "models were not necessarily perceived as beautiful or as being exemplars of physical perfection” (p. 556). The audience was also more interested in the human factor of the cover images rather than the fashion qualities such as clothes.

3.3 Vogue

Vogue magazine is one of the leading fashion magazines in the entire world. Owned by the Conde Nast publishing company - together with other fashion-related titles such as W

19 or beauty outlet Allure, the Vogue has many local editions all around the world. Each of them is distinctive, and reflects local commercial and visual culture, though in recent decades they have together become carriers of a globalized style that supports international branding (Twigg, p. 474). The magazine itself, its audience as well as influence on the industry has captured the attention of the researchers over the years. While the significance of Vogue is recognized by many scholars discussing the magazine’s images in relation to a general problem of a representation (Crane, 1999), many draw a thin line between the particular editions. It is essential to highlight the major contrasts between the countries where Vogue editions are published, their diverse readers, and their cultural backgrounds (Caniato, 2015). Helen Kopnina’s text seems to be particularly interesting considering its findings (2007). The author relates the message of the magazine to the local cultural notions, for instance, Parisian fashion and the motifs of „Frenchness” are described as the pivotal force of the French Fashion Industry and. It is further observed by the researcher that Vogue Paris magazine’s audience might be distanced from the content presented on the magazine’s covers: "the French version has a specific approach, a kind of "us looking at them looking at us" (Kopnina, 2007, p. 373). Kopnina describes the the British edition and relates its message the multicultural and cosmopolitan spirit of the country’s capital: London (p. 375). She introduces the term of orientalism that is "a manner of regularized writing, vision, and study, dominated by imperatives, perspectives, and ideological biases ostensibly suited to the Orient.’’ The Orient, in turn, exists for the West and is constructed by and in relation to the West. It is a mirror image perceived as inferior and alien (‘‘Other’’) to the West'' (p. 367). This is needed to identify the position of the British Vogue, as distanced from the audience and the British fashion. What is remarkably interesting in the case of the British Vogue is as Kopnina states: "The spirit of different places is very much part of the British imagination, as is, of course, the acceptability of exotic products. The British Vogue reader can still bask in the last of the sun's rays over the British Empire.” (p. 375). It is deserving of notice that the relation between empire and British Vogue has yet to be properly investigated by the researchers, despite it not being extended within the structure of this paper.

20 3.3.1 Diversity on the pages of the UK Vogue

Few papers are devoted to the limited diversity of the female models' selection on the covers of the British Vogue. Remarkable and valuable insights about fashion publications in general are provided by Julia Twigg (2010). The author explores body and age diversity, and observes certain patterns in advertisements, such as an exclusively white model of beauty (p. 477), or youth obsession that comes not only from the magazine but the fashion industry itself. Twigg writes that "the high fashion scene is dominated by youth” and that "most designers openly admit they design for young beautiful women, and they have little or no interest in other categories” (p. 475). When it comes to the issue of racial or ethnic diversity on Vogue covers, the source of relevant findings is Thompson Summers' text concerning the previously mentioned covers of the 2008 "Black Issue" (2017). Summers’ study explores the impact of ”The Black Issue” on the fashion industry as well as the particular environment in which it was published. The author introduces an interesting concept of post-racialism as a representational practice, defining it in the fashion space as approaches that higlight "individual accomplishments as well as diversity and the “benefits” of explicit racial difference—a diversity that is obvious, visible, and recognizable.” (p. 101). Understanding and relating the post-racialism concept to fashion magazines, Summers adds that "postracialism constructs black bodies as visible, the visibility that proclaims the reality of postracial while at the same time visually affirming racial difference" (p. 102).

While the questions posed by the research discussed so far are situated within the scope of the media and communications studies, a significant number of these references come from journals of fashion, cultural studies, anthropological, and sociological studies. There is a visible lack of research perspectives concerning fashion magazines that could be based on grounds and dilemmas such as the previously mentioned decreasing role of the print media, growing power of the advertisers, or the challenge to raise questions regarding the beauty canons portrayed on the pages of the Western fashion magazines. I, however, see a research gap when it comes to describing and understanding independent fashion audiences, especially their reactions to the covers of magazines such as Vogue. The significance of my research is to call attention to the ongoing dynamics between fashion magazines and the fashion crowd. My aim is that my study would contribute to the field of media and communication by not only understanding the role of the

21 independent fashion media audience and its reaction to the changing panorama of the fashion print media. I would like to expand the topic of the digital fashion environment and its impact.

4. Theoretical Framework

Stuart Hall was a 20th-century, British cultural theorist and sociologist (Hall, 1996, p.180). His work mainly involved cultural and communication topics. In 1973 he introduced his model in a paper called „Encoding and Decoding in the Television Discourse” (Hall, 2003). It was one of many of the researcher’s texts concerning the problem of the media effects on the audience. Hall’s encoding/decoding model began in cultural studies, but it has had a profound impact on the media and communication field. It describes a communication process by clarifying the relations between the sender projecting a certain message via certain media, and the receiver that interprets the message based on individual experiences (p 44 - 46).

Hall’s model consists of an encoding and decoding process, as well as four additional stages that help to uncover the communication process: production, circulation, use, and reproduction (p. 46). The message is encoded (produced) by the sender. Relating to the fashion magazine industry and the aim of this paper, British Vogue can be seen as the sender that codes their message via visual elements such as the cover image, taglines that consist of words or signs, or the masthead of the title. This is also accompanied by other communication elements such as the facial expression of the model, pose, gesture, her body language as well as the interaction with the viewer. The decoding stage is based on the audience's ability to understand and interpret the message (p. 47 - 48). This process depends on the quality of the message as well as the audience's knowledge to recognize certain patterns and symbols. As it relies on individual experiences of the audience, the message can be decoded in many ways; not always in the way that was intended by the sender.

The interpretation of the message by the audience differs and Hall proposes three categories of describing it: the dominant hegemonic position, the negotiated position, and the oppositional position (p. 51). The dominant/hegemonic position appears when the receiver perceives the message in the way intended by the sender. The domination and

22 hegemonic aspects are related to the status of the receiver; exactly decoding the message as it has been intended by the sender places the receiver in a definite position; dominated. Negotiated positions can be located in the middle between the dominant/hegemonic and an oppositional one. The sender does understand the core message of the communication, thus modify it and add on top from their own experiences. The oppositional position appears as the viewer oppositely perceives the message as it has been intended by the sender; thus this comes not from the lack of ability to understand it but the receiver’s experience or oppositional understanding of a message (p. 52).

