agnes rocamora | University of the Arts London (original) (raw)
Papers by agnes rocamora
Contemporary Challenges in Mediatisation Research, 2023
The chapter looks at deep mediatisation in the field of fashion. It brings Bourdieu’s field theor... more The chapter looks at deep mediatisation in the field of fashion. It brings Bourdieu’s field theory into dialogue with mediatisation theory, contributing to the small body of work that has started drawing conceptual links between the two theories. It does so through the notion of logic, turning in particular to the recent literature on deep mediatisation as a new stage of mediatisation. At the core of deep mediatisation is datafication, the process whereby everyday practices and experiences are increasingly turned into data. Drawing on critical data studies scholarship, the chapter explores manifestations of the datafication of fashion, and discusses datafication as a key logic of the field of fashion. In dialogue with Bourdieu’s conceptual framework, it reflects on the role of data as capital and on that of algorithms as key players and gatekeepers of the field of fashion.
Fashion Theory, 2022
The article approaches the field of fashion influencers as an instance of the pervasive power of ... more The article approaches the field of fashion influencers as an instance of the pervasive power of datafication and quantification in everyday life. It discusses the role of metrics in the fashion influencer economy, and the quantification of the self it goes hand in hand with, a quantification that is also an object of struggle in the field of influencer marketing. Drawing on conceptual tools such as ‘like economy’ and ‘data capital’, as well as on the work of Bourdieu, it points to the instrumentalisation of numbers for economic purposes, and the centrality of such numbers to the business of fashion influence. Drawing on Moore’s notion of ‘quantified worker’ it conceptualises fashion influencers as iterations of the ‘quantified self’. The article elaborates on the centrality of quantified data in influencer marketing companies’ quest for a dominant position in the field. It discusses the ways it participates in the quantification of the business of influence, further tightening the relation between capitalism, quantification and datafication.
(Open access article)
International Journal of Fashion Studies , 2014
Based on a series of semi-structured interviews with twenty-six UK based fashion bloggers the ch... more Based on a series of semi-structured interviews with twenty-six UK based fashion bloggers the chapter draws on Lazarrato’s notion of immaterial labour to interrogate fashion blogging, and uses the case of fashion blogging to illuminate the nature of immaterial labour. This notion helps to think through the forces bloggers have to negotiate to legitimate as well as to invent their practice. In particular, and after having discussed the idea of the discursive construction of blogging, the chapter looks at the strategies bloggers develop to negotiate the ideals of trust and authenticity central to the logic of blogging. In doing so it also engages with the notion of free labour and elaborates on the issue of bloggers’ relation to brands, as well as on the ideas of commodification and monetization. It argues that blogging must be seen as a continuum between hobbyists and pro-bloggers that muddies the distinction between hobby and work.
The chapter looks at the relevance of Bourdieuian theory for thinking through fashion, and, in pa... more The chapter looks at the relevance of Bourdieuian theory for thinking through fashion, and, in particular, fashion blogging. It was published in Thinking Through Fashion: A Gide to Key Theorists (ed by Rocamora and Smelik, 2016).
Book chapter for Critical Luxury Studies: Art, Design, Media. Edited by J. Armitage and J. Robert... more Book chapter for Critical Luxury Studies: Art, Design, Media. Edited by J. Armitage and J. Roberts (Edinburgh University Press).
http://www.euppublishing.com/book/9781474402613
This article shows the relevance of the concept of “mediatization” for understanding the contempo... more This article shows the relevance of the concept of
“mediatization” for understanding the contemporary field of fashion and its relation to digital media. It first gives an overview of definitions of mediatization. It then shows that the production of fashion, such as the staging of catwalk shows and the design of collections, is being molded by and for
the media, as is its retailing. Finally, the article discusses the relation between the wearing of cosmetics and the use of digital cameras in the fashioning of the self to argue that the mediatization of fashion reaches out to ordinary practices of the self, a mediatized self.
Available here: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/ebPrV6MkGBaZSAhC2dHA/full
Introduction to Thinking Through Fashion: A Guide to Key Theorists. Edited by Agnès Rocamora and ... more Introduction to Thinking Through Fashion: A Guide to Key Theorists. Edited by Agnès Rocamora and Anneke Smelik
Learning how to think through fashion is both exciting and challenging, being dependent on one's ability to critically engage with an array of theories and concepts. This is the first book designed to accompany readers through the process of thinking through fashion. It aims to help them grasp both the relevance of social and cultural theory to fashion, dress, and material culture and, conversely, the relevance of those fields to social and cultural theory. It does so by offering a guide through the work of selected major thinkers, introducing their concepts and ideas. Each chapter is written by an expert contributor and is devoted to a key thinker, capturing the significance of their thought to the understanding of the field of fashion, while also assessing the importance of this field for a critical engagement with these thinkers' ideas.This is a guide and reference for students and scholars in the fields of fashion, dress and material culture, the creative industries, sociology, cultural history, design and cultural studies.
