Why Objectivity Has Been Lost In Fashion Journalism & Commentary
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- Опубліковано 25 сер 2024
- Before the internet age, fashion publications used to sell a lot of print issues. As things went more digital by the day, publications started to rely more and more on advertisement money to stay afloat. Does this mean the death of objectivity in fashion as we know it? This is especially important as current fashion publications now have a conflict of interest.
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MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO:
Suzy Menkes
Tim Blanks
Robin Givhan
Cathy Horyn
Haute Le Mode (Luke Meagher)
Pam Boy (Pierre Alexandre M'pele)
Vogue Magazine
BOF (Business Of Fashion)
i-D Magazine
System Magazine
Dazed Magazine
Karl Lagerfeld
Chanel
Fashion Criticism
Before the internet age, fashion publications used to sell a lot of print issues. As things went more digital by the day, publications started to rely more and more on advertisement money to stay afloat. Does this mean the death of objectivity in fashion as we know it? This is especially important as current fashion publications now have a conflict of interest.
It's not just fashion journalism but journalism in general sadly. The rise of the UA-cam reviews has been really refreshing tbh.
Totally agree
I totally agree. This lack of objectivity is going on in music as well. No one is challenging or constructively criticizing creatives due to fear of losing relationships and advertising. Or them spazzing out on social media. I get being smart in business. But I miss the honesty and different points of view. There’s no umph and excitement anymore. I also miss the genuine art as opposed to the obsession of simply the dollar and elite access. Thank goodness channels like yours. Maybe they will be apart of the resurgence of it.
I hope that more and more channels start to fight against the over commercialisation in fashion and turn it around. I definitely can’t do it alone
I completely agree with you the fashion has lost it's way when it comes to artist journalism. Especially the part when you said it's all about the celebrities sitting in the shows that is very accurate. But back in the day fashion show was work editors, stylists, photographers, writers all came to see the new collections. This needs to come back
I totally agree with you. The only people at the shows should be the buyers, photographers etc. I really dont want to see all these "influencers" there at all.
@@mariedeborahsmith711 they add no value, if they come that's fine but they shouldn't have front row sit they should be in the back so actual fashion people who are there to work should be at the front or first few rows
@@thekid8224 yes, I agree with you 100%. Many people feel this way too but hopefully people speak up and have the courage to tell designers, etc. If you look at the older videos of fashion shows also who was there? The buyers from the dept stores, the editors, etc and dont get me started about cell phones at shows. I saw an old clip of a runway show from the 90's and the people were actually clapping when certain famous models or beautiful pieces came down the runway. I want it to go back to that.
@@mariedeborahsmith711 ohhhh my goodness your comment on mobile phones/cell phones I couldn't agree more I cant stand it. And what I hate more is those phones only seem come out when kendall, gigi or bella are walking down the runway. Its crazy because opening or closing the show was and kind of still is an achievement but is crazy that phones dont seem to be out to film the girl opening or closing the show because it's not gigi, kendall or bella
I’ve only been into fashion for a short amount of time and it has never clocked with me how all show reviews are positive. Will definitely be making my own decisions on collections from now on
Definitely look deeper into it now
Do you think that with the so called rise of “fashion influencers “, that may be a part of the situation. There are so many seeming regular people buying and commentating on high and low. It’s not subjective, but their words and actions reach many more than magazines. A youtube fashion influence can turn the financial tide for entities like Poshmark, even Target and H&M. There is a trend that all economy’s can shop anywhere, regardless of your income status. Why troll through expensive magazines, see it live
I totally agree. What I also like about the fashion youtubers that I talk about is that they’re actually credible but they just don’t go around announcing it. Bliss Foster’s wife is a fashion historian and works in a museum as her job. Haute Le Mode (Luke Meagher) studies at FIT and I currently work in the fashion industry with former roles at Stella McCartney & Deploy London. So I think luckily apart from us not being under the same pressure as big publications, it’s free to watch UA-cam and we also have opinions based on knowledge and experience working in the industry.
Wow, I see what you are saying. My own personal observation is that everything has an element of politics. And even though there are movements towards such things as sustainability, ethical practices in production of clothing, etc. the bottom line as you say is money and power. But this has always been so in a historical nature don’t you think. It’s deceiving to think that fashion and all it entails is vanity and fleeting. How we dress, who is dressed how, whether rich or poor is a political element. My thoughts.
I love your content and I love listening to you speak on these topics. However, im a very visual person so id like to have more pictures in your videos to help visualize what you are talking about more.
Love what youre doing but something to keep in mind for your viewers!