Figure 3. The cover of US Vogue June 1969 issue

Hall’s model is introduced in this research design as a theoretical framework to understand the study problem as well as provide the answer to the main research question (How did an independent online fashion audience respond to the UK April 2021 Vogue covers?). The magazine encodes a message via April 2021. The cover images are heavily inspired by the magazine's archival covers from the late 60s (See Fig.3). Portrait composition, bold colors, the styling of the models remind reminiscent of the visuals from the past as well as bridge the history of the magazine with its new direction. The initial message can be interpreted as revisiting the previously stated beauty canons and by using the same visual tools challenging them in the new reality. Considering the cultural relation of British citizens with their history as well as fashion's ease to "draw" from the past, the projected message can be decoded as redefining the center of the British Vogue magazine:

23 from a media outlet that sets the fashion rules to the one that gets inspired by the recent societal events and its audience. It is obvious that apart from Edward Enninful's personal choices, the reason for using black models on the covers of the British Vogue might also connect to the issue of race and diversity conversations in Western countries, especially within the culture and film industries. Moreover, the decision of featuring only the models of color on the April 2021 covers might prove the normalization of diverse female model casts as well as opening up for a different beauty canon, not exactly seen as "exotic" as it has been described by Kopnina, but rather as an additional face of a cosmopolitan city, as in this case London. What is crucial to mention, is also the environment where the process of decoding takes place. The United Kingdom, its citizens, many industries - including the fashion industry - are challenges not only by the global pandemic. The recent news such as the turbulent departure of the country from the European Union as well as recent societal changes such as the #metoo movement and Black Lives Matter protests do have a valuable impact on many factors of the decoding process. As I will discuss later in the case of Vogue Italia July 2008 reactions as well as Diet Prada’s non- direct fashion actions, the audience of the UK Vogue in 2021 differs from the one decades ago. As the beauty canons and representations are challenged, the magazine has to not only to adapt to the happening changes but also keep its role as a major fashion publication. The positivity factor that Edward Enninful tried to place as a response to the current challenges can be also understood as general feedback to the diversification of the entire industry. Positivity can be seen as a change.

Based on this, the main aim of this paper is to describe and understand how the message is received by the independent fashion audience as well as how it has been interpreted by them. This can be described with the use of the aforementioned types of interpretation positions and will take place in the latter part of the text.

5. Methodology

The methodology section begins with the research design process. It is followed by the introduction of the logic of inquiry, the research paradigm, and the construction of the research question. Finally, the chosen method of qualitative content analysis will be brought up followed by the data collection process, codebook development, and limitations of the chosen method.

24 5.1 Research Design

It has been described by Hillary Collins (2010) that the foundations of every research design originate from the need to "understand our environment and how our world appears to our senses” (2010, p. 10). I have tried to follow Collins’ model of a sharp research structure that consists of being systematic, organized, focused on relevant and useful questions, and finally with providing an answer. The fashion industry plays an important role in professional paths. Furthermore, as it is one of the creative industries (p. 18) I have decided on examining a particular problem that relates to media and communication themes. The purpose of my research design, following Blaikie and Priest (2019) was to describe, explain and understand a certain social phenomenon (p. 98), which I recognize as the independent fashion audience. To explore it means to „develop an initial description or, possibly, an understanding of some social phenomenon.” (p. 97). This is supported by the next step that consists of explaining the issue to continue with the third step: understanding the phenomena and establishing "reasons for particular social action” (p. 98). This model has been called the „basic research” and consists of two additional factors such as exploration and prediction, but as the researchers admit that it can be limited to just the previously mentioned three aspects of description, explanation, and understanding (p. 97). At the very early stage of shaping my research design, I chose the topic of the fashion industry, which I decided to look at through the lens of the media and communication. In this process, I identified a potential research problem, and also constructed the main research question of the thesis, as it is the core element of every research design. The key to answering it is to select the proper theory and the method: that is, "technique of data collection and analysis" (p. 225). The method is of key importance as it directly influences the collected data and the findings resulting from the collected data (p. 226). To explore this particular topic I have decided to conduct a study that employs a qualitative content analysis, which is useful for assessing a large quantity of audience's reactions on social media.

5.1.1 Logic of Inquiry

The logic of inquiry is applied with the chosen paradigm. Its choice is influenced by many factors (p. 66). The implementation of logic of inquiry is not a defined process, consequently, there are no ready patterns to follow. Inductive logic aims to “establish limited generalizations about the distribution of, and patterns of association amongst,

25 observed or measured characteristics of social phenomena and individuals” (p. 211). Furthermore, this logic is applied in quantitative data research (p. 113). In this case, inductive logic aims to constitute a conclusion that is based on the conducted analysis. An inductive approach was crucial to identify general categories, patterns, and later regularities. This has led me to a possible explanation of the problem and answer to the research questions of the thesis.

5.1.2 Research Paradigm

Research paradigms are shared "views of the nature of reality” and „alternative ways of addressing research problems” (Blaikie & Priest, 2017, p. 23). The choice of a paradigm is related to the particular logic of inquiry, as has been declared in the previous section. Based on the inductive logic of inquiry, I have related my research design to the Neo- Positivist paradigm. As it has been drawn by Blaike and Priest in the Neo-Positivist paradigm the researchers conduct a study that aims to "identify phenomena and establish links with observable words.” (p. 43). They suggest that "The starting point for the Neo- Positivist research paradigm is a pattern or regularity that needs to be explained.” (p. 37). What has inspired the choice of this particular research paradigm is also an association to the data in a numerical form; "Concern with generalizing results in the Neo-Positivist paradigm focuses on using data derived from probability samples as evidence for what is happening in the population from which the sample was drawn” (p. 47) Of the above- mentioned qualities and specifications of the Neo-Positivist paradigm, it has been chosen to move with this particular approach, as it helps to understand certain patterns appearing in the fashion audience's reactions to explain the problem and provide a proper answer to the research question.