Published in Sociologie et Sociétés, Vol, XLIII, n1, printemps 2011
Editorial of the special issue of Fashion Theory on fashion blogs (Vol 19. Issue 2, March 2015), ... more Editorial of the special issue of Fashion Theory on fashion blogs (Vol 19. Issue 2, March 2015), co-edited with Emanuela Mora.
The International Journal of Fashion Studies argues that the reception of contributions from coun... more The International Journal of Fashion Studies argues that the reception of contributions from countries with less visibility in English-language academic publications has been long overdue. This is why it has set as its main aim the dissemination of the work of non-anglophone scholars who write in their first language by publishing their writings in English translation. To do so, the journal has put into place a peer-reviewing process whereby it reviews submissions written in the authors’s chosen language, whether English or not.
The paper discusses the socio-cultural and epistemological issues related to the operationalizing of such a peer-reviewing process. It first looks at the development of fashion studies to situate the journal’s approach. It then discusses its linguistic project in relation to the cultural issues pertaining to the internationalization of fashion studies. Finally, it engages with the epistemological issue of being a journal that welcomes contributions by scholars situated outside the Anglophone world and western regions whilst also being embedded in a form of scientific publishing that originates from the West and is informed by, and reproduces, ‘western’ norms and values.
The Handbook of Fashion Studies
Since their appearance at the beginning of the millennium, fashion blogs have become key players ... more Since their appearance at the beginning of the millennium, fashion blogs have become key players in the field of fashion. One type in particular, personal fashion blogs, where bloggers post pictures of themselves documenting their style, has established itself as a central form of fashion blogging. This is the type of blogs that this article concentrates on. By bringing together various technologies of the self it argues that the blogs represent a significant space of identity construction. Focusing on the idea of gender, it explores the various forces, both empowering and disempowering, at play in the formation and representation of femininity. The computer screen is discussed as a mirror through which women's position as specular objects is both reproduced and challenged, whilst the blogs also constitute a space for the circulation of alternative visions of femininity.
Available at:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2752/175174111X13115179149794
Negotiating Values in the Creative Industries: …, Jan 1, 2011
Page 265. Between art and commerce: London Fashion Week as trade fair and fashion spectacle JOANN... more Page 265. Between art and commerce: London Fashion Week as trade fair and fashion spectacle JOANNE ENTWISTLE AND AGNÈS ROCAMORA* Traditionally beginning in New York and ending in Paris,'fashion weeks', also ...
Fashion as Photograph: Viewing and Reviewing …, Jan 1, 2008
Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body &# …, Jan 1, 2006
Page 1. Fashion Theory, Volume 10, Issue 1/2, pp. 153174 Reprints available directly from the Pu... more Page 1. Fashion Theory, Volume 10, Issue 1/2, pp. 153174 Reprints available directly from the Publishers. Photocopying permitted by licence only. © 2006 Berg. Vogue's New World: American Fashionability and the Politics of Style 153 ...
Contemporary Challenges in Mediatisation Research, 2023
The chapter looks at deep mediatisation in the field of fashion. It brings Bourdieu’s field theor... more The chapter looks at deep mediatisation in the field of fashion. It brings Bourdieu’s field theory into dialogue with mediatisation theory, contributing to the small body of work that has started drawing conceptual links between the two theories. It does so through the notion of logic, turning in particular to the recent literature on deep mediatisation as a new stage of mediatisation. At the core of deep mediatisation is datafication, the process whereby everyday practices and experiences are increasingly turned into data. Drawing on critical data studies scholarship, the chapter explores manifestations of the datafication of fashion, and discusses datafication as a key logic of the field of fashion. In dialogue with Bourdieu’s conceptual framework, it reflects on the role of data as capital and on that of algorithms as key players and gatekeepers of the field of fashion.
Fashion Theory, 2022
The article approaches the field of fashion influencers as an instance of the pervasive power of ... more The article approaches the field of fashion influencers as an instance of the pervasive power of datafication and quantification in everyday life. It discusses the role of metrics in the fashion influencer economy, and the quantification of the self it goes hand in hand with, a quantification that is also an object of struggle in the field of influencer marketing. Drawing on conceptual tools such as ‘like economy’ and ‘data capital’, as well as on the work of Bourdieu, it points to the instrumentalisation of numbers for economic purposes, and the centrality of such numbers to the business of fashion influence. Drawing on Moore’s notion of ‘quantified worker’ it conceptualises fashion influencers as iterations of the ‘quantified self’. The article elaborates on the centrality of quantified data in influencer marketing companies’ quest for a dominant position in the field. It discusses the ways it participates in the quantification of the business of influence, further tightening the relation between capitalism, quantification and datafication.
