Fashion journalism: elements of journalism and brand logic in coverage of São Paulo Fashion Week N57 on Elle and Vogue Brazil's Instagram

elements of journalism and brand logic in coverage of São Paulo Fashion Week N57 on Elle and Vogue Brazil’s Instagram

Abstract

The article aims to analyze how fashion journalism, as a specialized field, articulates elements of journalistic practices and brand logic in its discursive production. It examines the coverage of São Paulo Fashion Week N57 by Elle Brasil and Vogue Brasil magazines on Instagram. The methodology combines Content Analysis (Bardin, 2002) and Discourse Analysis (Maingueneau, 2008). The study articulates references on the social field (Bourdieu, 1997; Vos, 2016), brand logic (Semprini, 2006), fashion, and journalism. The results show that the coverage of fashion shows on Instagram reflects elements of journalistic such as timeliness, truth, and objectivity, as well as the functions of information, selection, and analysis, from which criticism derives. More than 80% of the posts in the feeds serve an informative or curatorial function. Although the “recognized purpose” is informative, an analytical perspective is also present. The function of criticism becomes important for legitimizing the activity within the journalistic field. Fashion journalism promotes brand logic, sharing the universes of meaning associated with them. Thus, journalistic fundamentals are influenced by the principles and values of the fashion field, due to a process of negotiation, in addition to adapting to the dynamics of the platform. The research concludes that there is fluidity in the boundary between editorial content and brand communication in fashion journalism, there is no plurality of sources and distancing from the public interest.