5.1.2 Research Questions

My research design is based on two research questions. Based on my early findings and inductive sampling of 10% of the data, I have decided to start my first research question with „how”. Although usually „how questions are concerned with the intervention” (Blaikie & Priest, 2019, p. 88), they also act as supporting questions to „what” and „why” ones to solve the research puzzle (p. 88 - 89). As I analyze the reactions of the fashion crowd to the post of the cover of a fashion magazine, I have decided to proceed with the „how” question, and later on with the "what" question to identify the differences between

26 reactions to two different covers. This has helped me to create a more complex research puzzle, where the first question aims to answer the general mood and responses to the cover, while the second one aims to analyze the differences in a more detailed manner.

5.2 Method

I have chosen the method of qualitative content analysis, as the data that is being analyzed is the social media comments and fashion forum posts. Within the media and communication studies field, quantitative studies are more objective, especially in comparison to qualitative approaches such as discourse analyses or interviews. This has been related to the numerical nature of, for example, content analysis, as the research design and the core process relies on numbers and quantification of the data.

5.2.1 Qualitative Content Analysis

To proceed with this analysis, it is necessary, to begin with, the core element and specifics of the method. Qualitative content analysis is a quantitative method. The collected data is quantified and then analyzed to produce findings. It has been decided to first look at a certain amount of data in an inductive way to identify certain patterns and regularities. It differs from quantitative content analysis as the researcher brings an already developed hypothesis before and tests the data according to the variables and categories developed in a codebook (Mayring, 2004). Qualitative content analysis is to measure certain social phenomena such as audience reactions.

The crucial part of qualitative content analysis is the development of a codebook - a document that consists of variables and coding categories that allow the researcher to analyze the chosen material. Proper research should be characterized by its replicability and validity (p. 2). It implies that with the use of the codebook the data can be analyzed multiple times and each leads to the same conclusion and results. To check this quality, the process of inter-coder reliability might be introduced as a method (p. 2 - 4). In short, data is once again coded with the use of a codebook by another researcher. If the results do match the previous one, the main aspect of reliability and validity has been proved, therefore the qualitative content analysis has been executed correctly. In the latter part of this text, the entire process is described in stages. To begin with, it is important to draw on the data collection process.

27 5.2.2 Diet Prada

Diet Prada was founded in 2014 by American fashion insiders: Tony Liu and Lindsey Schuyler (Gerrie, 2019, p. 99). In 2017 they decided to reveal their identities, as earlier they have been operating anonymously (p. 100). The account is declared to be one of the most influential independent fashion platforms in the industry, though its independence is often questioned considering the existing relations with fashion houses as well as particular individuals from the industry (Mendez, 2021). It has been observed that the platform itself has gained clear recognition in the industry as well, just to mention that within this study it has been revealed that the initial post of the Vogue UK April 2021 cover captured the attention of Edward Enninful, the magazine's own editor in chief. While this „insider” aspect is taken into consideration in this thesis discussion, it also deserves mentioning that the platform’s activities become the subject of certain controversies that have caused real threats to its activity. The most recent conflict on the platform was with the renowned Italian fashion brand Dolce&Gabbana, which resulted in a legal battle that has yet to be solved by the court (Mendez, 2021). Additional controversy surrounds the platform’s content shift from being the ones that post examples of originals and copies among the fashion creations designers, to becoming a more political platform that raises questions regarding general issues of race, representation, and environmental matters. Diet Prada has its operation base in the United States and is known for postings concerning the Black Lives Matter protests, cases of sexual harassment amongst the American fashion community, as well as cases of racism and cultural appropriation in other industries. Diet Prada has a constantly growing fanbase of more than 2.7 million followers, which positions it among one of the most influential platforms of that type on Instagram. The success of the platform has been widely commented on in the fashion industry (Gerrie, 2019; Mendez, 2021).

5.2.3 The Fashion Spot

In comparison to Diet Prada account, The Fashion Spot is a forum that gathers fashion professionals, insiders, and enthusiasts. Participation is based on invitation to the community or the waiting list admission process (The Fashion Spot). The content itself is free to access, making The Fashion Spot one of the biggest sources of independent fashion voices in the entire industry. Since its founding in 2001, it has gathered more than 10 million posts concerning magazine covers, fashion campaigns, models, photographers,

28 fashion designers. Its enormous influence and database have been widely commented especially by the other industry media (Lau, 2016). The forum is known for its critical voice about the fashion process while inspiring many of the current fashion players such as Susie Bubble or Eugene Rabkin in their fashion past, as it has been claimed their motivation for starting their initiatives (Lau, 2016). The large community of the forum as well as its particularly interesting lack of advertisers' influence means that the forum can be called the real independent voice of the industry. It has been proved. As Lau (2016) suggests "In contrast to the comments on Instagram, which tend to be abbreviated or influenced by the visual nature of the platform, or even commentary on Twitter, where character length is limited, on forums you find discussions with the kind of depth that can’t be found elsewhere online.”

5.2.4 Data collection

The process of data collection has been heavily influenced by several articles I have found mentioning both The Diet Prada and The Fashion Spot forum as the independent voices of fashion (Lau, 2016). As it was stated before, the independence factor might raise certain issues especially when it comes to the relations with the advertisers. Despite this fact, I have decided that both platforms can be seen as independent sources as they provide the potential users with full or semi-full access to its content and the possibility of participation in the discussion, present lack of visible connections with large fashion conglomerates and especially fashion magazines. This is particularly observable when it comes to The Fashion Spot Forum, as it largely gathers fashion professionals or people with direct connections with the fashion media producers. This, however, does not neglect the independence of the forum, as in many cases the reactions vary from positive to negative, and as it has been stated by Lau (2016) users tend to be both positive and equally negative in their reactions. The complexity of the forum that consists of several different categories and sub-categories creates a diverse environment when almost every aspect of the fashion industry is seen through constructive and critical lenses of the fashion enthusiasts and insiders. As the following data proves, the independent fashion platform does not only react quickly to the fashion magazines' activities such as publishing the covers but do also gathers a certain number of responses in a short period of time. The following paragraph present a more detailed characteristic.