Thanks for the insight, will definitely consider this in upcoming videos
Robin Givhan has been a fashion journalist for years and is very knowledgeable. She’s the first fashion writer to win a Pulitzer. As an artist/designer constructive criticism is necessary. You must have thick skin as a designer/artist. Art is subjective.
Art is not subjective!ua-cam.com/video/lNI07egoefc/v-deo.html
Quang Nhật it is
Of course art is subjective, that’s why people have opinions on things. It comes down to how we interpret art. If you want something that isn’t subjective then science and math is for you.
@@theunpopularbeauty4744 This dude out here citing Prager U in something not related to the far right. That company is a joke and everyone knows it.
Someone may have already said this below, but I believe this will bring a stagnation in fashion growth, it's creative flow and individuality. That's the biggest reason why I love fashion. It's art, it's expression, it's language, it's past, present and future....and we can't get to the next without a little change, or expression on the expression itself. Thanks for sharing this because this is the very reason I've been a bit discouraged and apathetic about what I have always loved. I should not be that way, I should discuss it.
this has been in the peripherals of fashion imo great to bring it the forefront
100%
Stumbled upon this and it is exactly the kind of fashion commentary that is so "under the radar" but so interesting and useful for consumers and bystanders who are not studying or working in fashion to know.
Very good topic, didnt consider the advertising of magazines and how it affected the writing
Fashion journalism is very much dead at this point, everything in the industry is such bs bc everyone’s trying to please each other (?) imo that’s the main reason why the industry has been so stale and non-creative anymore, designers put out awful/less than great collections and no one has the guts to tell them to improve, a big example of this is Fenty (as a Rih fan I’m disappointed) that brand is so boring yet they treated like it’s the second coming
I'm really happy I found your channel. I've been getting into fashion in the past 2 years but I still consider myself a noob. Keep on dude.
Haha I’m sure you’re not a noob don’t say that. Glad you like the videos.
I learn fashion from the sewers with the zeitgeist, chap.
You’re making such amazing content and having much needed conversations! This is the content I’m looking for
Robin Givhan is everything! I haven't watched yet but I am glad you'll mention her.
I love her
I've always thought this, as I feel like most reviews aren't entirely constructive to the brand as whole. To see advertising and money halt from honesty is something plaguing a lot of industries; outside of fashion.
100% and a lot of people have said this. I feel like it isn’t that hard to do brand deals and be honest at the same time but that’s just me. Maybe that’s why I don’t get many brand deals and I’m ok with that
AYYEE!!! A hour long video up next!
Get your snacks ready
Givhan and Flaccavento are the only ones I pay any attention to.
love all your videos, I'm just like researching and you have a video for E VERY THINGGGG!
Glad you’re finding the videos helpful
The public wants more independent media in all fields from daily news, politics, art and fashion. UA-cam is the future.
100% agree. Fashion is very slow to adapt to UA-cam as platform though because they tend to be behind on things a lot. People don’t really watch TV anymore, UA-cam has really taken over.
Brilliant break down my guy!
Merci
this is GREAT.
In Noam Chomsky’s Propaganda Model, He introduces there the 5 filters of
mass media. One of those filters involve advertisers being able to have an influence or being one of the sole reasons why media often self-censor. This phenomena, may be applied to fashion journalism and journalism in general. It’s hard to be freely express objective and subjective truth when there’s a bigger entity preventing you do so. An entity providing you income to survive as a journalist, I might add. I guess, fashion journalists like you, is blessed to have a platform like youtube, where you can freely express your opinion on collections without the fear of losing your job.
i mean if a brand would invest in advertisment and keep creating a subpar product or design, yes they will get a lot of sales in the immediate period, but as time goes by, either the market will saturate and the product or design direction will go out of style, or because of counter-culture the less talked about brands that do things right will re-emerge, and eventually take over that segment of the market
by not accepting criticism you are digging yourself a hole because if you start doing things wrong there's not gonna be anyone out there to tell you that you're making a mistake. this is why most dictatorial regimes fail very quickly after being instituted. the problem with the fashion industry is that some brands can survive in the market just by copying what up and coming brands are doing.
I totally agree with you, the problem about people and brands nowadays is that they’re so short sighted and would rather have 1 crazy sales year instead of a gradually growing successful business that over 10+ years
Awesome video that I think offers up a perspective valuable outside of fashion and apparel world. Who is the person that you mentioned at 11:17 ? I think I misheard and am misspelling when trying to look them up.
Also, you got me into reading magazines and at the store, I found a magazine called Document Journal. Are you familiar with that magazine? Absolutely hefty magazine and a LOT of ads, but some pretty cool editorials.
