Two Decades of Fashion Blogging and Influencing: A Critical Overview

Abstract

Influencers have monopolized media attention in recent years, the result of a long process lasting two decades dating from the rise of blogging at the beginning of the twenty-first century. In this article, I set out the historical framework in which the social media practitioners known as fashion bloggers and influencers have emerged and developed as relevant players in the field of fashion. I propose a reading of fashion blogging and influencing as a process articulated in four stages between 2000 and 2020. These two decades, marked by a progressive institutionalization of social media practice in the field of fashion, saw the advent of Instagram-based influencers in the second half of the 2010s and their continuing domination of fashion platforms, and TikTok’s rise in relevance in the same field during the early 2020s. I first explore the rise of fashion blogs in the early 2000s and the scholarly debate regarding its characteristics. I then frame the transition from blogging to Instagram, not just as a change of platform, but as an opportunity for the invention of a new occupation, the influencer, and the consecration of the business of influence. Lastly, I critically examine the concepts of influence and influencer.