This course focuses on the role of fashion journalism in both traditional mass media and emerging digital media. Students will learn to define fashion from a cultural theory framework and to understand its relevance to contemporary society. The course combines theory and practice, ranging from a cultural approach to the subject of fashion journalism and fashion media, to applying it to the skill of fashion journalism and working in the industry. 

This course focuses on the role of fashion journalism in both traditional mass media and emerging digital media. Students will learn to define fashion from a cultural theory framework and to understand its relevance to contemporary society. The course combines theory and practice, ranging from a cultural approach to the subject of fashion journalism and fashion media, to applying it to the skill of fashion journalism and working in the industry.

As a form of expression, fashion is an important lens to observe and study society. Understanding the semiotic and cultural relevance of fashion is particularly critical in the contemporary era of digital communication, characterized by an over-representation of the self in everyday life, and the constant sharing of private lives through social media networks. Students will have an overview on the history of fashion journalism and how it has been changed from the beginning until the present, considering the difficult cohabitation with blogging and new forms of digital communication, such as brand journalism, the presence of influences and content marketing for platforms connected to fashion— in particular Instagram.

The course open with a general framing of the main sociological theories dedicated to fashion, considering it as a form of identity, strictly connected to culture and language (Simmel, De Saussure, Veblen, Benjamin, Blumer, Barthes, Goffman, Bourdieau).

The second part is the fashion writing laboratory. The writing laboratory component of the course entails a critical analysis of historical case studies of digital magazines, fashion blogs and Instagram profiles. For all these cases histories/case studies, the analysis will be focused on different elements such as the style of writing and the choice of content relevant both for the editorial plan and the business and marketing plan.  Students will acquire skills on how to work inside a newsroom and as a freelancer and explore the differences between these two positions. They also will become familiar with the different professional positions in the market of fashion journalism and digital fashion media.

The third part of the course initiates the formal theoretical phase that first analyzes the digital fashion media system today through a semiotic approach related to considering fashion as language. Deep attention will be dedicated to the analysis of fashion blogs and social networks as new media.

The fourth and final part is  part pertains to the history of fashion journalism, which analyzes the connections between subcultures and mainstream cultures. Related to this is the theme of street style (Hebdige, Polhemus) and how it has been reflected in different magazines.  

No particular equipment or costs required.