After fashion film: social video and brand content in the influencer economy

Abstract

Luxury and designer fashion brands today produce as much digital content and branded entertainment as they do design and product. Online video is a key part of that production. In this article, the author questions whether the use of the generic term ‘fashion film’ is still relevant to discussions of the moving image in the digital age. He does this by examining a range of promotional uses of the moving image by the fashion industry – by brands such as Gucci, Burberry and Louis Vuitton – on the social media platforms Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat, which blend design with media. This article seeks to engage critically with the branded dominance of ‘fashion film’ as a commercial phenomenon in contemporary visual culture by positioning it as a shape-shifting form of ‘content’ through the dissemination of moving images on social media, on mobile image-sharing platforms, in which the visual dynamic of the feed (of marketing and data) is now, in part, superseding the aesthetic framework of cinema (of narrative and drama). Rather than situating it primarily as part of film history, here the author situates the contemporary fashion-moving image at the intersection of digital interactivity, fashion branding and celebrity influence.

Change in brand attitude depending on fashion film type: the psychological mechanisms by engagement and consumer fantasy proneness

“…However, empirical studies on the brand communication effect of fashion films, a digital communication medium that can share a brand sensibility with the public without time and space constraints, and can appeal to the newly emerging MZ generation, are very scarce. Although some studies have been conducted to improve understanding of the characteristics of brand communication through fashion films, they are limited to case analysis studies of individual brands (Rees-Roberts, 2020; Soloaga and Guerrero, 2016). Thus, there are limitations in deriving a generalized strategy of brand communication through fashion films.…”

“…As fashion films play an important role in broadening the path to connect brands with new consumer needs and behaviors, research on this is actively conducted. The existing literature related to fashion films includes studies on media characteristics and expression methods (Buffo, 2017; Uhlirova, 2020), studies that analyzed these films' aesthetic value and meaning (Buffo, 2016; Kim, 2013; Soloaga and Guerrero, 2016), and studies that analyzed fashion films as a major medium for brand communication (Buffo, 2016; Church Gibson, 2017; Rees-Roberts, 2020).…”

“…As fashion films play an important role in broadening the path to connect brands with new consumer needs and behaviors, research on this is actively conducted. The existing literature related to fashion films includes studies on media characteristics and expression methods (Buffo, 2017;Uhlirova, 2020), studies that analyzed these films' aesthetic value and meaning (Buffo, 2016;Kim, 2013;Soloaga and Guerrero, 2016), and studies that analyzed fashion films as a major medium for brand communication (Buffo, 2016;Church Gibson, 2017;Rees-Roberts, 2020). However, there is a limit to understanding the consumer reaction based on the characteristics of fashion films as prior research on fashion films has only focused on formal aspects, such as the classification of fashion films, or on emphasizing how important fashion films are as a communication tool.…”

“…Following this trend, luxury fashion brands use fashion films more strategically than advertising to emphasize their design philosophies and social roles and draw in fast-changing consumers (Soloaga and Guerrero, 2016). Fashion films can stimulate the psychological assimilation of consumers by inducing immersion by substituting various stories and developing their own language(net esthetics) to appeal to the brand's unique personality rather than simply providing lists of product information (Buffo, 2017; Rees-Roberts, 2020). In addition, in the post-pandemic era following the coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) outbreak that swept the world in 2020, the “untact marketing” is expected to accelerate in the fashion industry.…”

Fashion films: la inclusividad queer entre los medios de moda y las prácticas corporativas (2010-2020)

“…Por un lado, esta contradicción radica en la definición tradicional del fashion film como una forma textual de imagen en movimiento que evolucionó desde una forma menor de realización cinematográfica del siglo XX a convertirse en un medio de moda rápida y desechable (García-Ramos, 2014;Rees-Roberts, 2019). Su evolución como medio estaría apoyada por la expansión y convergencia de las transformaciones digitales y la creciente importancia que el contenido de vídeo en línea, tanto inmersivo como interactivo, ha supuesto para las marcas y editoriales de todo el mundo (García-Ramos, 2014;Rees-Roberts, 2020). Pero fue la creciente accesibilidad de Internet, combinada con su creciente capacidad para almacenar y reproducir contenido audiovisual, lo que hizo que el fashion film finalmente entrara en la conciencia pública como una categoría distinta tanto de la imagen de moda como de la imagen en movimiento (Bartlett, Cole, Rocamora, 2013;García-Ramos, 2014).…”