29 The official website of the British Vogue posted all the magazine covers with the accompanying editor’s letter written by Edward Ennniful on March 5, 2021 (Enninful, 2021). Bot, Diet Prada Instagram account and The Fashion Spot online forum have posted the Vogue UK 2021 April covers on their pages.

Diet Prada published its posting on Saturday 6th March 2021 (Diet Prada). It consisted of four covers united in one photo. The description included a short commentary, credits, and a group of hashtags. As of Wednesday 5, May 2021 the post has gathered 88 026 likes and 609 comments. The selected data has been collected based on popularity; reactions with the highest number of likes and answers.

The Fashion Spot posted the mentioned covers on 5th March 2021 under the section „Magazines” in „Visualizing Fashion”. The thread was titled „UK Vogue April 2021: Achenrin, Precious, Mona & Janaye by Steven Meisel” and was started by posting the cover images from the Vogue website. As of Wednesday 5, May 2021 the covers have generated 112 reactions in a form of posts grouped in six pages. The number of posts includes all of the cover images: the starting one, those that consist of only photos of the inside editorials, and those that are only answers to previous comments. The selected data has been collected chronologically; from the earliest reactions.

As has been mentioned in the very earlier parts of my thesis, I have decided to compare the reactions to the UK Vogue April 2021 covers to the ones to Vogue Italia July 2008. Instagram was not that established as a social media platform, therefore I have decided to rely on data from The Fashion Spot forum. I have found the proper thread mentioning the covers.

The Fashion Spot posted the mentioned covers on June 18 2008 under the section „Magazines” and in „Visualizing Fashion”, but considering the time distance, the topic has been moved to the section "All Things Vintage" and "Vintage Magazines". The thread was titled „Vogue Italia July 2008: Liya, Sessilee, Jourdan & Naomi by Steven Meisel” and was started by posting the cover images from the now-hidden source. As of Wednesday 12, May 2021 I have gathered 1329 posts grouped in sixty-seven pages. The number of posts includes all of them: the starting one, those that consist of only photos of the inside editorials, those that are only answers to previous comments as well as those

30 reposting the images due to copyright issues. The selected data has been collected chronologically. I have decided to analyze the first twenty reactions to the covers and proceed with the comparison.

5.2.3 Codebook development

I have decided to conduct my research based on the data from two independent fashion sources: social media account Diet Prada, and fashion forum The Fashion Spot. First, I Inductively went through a 10% random sample of the data related to the UK Vogue April 2021 covers to identify the key topics. This has led me to the constitution of the main patterns and regularities. It has also influenced the construction of the research question of the paper. Moreover, the choice of the variables responds to the initial headlines of the UK Vogue April 2012 as well as Edward Enninful's reflections: positivity and joy. Furthermore, the same set of variables has been used to analyze the reactions to the Vogue Italia July 2008 issue, as my aim was to compare the audience's responses. Considering a large number of different reactions it has been decided to introduce variables with more general specifics. This process has been also influenced by the chosen theory, as I aimed to decode the message projected by the sender and the form it has been received by the audience. I have chosen to code audience reactions to the magazine covers with the use of five variables based on their characteristics:

1) Celebratory 2) Complimentary 3) Generally positive 4) Positive with concerns or critique 5) Critical

The process of limitation has led to the final data selection that consists of seventy reactions from the Fashion Spot forum (50 for the UK Vogue thread and 20 for the Vogue Italia) and seventy reactions from the Diet Prada Instagram account. When selecting the data from Instagram, it has been decided to follow a general rule of choosing the most popular reaction. The popularity aspect has been defined by the number of likes or answers to particular posts that had to be higher than one. I have decided to eliminate the reactions that are either advertising an external activity or a product or those that only tag

31 without further implications. The comments that tag users and perpetuate the eventual conversation were included. The mentioned number of the reactions from both platforms have been saved in an external file together and coded with the previously established codebook.

It has been observed that, especially with the reactions published on Fashion Spot, comments relate not only to the phenomena of diverse faces on the covers but also take into consideration formal attributes such as composition, photography, and colors, media production ones: choice of models and photographers, as well as relate to the visual part of the British UK Vogue, covers while connecting it with the current state of fashion. Besides, the comments and reactions posted on the Diet’s Prada Vogue cover post were coming from prominent figures in the fashion industry such as the previously mentioned Edward Enninful, as well as one of the cover subjects as Precious Lee. In order to analyze the wide scope of data as well as uncover the message projected by the magazine, I have decided on limiting the potential scope of data.

5.3 Limitations

As a researcher and non-user of the platforms, I had restricted access to the settings of both the social media account as well as the forum. It was impossible to gather the data chronologically from the Instagram account, as the presented reactions were either appearing in the order of popularity or random selection based on the Instagram algorithm. Furthermore, The Fashion Spot forum only presents reactions in chronological order. I do not have any access to the data regarding its users, their professional experience, age or geographic location. This early limitation inspired the final research and shifted from measuring the reaction in the same way. As a result, Instagram comments were analyzed based on their popularity, while the forum comments were perceived chronologically. Moreover, I have decided to use the chosen method of qualitative content analysis instead of for example a discourse analysis. This decision has resulted from the specifics of the data (reactions from the users) and lack of sources that describe the problem of the independent fashion audience.

32 6. Ethics

Ethical considerations should be a crucial part of every research design. Dealing with data gathered from digital sources such as social media accounts and forums raises many ethical questions. In the case of this study, research data originates from a public Instagram account and semi-public forum. Every user of these platforms has to agree to the set of terms and conditions to respectively use the platform or participate in a discussion (The Fashion Spot User Guideline). Access to personal data and the issue of informed consent, especially from the social media accounts, does raise questions within the scholarly environment. While one final answer cannot be provided it is commonly stated that "data posted in open spaces without password or membership restrictions would usually be considered to be in the public domain” (Townsend & Wallace, 2016, p. 5) and that " it can be used for research purposes without the need for informed consent from individuals” (King, 1996, p. 122). Moreover, one of the key arguments that support this approach is that "social media users have all agreed to a set of terms and conditions for each social media platform that they use, and within these terms and conditions there are often contained clauses on how one’s data may be accessed by third parties, including researchers.” (Townsend & Wallace, 2016, p. 5). This debate concerns the accounts and Internet communities that are public.

