Following Fashion: Sharing the Private in Public

Abstract

This article presents an exploration of the division, or lack of division, between the private and the public in relation to online fashion personalities. In the contemporary fashion world, where technology prevails, any girl-next-door can become a recognised fashion ‘personality’, seemingly qualified to present her private thoughts to a public apparently hungry to hear them. In discussing this assumption, this article examines how conceptions of private and public fit within the realm of the fashion spectacle, with particular reference to Instagram, and how the process of fashioning a self-brand is enacted within this sharing, attention economy.