(Open access article)
International Journal of Fashion Studies , 2014
Based on a series of semi-structured interviews with twenty-six UK based fashion bloggers the ch... more Based on a series of semi-structured interviews with twenty-six UK based fashion bloggers the chapter draws on Lazarrato’s notion of immaterial labour to interrogate fashion blogging, and uses the case of fashion blogging to illuminate the nature of immaterial labour. This notion helps to think through the forces bloggers have to negotiate to legitimate as well as to invent their practice. In particular, and after having discussed the idea of the discursive construction of blogging, the chapter looks at the strategies bloggers develop to negotiate the ideals of trust and authenticity central to the logic of blogging. In doing so it also engages with the notion of free labour and elaborates on the issue of bloggers’ relation to brands, as well as on the ideas of commodification and monetization. It argues that blogging must be seen as a continuum between hobbyists and pro-bloggers that muddies the distinction between hobby and work.
The chapter looks at the relevance of Bourdieuian theory for thinking through fashion, and, in pa... more The chapter looks at the relevance of Bourdieuian theory for thinking through fashion, and, in particular, fashion blogging. It was published in Thinking Through Fashion: A Gide to Key Theorists (ed by Rocamora and Smelik, 2016).
Book chapter for Critical Luxury Studies: Art, Design, Media. Edited by J. Armitage and J. Robert... more Book chapter for Critical Luxury Studies: Art, Design, Media. Edited by J. Armitage and J. Roberts (Edinburgh University Press).
http://www.euppublishing.com/book/9781474402613
This article shows the relevance of the concept of “mediatization” for understanding the contempo... more This article shows the relevance of the concept of
“mediatization” for understanding the contemporary field of fashion and its relation to digital media. It first gives an overview of definitions of mediatization. It then shows that the production of fashion, such as the staging of catwalk shows and the design of collections, is being molded by and for
the media, as is its retailing. Finally, the article discusses the relation between the wearing of cosmetics and the use of digital cameras in the fashioning of the self to argue that the mediatization of fashion reaches out to ordinary practices of the self, a mediatized self.
Available here: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/ebPrV6MkGBaZSAhC2dHA/full
Introduction to Thinking Through Fashion: A Guide to Key Theorists. Edited by Agnès Rocamora and ... more Introduction to Thinking Through Fashion: A Guide to Key Theorists. Edited by Agnès Rocamora and Anneke Smelik
Learning how to think through fashion is both exciting and challenging, being dependent on one's ability to critically engage with an array of theories and concepts. This is the first book designed to accompany readers through the process of thinking through fashion. It aims to help them grasp both the relevance of social and cultural theory to fashion, dress, and material culture and, conversely, the relevance of those fields to social and cultural theory. It does so by offering a guide through the work of selected major thinkers, introducing their concepts and ideas. Each chapter is written by an expert contributor and is devoted to a key thinker, capturing the significance of their thought to the understanding of the field of fashion, while also assessing the importance of this field for a critical engagement with these thinkers' ideas.This is a guide and reference for students and scholars in the fields of fashion, dress and material culture, the creative industries, sociology, cultural history, design and cultural studies.
Published in Sociologie et Sociétés, Vol, XLIII, n1, printemps 2011
Editorial of the special issue of Fashion Theory on fashion blogs (Vol 19. Issue 2, March 2015), ... more Editorial of the special issue of Fashion Theory on fashion blogs (Vol 19. Issue 2, March 2015), co-edited with Emanuela Mora.
The International Journal of Fashion Studies argues that the reception of contributions from coun... more The International Journal of Fashion Studies argues that the reception of contributions from countries with less visibility in English-language academic publications has been long overdue. This is why it has set as its main aim the dissemination of the work of non-anglophone scholars who write in their first language by publishing their writings in English translation. To do so, the journal has put into place a peer-reviewing process whereby it reviews submissions written in the authors’s chosen language, whether English or not.
The paper discusses the socio-cultural and epistemological issues related to the operationalizing of such a peer-reviewing process. It first looks at the development of fashion studies to situate the journal’s approach. It then discusses its linguistic project in relation to the cultural issues pertaining to the internationalization of fashion studies. Finally, it engages with the epistemological issue of being a journal that welcomes contributions by scholars situated outside the Anglophone world and western regions whilst also being embedded in a form of scientific publishing that originates from the West and is informed by, and reproduces, ‘western’ norms and values.
