The social lives of UK fashion blogs

Abstract

This thesis is the result of twenty-five months of ethnographic fieldwork, both online and offline, in the United Kingdom working with London-based fashion bloggers. It aims to examine the ways that bloggers negotiate between style and identity through the presentation of self in online environments, more specifically fashion blogs and corresponding social media websites, as well as offline spaces, including London Fashion Week, industry events, and regular social interactions with other bloggers and blog readers. It also address the relationships between bloggers and members of the fashion industry, as the industry struggles to define a place for them. Furthermore, this thesis hopes to contribute to growing debates regarding the potentiality of media anthropology to influence the creation and production of ethnographic texts.