Diet Prada account is public. It means that the Instagram profile can be accessed from search engines and content is not restricted for viewing. When it comes to potential participation such as reacting to posts with emojis or posting a comment, an account is needed. While doing so, the users do agree with the terms and conditions of the platform, therefore the anonymity of any actions is limited. In the case of The Fashion Spot forum, the situation is slightly more complicated. The platform can be easily accessed from search engines and a large part of the content is open to viewers without accounts. However, all further activities such as reacting, posting, commenting, or sending private messages to other users are only available to users with an account. It is not possible to access data related to users' profiles except their names, date of joining, and activity in responding to posts. The platform is semi-open as there are two ways to open an account. First, it can be done via a special invitation that has to be sent by a member of the forum (The Fashion Spot). Second, it can be gained through a waiting list process as potential

33 users are allowed to join the community over a slower, non-described period. As the forum mainly gathers fashion professionals or people with strong ties to the industry, all activities such as posting and commenting are subject to moderation. The risk of harm is limited as moderators actively participate in forum discussions. This structure of security measurements and ethical concerns is related to the nature of the forum as it does not only deal with the business processes of fashion but commonly images of models, discussions concerning representations, as well as effects of the industry on the society.

There are three challenges, when it comes to conducting the online research based on the data gathered from the social media (and online forums) and related to confidentiality and anonymity: "possibility of breaking confidentiality (…) participants may not want to be anonymous; and safe data collection and storage (King, 1996, p. 124). The previously mentioned number of the data in the form of comments and posts has been accessed, gathered, and stored in a file placed on the internal disk. This has been made to analyze the data, proceed with the sampling process and the development of the codebook to respond to the main research question of the paper. Thus the data can still be easily and directly accessed from the platforms, I have decided to delete the initial file as its purpose terminates with the finish of the thesis process. Moreover, the initial set of data is limited just to the comment or post. All the profile names, signatures, and references have been removed as was suggested in many texts concerning social media (Townsend & Wallace, 2016) and Internet communications research (King, 1996).

6.1 Role of the researcher

I have decided to pursue this particular study as it is not only close to my interests but also evolves naturally from my professional path and experience. For almost ten years I have been a part of the fashion industry by collaborating with modeling agencies and high-fashion brands in Central and Western Europe. I have been observing the processes and the nuances of this environment, and I have recognized certain problems that should have been presented and described, especially through the lenses of the media and communication themes and theories. When it comes to my thesis, I do not have any close connections with the platforms, audiences, magazines nor the models, or editors. Furthermore, I have tried to position myself in a role of a detached observer, which has been described as an "uninvolved spectator, particularly during the process of data

34 collections'' (Blaikie & Priest, 2019, p. 59). However, this position has been declared impossible to obtain and to a certain extent, I agree with this opinion. Despite lack of the direct connections, my general interests in the industry, as well as the knowledge, have influenced the statements, reflections, and commentaries, especially in the conclusion part. Moreover, the research is based on qualitative content analysis; thus the quantified data; the coding process relies on the researcher.

The human factor is extremely important in the process and might affect the final results and conclusion. In the case of my study, I have analyzed all the data manually. This led me to the identification of the patterns and variables and the establishing of the codebook. Even though I have aimed to create results that are replicable and valid, to a certain extent my research has been affected not only by my professional connections with the industry, but also previous studies and academic experiences. This has made the study to some extent subjective. While drawing the background of the problem as well as choosing the proper theoretical lens, I have decided to proceed with a certain model within the media and communication studies field.

Furthermore, I have decided not to situate the problem in postcolonial studies and critical race theories. As my intention was to analyze the independent audience's reactions, I believe that the encoding and decoding model has been the best tool to proceed. I think that the postcolonial theory might be beneficial especially in the previously mentioned issue of exploring the Western canons of beauty applied by the local Vogue editions in countries such as Japan, India, Brasil, or in the region of Middle-East.

7. Key Findings and Analysis

The vast majority of reactions to the UK Vogue April 2021 covers were positive. Out of 120 reactions, 40 have been coded as celebratory, 34 as complimentary, 20 as generally positive, while 15 as positive with concerns and 12 as critical. When it comes to the reaction to Vogue Italia’s July 2008 covers, out of 20 reactions, 6 have been coded as celebratory, 6 as complimentary, 3 as generally positive, while only 4 and 1 as respectively positive with concerns or critique and critical. Overall, I have found some similarities as well as differences.

35 To properly discuss the key findings received from the qualitative content analysis process, it has been decided to divide them into parts based on the data sources with the final findings in the latter section.

Variable Vogue UK 2021 Vogue UK 2021 Vogue Italia 2008 Diet Prada The Fashion Spot (50) The Fashion Spot (20) (70)

celebratory 21 19 6

complimentary 25 9 6

generally positive 10 10 3

positive with concerns 6 9 4 or critique

critical 8 3 1

Table 1. Results

7.1 Diet Prada

The qualitative content analysis of the reactions posted on the Diet Prada Instagram account has been applied to 70 reactions in total, exclusively in the form of written comments. The data has been gathered based on popularity order as has been stated in the codebook development section. The majority of reactions have been coded as celebratory, complimentary and generally positive, respectively 21, 25 and 10 reactions. However, 6 and 8 reactions has been coded as positive with concerns or critique and critical.

Variable Examples

celebratory “❤ ❤ “

complimentary “Why not do this covers for American @voguemagazine #annawintour”

generally positive “I love the normalization of Black models at British Vogue. No one would bat an eye if it were four white models.”

positive with concerns or critique "Love the models, like the styling but the white background is lame :( ”

critical “I'll be excited when the photographer and stylists are Black women. Until then…”

Table 2. Statistics from the Diet Prada’s audience reactions to the covers of UK Vogue April 2021 issue

36

The audience of Diet Prada is significantly more diverse than The Fashion Spot. As the social media account can be accessed by anyone and participation in the conversation is open to all the users of the platform, the comments tend to focus a bit more on general topics of fashion rather than forms, models, colors and other visual materials. There is a significant amount of reactions that consist of semi-political comments as well as reflections about the state of fashion. Knowing the specifics of the platform, most users tend to react only via an emoji. Moreover, it has been observed that some of them consist of commentary that aims to compare two editions of Vogue - British and American. It has been visible in direct reactions such as: "American Vogue could never”, or, more indirectly aimed at US editor in chief Anna Wintour, with statements such as "Get it together Anna. This is how it’s done!”. These comments are particularly interesting, when viewed in light of the recent critiques American Vogue as an exclusive place with limited diversity.