Never actually heard of that magazine I’m very interested. Maybe you can tell me more about what’s in it on insta if you’re on the gram. As for what I said at 11:17 I mentioned @pam_boy on Instagram. He’s a fashion journalist for love magazine and he studied fashion journalism at CSM but he’s one of the few young journalists that really knows how to navigate social media. If you check out his Instagram or his fashion magazine called “screenshot” you’ll see what I mean.
What is the actual purpose of a critique, think about it. Their job is to give you an opinion on something you can do yourself.
This is why it’s reached the point of dancing for the masters, their purpose was disguised in bullshit from the beginning. If fashion is considered an art form then it shouldn’t have critiques.
This is very true but human nature is that people prefer to have things handed to them. That’s the same reason people ask me to tell them some famous Japanese designers instead of finding out for themselves.
As for art, everyone can have an opinion on art but that doesn’t make the art any less good or relevant. That’s the same reason people critique movies.
The Fashion Archive i guess that’s true, but film is also facing the same issue with critiques, Tarantino has too much power and respect to have a critic get on his bad side, they to will find a neutral balance just to maintain a good relationship.
Dress to impress 💯
Did you read Givhan's critique of Karl Lagerfeld? It basically says that he's a myth which swallowed the designer, and it's not a really a constructive critique. However, she didn't get fired, she wasn't insulted, Lagerfeld just said she didn't know about her, she was actually still invited to the show, she just lost her front row place, and made quite a big deal about it. Brands will sit on the front row, only to those who are functional to them, if she wasn't anymore, well, she may have to sit somewhere else.
Adding to that point you make about commentators talking more about the set decoration than the collection itself, it has to do more with the fact of how precarious journalism is, people with no studies on journalism are the ones writing reviews, most of them are fashion students doing an unpaid internship at a magazine, writing good reviews about brands and their events to make good connections and land in a better paid job in an enterprise which fits them better or they are more interested in. Also, most journalists get benefits from writing good advertisements making them pass as reviews, that works for them. Nobody is really making good money for writing,about fashion, have you realized how many fashion journalists now work as PRs, photographers or something else, or write about lifestyle, beauty and other areas? It's because of money. It's not worthy to write a really mindful think piece when you're not backed up by your magazine, even sometimes you're like fuck it! I'm not getting paid enough to write anything about any other more relevant issue, you don't feel like giving an extra for what you get paid.
At least that's my point of view as a fashion journalist.
This was a very interesting take, as a journalist do you think a lot of journalists don’t feel the need to put in the work required for an in-depth review because your won’t be given the credit it deserves in comparison to the credit you’ll get if you write an easy positive review.
@@FashionRoadman Not really, I didn't mean to take it that way. But, for example, let's say you can be really critic and subversive on your opinions, and that's OK, but it's easier to be that way when you have a powerful media behind you, let's say Cathy Horyn and the NYT, you can say whatever you want, anyways you're not in danger to lose your job or your reputation or any kind of -even- emotional or moral support. It's harder when you're alone. So, in that scenario writing a negative review without an editor who can support you becomes really stressful and demoralizing. It just happens sometimes that you write about how nice the tapestry was, instead of an actual review of that show because in one hand you want to complete the number of words you're being asked to write, and on the other hand you dont feel like taking the backlash of an actual critic, and being left alone or just lying saying how much you loved something when it's not the case.
I really don't like Robin Givhan. She has a reputation for criticizing people's choice of garment rather than sticking to critiquing the garment itself. If she wants to attack anyone she should aim her criticism's at the designers and fashion houses who produce the clothes not individual consumers of fashion. Supposed I received a coat as a gift and decided to wear it to show my appreciation. Why should she drag me into her criticism? She should stick to analyzing the clothes only.
Very good point but I still do like her criticism of collections that I’ve read however, she is guilty of deviating from the main points from time to time.
I found Suzy Menkes has sort of lost her touch in recent years as the fashion climate has been changing constantly. Perfect example was when a lot of journalists refused to review Dolce & Gabbana due to their scandal, she decided it was a good idea to give them press and publicity which I felt was an out of touch move from her.
I’m still a big fan of Suzy Menkes in term of journalistic integrity but she has aligned herself with a few things where I’m “hmm.” However, we also can’t forget that’s her job. If the owner of Arsenal or Manchester United was involved in a scandal, people wouldn’t suddenly stop covering those teams.
@@FashionRoadman I definitely agree with you on that. Also, fuck Ed Woodward and The Glazers. 6 years of banter under them lol I can't take enough of that shig
ohhh cool video 😄
Merci
I'm not sure which is worse: people selling clothes, people writing about clothes being sold, or people caring about the writings about clothes being sold.