The Handbook of Fashion Studies
Since their appearance at the beginning of the millennium, fashion blogs have become key players ... more Since their appearance at the beginning of the millennium, fashion blogs have become key players in the field of fashion. One type in particular, personal fashion blogs, where bloggers post pictures of themselves documenting their style, has established itself as a central form of fashion blogging. This is the type of blogs that this article concentrates on. By bringing together various technologies of the self it argues that the blogs represent a significant space of identity construction. Focusing on the idea of gender, it explores the various forces, both empowering and disempowering, at play in the formation and representation of femininity. The computer screen is discussed as a mirror through which women's position as specular objects is both reproduced and challenged, whilst the blogs also constitute a space for the circulation of alternative visions of femininity.
Available at:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2752/175174111X13115179149794
Negotiating Values in the Creative Industries: …, Jan 1, 2011
Page 265. Between art and commerce: London Fashion Week as trade fair and fashion spectacle JOANN... more Page 265. Between art and commerce: London Fashion Week as trade fair and fashion spectacle JOANNE ENTWISTLE AND AGNÈS ROCAMORA* Traditionally beginning in New York and ending in Paris,'fashion weeks', also ...
Fashion as Photograph: Viewing and Reviewing …, Jan 1, 2008
Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body &# …, Jan 1, 2006
Page 1. Fashion Theory, Volume 10, Issue 1/2, pp. 153174 Reprints available directly from the Pu... more Page 1. Fashion Theory, Volume 10, Issue 1/2, pp. 153174 Reprints available directly from the Publishers. Photocopying permitted by licence only. © 2006 Berg. Vogue's New World: American Fashionability and the Politics of Style 153 ...
Learning how to think through fashion is both exciting and challenging, being dependent on one's ... more Learning how to think through fashion is both exciting and challenging, being dependent on one's ability to critically engage with an array of theories and concepts. This is the first book designed to accompany readers through the process of thinking through fashion. It aims to help them grasp both the relevance of social and cultural theory to fashion, dress, and material culture and, conversely, the relevance of those fields to social and cultural theory. It does so by offering a guide through the work of selected major thinkers, introducing their concepts and ideas. Each chapter is written by an expert contributor and is devoted to a key thinker, capturing the significance of their thought to the understanding of the field of fashion, while also assessing the importance of this field for a critical engagement with these thinkers' ideas.This is a guide and reference for students and scholars in the fields of fashion, dress and material culture, the creative industries, sociology, cultural history, design and cultural studies.
Co-edited by Sandy Black, Amy de la Haye, Joanne Entwistle, Agnès Rocamora, Regina R. Root and He... more Co-edited by Sandy Black, Amy de la Haye, Joanne Entwistle, Agnès Rocamora, Regina R. Root and Helen Thomas.
Co-edited with Djurdja Bartlett and Shaun Cole
In the second round of this event we will explore how much of the early cultural intermediaries l... more In the second round of this event we will explore how much of the early cultural intermediaries literature within cultural studies (emerging from the late 1980s-1990s) and across a range of industries (fashion, music, popular media/magazines, for example) is relevant to today’s cultural forms in the digital age. Specifically, the aim of the symposium is to gather experts on cultural industries to discuss and analyse how consumers’ practices performed in digital spaces (e.g. blog, social media, and websites) are facilitating the emergency of new cultural and economic forms in this industry. It will be cross- disciplinary and cross-sector, seeking also to examine the differences, synergies and similarities across key cultural industries (for example, fashion, music, print/publishing, film, food, gaming).
We invite participants to send abstracts that explore the practices, identities, and discourses of cultural mediators in the digital age from a broad range of disciplines – including sociology, media studies, geography, anthropology, cultural studies, STS.
In this Symposium we will explore how much of the early cultural intermediaries literature within... more In this Symposium we will explore how much of the early cultural intermediaries literature within cultural studies (emerging from the late 1980s-1990s) and across a range of industries (fashion, music, popular media/magazines, for example) is relevant to today’s cultural forms in the digital age. Specifically, the aim of the symposium is to gather experts on cultural industries to discuss and analyse how consumers’ practices performed in digital spaces (e.g. blog, social media, and websites) are facilitating the emergency of new cultural and economic forms in this industry. It will be cross- disciplinary and cross-sector, seeking also to examine the differences, synergies and similarities across key cultural industries (for example, fashion, music, print/publishing, film, food, gaming).