Following Hall’s model of communication, the message projected by the UK Vogue via the April 2021 covers, in their attempt to break from established representational norms, has been received by the audience; thus its interpretation has been negotiated. The fashion audience decoded the initial message while adding additional layers to this process. As it has been discussed before, the Diet Prada Instagram account seems to cover not only fashion business issues, but also those related to the broader understanding of culture such as television, movies and music.

The audience of the platform is not as much interested in the visual qualities of the images of the models selection as, for example, the mentioned comparison with the American Vogue as well as the general idea of a diverse fashion cast.

7.2 The Fashion Spot

7.2.1 UK Vogue April 2021

Qualitative content analysis of the reactions posted on The Fashion Spot forum has been applied to 50 reactions in total in the form of posts. Data has been gathered based on chronological order as has been stated in the codebook development section. The vast majority of reactions have been coded as celebratory, complimentary and generally

37 positive, respectively 19, 9 and 10 reactions. Meanwhile, 9 and 3 reactions have been coded as positive with concerns or critique and critical.

Variable Examples

celebratory “Ugh, finally, high fashion covers!”

“Love it! this actually brought me joy so mission acomplished!“

complimentary “Gorgeous, glorious!! Absolutely love these, I want all of them. High fashion, simple but beautifully done photography, fun styling, gorgeous models...I mean what more could you want? Edward's Meisel X White Background covers are pretty much always perfect and I'd honestly gladly take this formula every month, maybe with a change in backdrop colour every now and then.”

“Fantasy, fun, FASHION! It’s been awhile since I’ve sincerely smiled while looking a Vogue cover. Thank you fashion gods and goddesses!”

generally positive “Mona's cover is so much fun. I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to the new generation of models but these covers have a done a great job in making me want to know more about them. I can't believe she was born in 2002. Boy, do I feel old.”

“That wasn't so hard now was it edward? I am at this point willing to set aside the things I dont like about for just an issue from Vogue UK that is finally just fashion.”

positive with concerns or critique “I love this! But they still can't give Liya even a multi girl cover? She would've represented the more established demo imo.”

“After seeing these my only wish is that Sacha could have scored a cover. Surprised to not see her here with her being a Meisel fave. Still great covers. Excited for the editorial.”

critical “lasiest interpretation of 60th covers. even Luigi & Iango can be more creative”

“I'm not sure how I feel about it. These covers do nothing for me. Maybe they should have used stronger models. Someone like Alek or even Joan would handle it better. I will wait for the editorial.”

Table 3. Statistics from The Fashion Spot’’s audience reactions to the covers of UK Vogue April 2021 issue

The audience of The Fashion Spot forum is significantly less diverse than Diet Prada’s one, given its moderation of insider membership. This can be observed in the initial reactions to the covers, as most of the users not only recognize the visual motifs and patterns, but can also relate the models to their recent accomplishments. Moreover, the forum’s fashion audience seems to be more interested in the media production values,

38 such as the choice of stylists and the photographers. While this has been acknowledged by Diet Prada’s followers, the comments did not concern the visual values of the images, but the choice of Steven Meisel as the main photographer. It is interesting to see, that while Diet Prada’s followers did not raise any questions regarding model selection, the forum’s audience does not only do it, but also questions some of these decisions. It is especially visible in the comments consisting of names of other models that could have been featured on the covers instead of the others.

The message projected by the UK Vogue via the April 2021 covers has been received by the audience; thus once again its interpretation has been negotiated, this time with the added layer of the media production aspects. As the fashion forum’s audience seems to recognize historical references and visual elements better than the social media one, the initial message of the magazine that consists of challenging the beauty canons has been slightly less successfully interpreted, considering the extended conversation regarding the models’ choices. This however seems to be a characteristic for The Fashion Spot forum when it comes to discussing the covers of the magazines. To better illustrate and further analyze this problem, I first present the supporting findings of the audience reactions to the Vogue Italia July 2008 covers.

7.2.2 Vogue Italia July 2008

The supporting qualitative content analysis of reactions posted on the Fashion Spot forum has been applied to a small number of 20 reactions in total in the form of posts. The data has been gathered based on chronological order as has been stated in the codebook development section. The significant number of the reactions have been coded as celebratory, complimentary and generally positive, respectively 6, 6 and 3 reactions, while 4 and 1 reactions have been coded as positive with concerns or critique and critical.

Variable Examples

celebratory “OMG yay!!! sessilee!!!”

complimentary “Liya looks amazing!! ”

”❤ Great to see Sesilee!!”

generally positive “^ I am hoping there will be multiple covers as well. I plan on getting several if there are.”

39 positive with concerns or critique “Ummm to me Sesilee is should have not gotten the cover, what has she ever done that is so important. Liya yes. Jourdan..duh. Naomi....thats a given. Sesilee ...NO. Alek should have totally gotten that, she represented something never before seen in fashion and had a million other agencies trying to find someone who looked like Alek. Iman, this woman was the queen of High Fashion at a time when black girls were not really the prototype of high fashion ( Vogue under Mirabella). Tyra.....she changed alot and opened a lot of doors. Beverly Johnson...hello first black girl on Vogue. Chanel Iman....the youngest girl of color in Vogue. So dissapointed.”

critical “Wow! I'm surprised Sesilee got the cover over Chanel!”

Table 4. Statistics from The Fashion Spot’’s audience reactions to the covers of Vogue Italia July 2008 issue

The Fashion Spot forum audience has reacted positively to the information of the “Black Issue” of the Vogue Italia magazine. Meanwhile, it has been observed, that especially in comparison to the UK Vogue covers from more than a decade later, the users tend to debate model selection based on visibility or contribution to the fashion business. This resulted in a conversation regarding who should have gotten the cover instead and why this did not happen. The choice of Sessilee Lopez was met with a slight confusion back in 2008 since she was a relative newcomer compared to well established models such as Jourdan Dunn or Liya Kebede, not to mention the legendary Naomi Campbell. The reason for that might be the lack of previous efforts to portray black female models on the covers of Western fashion magazines as well as fashion runways or campaigns as noted by Franca Sozzani.

