Decline of Print and Rise of Digital Fashion
By: Brooke Durney
News and media in the realm of fashion have stood the test of time, even since the mid-18th century when women and men had both an increasing interest in dressing lavishly and spending the money to do so. Around the 17th century in Versailles, the expensive and elaborate tastes of King Louis XIV and his royal court were depicted on fashion plates. At the time, clothing was the most popular way to express one's social standing and wealth. Fashion plates were made for the upper class, however, people found ways to copy the designs and carve them into the wood, distributing them to people in the middle classes, allowing fashion to become more widely accessible. Fashion magazines gained popularity and traction during the 19th century, with popular magazines like, ‘’Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine’’ and ‘’Godey’s Lady’s Book’’ which featured an array of content including sewing patterns, recipes, and colored fashion plates (NC State). As technology and fashion trends progressed, these booklets did not fall short and developed into the structured fashion magazines that we still see today. However, ever since the start of the ‘digital age’ in the 1980s, we have become increasingly drawn to obtaining information from handheld machines rather than printed documents.
Fashion has undergone a significant transformation with the advent and integration of digital technology. This shift has impacted various aspects of the industry, from design and production to marketing and consumption. More than 86% of Americans today receive their news from a technological device, which has therefore contributed to the decline in interest in printed media. In November 2017, Teen Vogue released its last issue on the stands before its full shift to online releases. This change was due to the decrease in print sales, which was observed by various printed media organizations in the past decade. It was recorded in January 2017 that Teen Vogue gained over 5 million new visitors after the magazine went digital, compared to the past January when it was in print. With the rise in popularity of social media apps like Instagram and TikTok, many magazines have shifted their main content creation to conform to social media. It can be argued that this allows a more personal way for readers to ‘engage’ with the magazine, as a lot of companies respond to their comments or direct messages, sometimes even with videos or memes.
Fashion has undergone a significant transformation with the advent and integration of digital technology. This shift has impacted various aspects of the industry, from design and production to marketing and consumption. More than 86% of Americans today receive their news from a technological device, which has therefore contributed to the decline in interest in printed media. In November 2017, Teen Vogue released its last issue on the stands before its full shift to online releases. This change was due to the decrease in print sales, which was observed by various printed media organizations in the past decade. It was recorded in January 2017 that Teen Vogue gained over 5 million new visitors after the magazine went digital, compared to the past January when it was in print. With the rise in popularity of social media apps like Instagram and TikTok, many magazines have shifted their main content creation to conform to social media. It can be argued that this allows a more personal way for readers to ‘engage’ with the magazine, as a lot of companies respond to their comments or direct messages, sometimes even with videos or memes.
So how has online fashion changed the flow of trends and consumption? Since the pandemic, major companies have seen a huge drop in storefront sales as millions of people were quarantined in their homes, and became more comfortable with online shopping. The US Census says that ‘’according to the most recent 2020 ARTS release, e-commerce sales increased by $244.2 billion or 43% in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, rising from $571.2 billion in 2019 to $815.4 billion in 2020.’’ The fashion world saw a complete shift from storefronts to digital shopping. Apps like TikTok, Instagram, and Depop saw accelerated usage as trend cycles circled massively. According to Her Campus, the first micro-trend to appear on TikTok during COVID-19 was House of Sunny’s Green Hockney dress. Expensive clothing, like House of Sunny, found their dresses retailing for only five dollars off of fast fashion websites like SHEIN and AliExpress. Infamous for producing ‘dupes’ from large fashion houses to independent small artists, SHEIN and other websites profit almost solely from social media’s circulation of micro-trends. Before the existence of social media and technology, trend cycles circulated through magazines and malls, but social media has greatly pivoted the direction of fashion and our sense of identity.
Fashion, fashion community, and fashion trends have come quite a long way in how they are accessed and distributed. Fashion has a significant impact on one's sense of identity, and the digital world has amplified this influence in several ways, like personal expression, forming communities online in fashion spaces, sustainability, and widespread pop culture influences. In summary, fashion online has a strong transformative impact on identity by providing a space for personal expression, fostering connections, and offering a platform for self-discovery and exploration. It empowers individuals to create and adapt their fashion identity in ways that were not as easily accessible before the digital age.