7.3 Comparative analysis The results of qualitative content analysis have showed that independent fashion audiences reacted positively to the UK Vogue April 2021 covers. The vast majority of the reactions were supportive and also showed a certain knowledge of (or investment in) the fashion industry, as people not only knew the models' names but often commented on the media production team, especially the photographer Steven Meisel, as well as the editor Edward Enninful. This of course is more visible, as the reactions on The Fashion Spot forum are more focused and in-depth. Considering the forum’s profile, most of the reactions are characterized by more wisdom and fashion industry knowledge in comparison to the Diet Prada reactions. The fashion forum users tended to focus more on the visual aspects of the covers as well as the production ones. Many of the reactions

40 consist of the opinion to the covers as well as considerations regarding the composition, visual aspects of the covers as well as relate them to the canons of the other fashion magazines.

It is interesting to examine the comment that was decoded as positive with concerns or critique and criticism. The issues raised by them show that the UK Vogue message has been understood, but not fully accepted. Moreover, some of the comments express additional concerns. It can be easily observable in an example of the response from The Fashion Spot forum: "That wasn't so hard now was it edward? I am at this point willing to set aside the things I dont like about for just an issue from Vogue UK that is finally just fashion.” What might be crucial is the last paragraph. It can be interpreted in many ways, one where the independent fashion audience demands fewer politics and more fashion. According to Hall's encoding and decoding model, it can be stated that the messages projected by the UK Vogue have been received and understood by the audience, but concerns regarding the politics or lack of representation of other races influence the negotiated position.

It is also interesting to look at the key findings with certain aspects: the correlation between the time (chronological approach) and the popularity (top comments). While the Fashion Spot comments shows the initial reactions to the cover, Diet Prada ones were selected based on their popularity as all of them have been liked by at least three other users, while Edward Enninful's reaction collected 415 likes, while being commented on by 13 other users. This has resulted in a conclusion that the positivity reactions are therefore preferred by the fashion audience, as well as spark certain attention.

Despite the differences in terms of perceiving the covers by different fashion crowds and formal differences in terms of the reactions, the interpretation of the message by The Fashion Spot audience can be described as of the negotiated position. The sender’s message, in this case, British Vogue’s communication of opening up to the new canons of beauty has been perceived by The Fashion Spot forum users and has been coded according to the initial desire of the magazine, while the added layer of the media production values and image qualities opened up a new discussion. The social media audience of Diet Prada has also interpreted the message in a negotiated way. Vogue UK’s message has been properly decoded, with the addition of the individual reactions such as

41 the mention of the American Vogue comparison. Overall, some similarities and differences have been found. In a nutshell, based on the findings we might conclude that the UK Vogue April covers met with positive reactions from the independent fashion audience.

8. Conclusion

Fashion magazines play a crucial role in the industry. They function as platforms for many creatives to showcase their work, and they influence and appeal to different audiences, whilst also being an important vehicle for advertisers to meet those audiences. Fashion magazines can also be seen as the „voice(s) of the fashion industry” as it has been described by Kopnina (p. 369) in relation to the legendary title: Vogue. When it comes to fashion magazines it is one of the most if not the most influential publications with its editions all over the world. Knowing that it is interesting to see that the importance of particular Vogue editions seems to truly reflect not only the state of fashion but a greater characteristics of the modern culture, pop-culture, art, economy, and politics.

"The Big Four” in the fashion industry is one of the highest achievements for a model and means covering American Vogue, British Vogue, Vogue Paris, and Vogue Italia. Only a selected handful of models has managed to accomplish this difficult task and put their names on the pages of fashion history. What is more interesting in the context of my thesis is that the choice of these particular editions coming from influential and powerful Western countries, not only in terms of fashion power. The selection of these editions reflects widely understood globalization or westernization led by countries such as France, Italy, the USA, and the United Kingdom. Throughout the years, these countries controlled other territories by adapting them and dominating in a "highly unequal process dominated by the powerful capitalist interests based in wealthy countries” as it has been described by Hodkinson (2017, p. 134). In Europe, where France and Italy are sources of French and Italian-speaking cultures, London plays a pivotal place as a center of the English-speaking culture and economy. It means that the British edition of the magazine plays a crucial role and Edward Enninful’s UK Vogue is fully aware of it, its past and constantly challenges it by presenting a more and more diverse selection of cover stars, as well as the characters inside the magazine. As it has been mentioned in the earlier part of the text, Enniful’s reign can be characterized by the increased inclusivity of the

42 magazine. Considering the current panorama of the British fashion industry that is pretty diverse, Vogue UK aims to act as the main platform of British fashion. Despite some external challenges that Enninful is facing, just to mention the global pandemic, his Vogue is not only critically successful but has been proved to be a commercial juggernaut to be reckoned with (Evans, 2020). Enninful's next steps can be seen as a natural extension of the proposed values, especially in relation to the print.

Despite the recent economic struggles related to print media crises and the declining power of authority, fashion magazines still appeal to a large number of readers. Moreover, what is crucial for this research, they still generate certain attention in the industry. People tend to discuss the inside editorials, or even more common in the Western publications, advertorials, articles, fashion tips, or trend reports. A factor that usually generates the highest numbers of reactions is the covers, specifically the cover choices. It is obvious as the cover is the first page of the magazine that the readers see; therefore it acts not only as an invitation to purchase, but also to engage in a conversation and participate in the world of fashion. Covers of the fashion magazine have been the foundations of many academic research puzzles. A certain number of texts takes the topic of the cover models' selection. It has been proved that the Western fashion media tends to be dominated by a particular representation: while, slim and blonde (Kopnina, 2007, p. 375). This however has been recently challenged to appeal to the more demanding fashion audience.

Based on this, my study aimed to analyze the reactions of independent fashion audiences to four covers of the April 2021 issue of the British Vogue and in the latter part of the text compare them with the responses to the Vogue Italia July 2008 issue. To do so, it employed qualitative content analysis as a method to answer the research questions:

RQ1: How did an independent online fashion audience respond to the UK April 2021 Vogue covers?

RQ2: What are the differences in The Fashion Spot audience’s reactions to the Vogue Italia July 2008 ("The Black Issue") and the UK Vogue April 2021 covers?

Moreover, Stuart Hall’s encoding and decoding model has been valuable for this study as it has helped to uncover the relations between all the actors: magazine and the audience,

43 define the projected message in a form of a cover, as well as interpret the reactions of the chosen audiences.

Applying the qualitative content analysis method has been useful for this study for listening in on reactions to fashion industry choices during a period of intense changes. The construction of variables has helped me to examine the responses without losing their significant context and additional layers. Answering the first research question, based on my research, it can be stated that the vast majority of the reactions have been positive. Relating the results to the encoding and decoding model it can be observed that the audiences recognized the sender’s message and properly understood it with differences in terms of interpretation; what Hall calls a negotiated position. It is worth mentioning, that some differences have appeared when it comes to two different platforms. The Fashion Spot forum users have been much more interested not only in the formal and visual qualities of the covers (colors, styling, composition, light, texture) but also the media production aspect (models, photographers, stylists). Moreover, it can be observed that in many situations fashion commentators had previous knowledge regarding the magazine's attempt to challenge the issue of underrepresentation as well as limited diversity of the cover model. Furthermore, users properly linked the visual aspects of the covers to the representations from the magazines' past covers such as the one from the June 1969 issue of the American edition. The Fashion Spot forum user's responses were also much longer and complex in comparison to the Diet Prada fans' reactions that in many cases were limited to just a single emoji or a celebratory word such as: amazing or wonderful. When it comes to the Instagram fans, they connected the message to the certain issue of lack of diversity on the pages of the American edition, while drawing a strong relation between Edward Enninful's actions and Anna Wintour's passiveness in creation and recreations the beauty canons. Moreover, compared to more complex reactions of The Fashion Spot forum's crowd, Diet Prada followers were less focused on the visual elements of the covers, but more on a production value such as the choice of the photographer or stylist.

To answer the second research question of the thesis, it is important to again highlight the differences between the publication of the UK Vogue April 2021 issue and the iconic Vogue Italia July 2008 number. Back in 2008, Sozzani's idea was truly remarkable and innovative as before her no other fashion editor has decided to use only models of colors

44 in a single issue of a leading fashion title. As it has been mentioned before, Sozzani was not afraid of challenging topics, and issues such as racism, inequality or feminism were presented on the pages of the magazine to the loyal audience of the title. Despite those factors, it has to be marked that the fashion panorama back in 2008 was reflecting the culture and the society. Diversity in every possible meaning of this word was limited not only within the fashion frame. Political and societal movements leading to major changes were not as visible as in the current environment. Moreover, 2008 was the year of a major financial crisis that had a huge impact on the global economy. Finally, the digital platforms and the social media channels were still in the minority gathering rather small groups than large audiences as it happens now just in the example of Diet Prada's numbers of followers. Back in 2008, The Fashion Spot forum was already a significant element of the fashion industry scene. As it has been stated before, the initial post with the covers of the Vogue Italia July 2008 issue has resulted in an astonishing number of reactions. Aiming to answer the second research question of my thesis, the biggest difference might be seen in the reactions to the model's choice. It is interesting to see that back in 2008 already the initial reactions show concerns regarding the casting decision that leads to the question: Who should have been on the cover? The Fashion Spot forum users tend to focus on this factor to the point, where the idea of models of colors on the covers of the major Western publications is surpassed by the problem of choosing one model over another. Finally, a significant difference can be identified in the emotional aspects of the comments. While responses in 2021 seem to be more structured and developed, those in 2008 show great excitement and joy as users make more grammar mistakes or use more punctuation marks.

The positive reactions to the 2021 covers prove that the audience does expect fashion magazines to challenge the issues of lack of diversity and representation, especially among the selection of female models on the covers of Western magazines. Furthermore, the responses to the covers revealed that the fashion audience is fully aware of social dilemmas and challenges such as diverse representation, marginalization of certain groups, as well as limited diversity of the media producers that naturally influence the produced content. It is a visible sign of a change, as the authority of the fashion magazines is decreasing resulting in their perception as luxury catalogs with ads rather than valuable sources of fashion knowledge. With the rise of social media platforms and access to the internet, it has been proved that especially the influence and the impact of the fashion

45 print media are challenged. As it can be observed in the case of the UK Vogue and its covers in April 2021, print media seeks to regain its power while turning to its audience and its needs. The magazines are not only resigning from the authoritative position but also decide to engage in a more complex dialogue with their readers while challenging the societal and cultural norms from not only past centuries but decades. As it could be seen in the comparison to the reactions to the Vogue Italia July 2008 issue, challenging the problem of a limited models’ diversity is no longer an event in fashion, but a reality.

8.1 Future research

The limitations of this study may give way to potential further research subjects, especially considering the used method. I believe that there is enough data to research with more diverse methods such as critical discourse analysis, just to uncover the relations between the independent fashion audience and the magazines themselves. Another limitation can be seen in the form of a short number of coded data. For further research, it would be also appropriate to investigate other social media gatherings that gather fashion fans to draw a more complex comparison between their structures, profiles, and possible influence on the industry.

It would be also interesting to have a more in-depth look at the independent social media fashion audience, not particularly the Diet Prada ones, and connect the fashion covers that the positivity messages that fashion magazines tend to project during and hopefully after the COVID-19 pandemic.

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52 Appendix

Codebook

Celebratory • use of positive emoji (celebrating, love, hearts); reactions celebrating the cover

Complimentary • use of positive emoji (celebrating, love, hearts); reactions complimenting the covers; reactions that consist of a comparison between the other Vogue editions and editors

Generally positive • use of positive emoji (celebrating, love, hearts); reactions that consist of the positive adjective as a response to the cover; reactions that consist of minor concerns

Positive with concerns or critique • use of positive emoji (celebrating, love, hearts); reactions that consist of major concerns or critiques regarding the covers

Critical • reactions that do not consist of any positive emoji and adjectives regarding the covers; the dismissive tone of the reactions

53